There And Back Again

...or how even a volcano can't thwart the Pink Singers!

It was the first concert of the season, and an overseas concert to boot. The Pinkies were invited to perform with the ever-amazing Mannenkoorts at their annual concert in Den Haag, the Netherlands, and naturally we were excited. Mannenkoorts is easily one of my favourite LGBT choirs. Actually, they transcend the LGBT choir label and are easily one of my favourite choirs full stop. They have a very slick sound and their peformance, including their choreography, is always flawless. The Pink Singers are really good too of course, but there was some trepidation as this concert was also seeing the trial of five of the new songs this season, two of which included choreography.

Over the last few weeks we've been polishing the dance moves, which in Pinkie parlance, means we've been simplifying the actions so that they were achievable in the time allowed. I am sure this frustrates our choreographers so end, but needs must, and the more complicated manoeuvres will undoubtedly be reintroduced later on for the summer concert itself. Anyway, thanks to the marvels of the internet, the Pink Insider, who has been in New York, missed most of the Den Haag rehearsals, but was quite thankful for the editing of the choreography for this concert.

It was with some excitement, therefore, that this Pinkie flew back from JFK to Heathrow, but an hour out from the airport, the captain of the plane made an announcement on the tannoy that, owing to a volcanic eruption, we would be diverting and landing in Paris instead. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Paris, but after ten days away I was really looking forward to returning to good ol' Blighty. Instead, I found myself with a few hundred bewildered passengers in Charles De Gaulle. Because it was so early on in the catastrophe, no-one really had any clue what was going on. I decided I'd take my chances, bite the bullet knowing that I'd have to pony up more cash, and buy a train ticket straight to the Hague.

I was grubby and smelly, not to mention somewhat hungry and dehydrated, and while I felt sorry for myself, on the balance of things, I was actually pretty lucky. By some quirk of fate the Pink Insider had decided to make the crossing by ferry, and so my transportation links, apart from this first leg, were not disrupted. Several of the other Pinkies, however, were still stuck in London, or already in the Netherlands, wondering how to get back. In true Pinkie spirit, and led by the indomitable Tanya, together with the driving skills of Mark W and Jenny Co, a little convoy crossed over to Dunkirk and made the 12 hour journey up to Holland. Through a variety of trains, boats and cars then, the majority of the Pinkies made it to our performance venue, and in fact we were only missing four people, due in part to illness.

So, how did the gig go? Well, we were all incredibly tired after the trip across, and our rehearsal was quite painful. We kept going out of tune, the blending was bad, we seemed to be racing through the songs and the choreography was messy. Part of it was due to the auditorium, which was a converted swimming pool and was therefore quite acoustically challenging. Still, we were running on a bit of a high, having already survived one challenge and looking forward to the next.

Mannenkoorts opened and closed the show, sandwiching the Pink Singers, and we had a chance to sit in the audience to watch them perform. As always, they were absolutely stunnning with a great blending of sound, some outstanding voices, and a great stage presence. I must confess to being a secret fan of Eric, the countertenor in Mannenkoorts, whose facial expressions were hilarious, and whose dulcet falsetto has a beautiful ring. In a way, that was probably good for us, because it made us all the more aware of just how good our own performance had to be.

And of course we pulled it out of the bag. The funny thing is that no matter how bad the rehearsal, we do seem to come together in the end. And, despite a rather tentative start, it was a really fun performance. It was telling that all the new songs were sung the best we have ever done them, which bodes well for our summer concert which is still quite a way away. Even the choreography, which tends to flummox us, came off pretty decently too. The audience, while seeming a little cool, eventually warmed up to us, and by the time we got to the end of the set, the stamping on the floor in appreciation threatened to sink us into the swimming pool below!

After that it was time for a much-deserved three or four glasses of beer and a chance to chat with our very friendly hosts and their friends. We are hoping to see Mannenkoorts as our gusts in the very near future, so do watch this space.

Yesterday was filled with the journey back: tram, train, ferry, bus and tube. I cannot tell you how glad I was to see my bed at long last!

Summer Lovin' With The Pink Singers

I can't believe what a hectic season it has been, but it was all about to culminate in our summer concert. There was a little trepidation as our home venue, the Royal Academy of Music, was closed for refurbishment and we were compelled to try out a new place; but arriving at the rather grand Britten theatre at the Royal College of Music most of our fears were put to rest.
Singing on a new stage always involves sound checks and modifications to choreography. I thought the audibility was improved both on stage (for the choir) and in the audience, so that was great for everyone. However, the risers on stage were lower than we are used to at the Royal Academy (where you can break a hip if you get off them too quickly), and it didn't help that some of the shortest tenors were standing behind the tallest basses and were playing peek-a-boo with Mladen. Overall though I did like the intimacy of the place which meant we were much closer to the audience than usual.
Claire H rejoined the choir to sing the parts from O Fortuna. She has a simply luminous voice, and gave the notes that effortless colour which made my spine tingle. Then there were the incredible solos from Tom, Sally-Ann, Andrew F, Tanya, Cilla and Alex. If I had to pick a favourite I would say it was Alex's Till There Was You which stole the show. Our own run-through went very well, with just a few nervous errors here and there, so it was particularly interesting to hear just how great we sounded in the actual performance. The Pinkies really upped their game!
It certainly helped that we had a great audience. They laughed when we sang America, clapped along when we did the 70s Dance Party, cheered when we looked vaguely revolutionary in One Day More and applauded heartily when we completed the cycle of Carmina Burana. I am not sure that whether it was in relief (Blaaaaaaniflor et Helena!) or admiration, but it was much appreciated!
Photo credit: Alp
All in all I think we put on quite the show and the audience left the auditorium on a high. But there was more to come as the party continued later at the Student Union bar in Imperial College. We'd hired a karaoke machine, which meant Pinkies like Susan, Daniel really had a chance to shine. Like my friends said, it was like a second concert!
The trite and overused phrase is that we "work hard and play hard", but that really is true with the Pink Singers. We do put in a lot of work to get our performances up to the standard they are, and what we create is something I am very impressed with and proud of. And there was tons of work behind the scenes all season to keep the Pinkies running smoothly as a choir. I am really glad that there was an official recognition for this, and for those members who have committed years of their time to the Pink Singers, by way of a presentation of gifts backstage. But we also have huge amounts of fun together too and that is at least as important.

Something Fishy At Bar Wotever!

Some of the Pinkies went down to Bar Wotever in Kings X last night to catch Something Fishy perform. The venue itself is quite small, but it was packed to the rafters. They had a warm-up act, quite unintentionally no doubt, of a tall guy in glasses dressed in pumps, a black devore dress and pearls.

Then Eliza (Tanya), Lara (Gill), Vinny (Carol) and 'Funky' Fingers (Johnathon) came on. They stole the show with a mix of funny, new and gloriously cunningly (mis)appropriated songs. And there was the curious incident with the guitar in the night, and Fingers' synthesizer which seemed to have a mind of it's own sometimes! All great fun.

Ir was also really wonderful to see old members like Line and Iain there, as well as members who have just joined this season, like Maia and Andrew (on his mobile as usual). Something old, and something new. Nothing like the Pinkie family getting behind you!

Here's the video I took of the evening. YouTube only allows me to upload a particular size, so I have had to split it into five bits. If you want the whole video (in a higher resolution too!), then you can grab it, and several photos off my pink bits.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The Encore!

Their next performance is on Saturday, the 2nd of June at the Black Cap. Check out our home page or MySpace page for details as they come through!