Friendship In A Big City

I just read a rather intriguing article in the Guardian today about the possibility of 'renting a friend'. Yes, you can look at it and roll your eyes at the commoditisation of our social lives, and in this world where everyone appears to have a few hundred Facebook 'friends' you have to wonder why this is even necessary.

The reality though, is that even (or perhaps especially) in big cities such as London, it is possible to be very lonely indeed. Even if you have the odd mate who lives in London, breaking out of the circle of work colleagues is hard, and making friends who you can hang out with because you enjoy their company is a mammoth task. The Pink Insider has been in London now for 8 years, and the first two or three were spent in the company of old college mates.

Now, of course, I look at my friends in London and see that they neatly partition into people from school, people from work, former neighbours (a rarity I can tell you!), acquaintances of acquaintences (who are now my friends) and, of course, Pinkies.



There are many advantages to joining a social group, but particularly one like the Pink Singers, because everyone out of necessity has to work together. This means that you already share something in common such as the love of singing, but your experiences also develop together, which to me is a prerequisite for any meaningful relationship. Picking up someone in a pub can lead to a long-term friendship but, for me at least, is a rather difficult way of going about it.

Reading the article, the writer rents his friend for £40 an hour. In comparison, membership of the Pink Singers is a complete bargain!

Pride London 2010, Pinkies, GLF

One of the big problems facing Pride nowadays is that there is a tension between those who see the parade and festival as a celebration, those who see it is a marketing ploy and those who want to use it as a platform for social change. I have no problems with celebration, but the chasing of the pink pound really does grate.

Pride to me is about not having to hide who we are, which as this year has shown, is not something you can do is just any country, nor even sometimes in this one. That we have any kind of security at all now is thanks in no small part to the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) which was formed after the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969. The first GLF UK protest march in 1971 became the Pride parade we know of today. The Pink Singers were formed in 1983 to add music to the protest and have been marching and singing at every one ever since. To read what Lou T, Kate N and Philip R have to say about the significance of Pride London and the Pinkies, have a look at the article on the Pinkies' website.

Edit: And as if by psychic magic, Paul Burston writes a wonderful piece on his blog about why Pride London is so important.

Time To Say Goodbye

Phew! What a season it has been. Our first concert at Cadogan Hall, an amazingly supportive audience and so much Pinkie love. Here's a video to tide you over till I catch my breath and write something more substantial.

Gleeful Show On Saturday!

Whatever you feel about Glee (and my own views are mixed - I find it a bit overwrought dramatically and overengineered vocally) those kids really are very talented. So it was with a tinge of sadness that I watched the last episode of the first season yesterday. The kids from New Directions made it to regionals, performed "Don't Stop Believing" and came in second behind the rather scary Vocal Adrenaline. On the way, they learned that it was not about the winning, it was about the getting there. Indeed.

With the Pink Singers' concert coming up this Saturday (tickets here), it naturally got me thinking about the kind of choir we are. When the Pink Singers first began, judging by the archived photos and videos, we were much more of a "cabaret" choir with shows which focused on soloists with choral backing and occasional choral numbers. There was simple choreography, and we'd put on gigs at the London Lighthouse to raise funds for the AIDS charity.

When Mladen came along, with his classical musical training, the choir changed again, this time focusing on the vocal quality. We became nore of a "proper" choir, with more challenging pieces. As we became more confident from that perspective, however, the chorerography started slipping in again, to the point where we now have a choreography team; the second half of the concert, which has traditionally been lighter entertainment, is almost entirely choreographed or staged.

We're not quite a show choir a la Glee yet though, nor do I think should we be. The main appeal to me of the Pinkies, and to the audience as well I believe, is that we are extremely diverse musically. There aren't that many concerts you can go to where the choir sings both Vivaldi's Gloria and ABBA's Does Your Mother Know. That is exactly what is promised on Saturday. So see you there!

Flashmobbing Pinkie-style

It is now under a week to the big concert. The choreography is being polished, the final flourishes on the words are being put together, all we need now are bums on seats. That's where you come in! Do make sure you get your ticket for Saturday's performance at Cadogan Hall. And bring a friend or three while you're at it!

We've been doing our own bit to spread the word, and led by the intrepid Jerome some of the Pinkies decided to brave the stares and mobile phone cameras and walk down Old Compton Street singing songs and handing out flyers. Not being that much of a diva I am always slightly self-conscious when it comes to drawing any kind of attention to myself, but once we started doing "our thing" it was clear that the whole event was going to be amazingly fun. Crowds started gathering and we had applause and cheers after every song, and even the odd smile from the scene queens in Rupert Street!

Pinkies' Summer Concert 2010 Trailer

I love this video - it encapsulates all the things I love about the Pink Singers: the singing, the family, the fun, the pride, the travelling, the meeting new people and making new friends. Come to our next concert and experience it for yourself - details on our website! Check out the ad in Gay Times below too...

Breaking The Mold

I think it goes without saying that as a choir with the LGBT tag line we are indubitably proud of our lesbian, gay, bi and trans credentials. The dilemma is knowing how far our identity should be labelled as such when we are equally proud of our musical ability. When I was in college one of the freshers would introduce himself as, "My name is X and I am gay." Good on him, but at the same time the reality is that people do, inevitably, pigeonhole you which then means you are judged based on different criteria. The Pink Singers name does not lead to immediate conclusions about who we are necessarily, and I am much more an advocate of demonstrating how good you are before springing any categorization on outsiders.

So it was with our gig at the 7th Annual London Sangerstevne. I'm not sure how we were invited to the event, but it was a gathering of small, community choirs from around the U.K. and Europe. These types of festival are incredibly fun and the lack of a competitive element keeps things light and friendly. It helped that the whole event was organized in a laid back manner. "The Pink Singers" appeared in the programme without our tag-line: we opened with Gloria and Locus Iste, and I think we made a great initial impression with both. We then went on to sing April Is In My Mistress Face and our version of Sh-Boom. Part of the choreography in the latter involves Tom D and Chris Chi doing a sexy little dance duet, which is of course, a dead giveaway. Then Philip R gave a little introduction to us (and to flog our fab concert which is just a month away - get your tickets now by the way).

Interestingly, sitting in the audience there was a little tittering, partly because we were the only LGBT choir there, but this was then followed by incredible support, and by the time we came to the end of our performance of Does Your Mother Know the applause was thunderous. I still find the irony of "Does your mother know that you're out?" delicious! One guy was even waving his hoodie in the air, he was so enthusiastic. I do think it is events like this which help break down stereotypes.

New Balance

No, the shoes don't really have anything to do with this post, so please feel free to ignore them if you think it is misleading. I just wanted to talk about new members joining the Pink Singers, and some of the choir's own growing pains. Like Luke Skywalker, we are always striving to create balance, if not in the Force, then at least in voice parts. When I first joined the choir there were about five tenors and 15 basses, but as time has progressed the numbers have evened out. In fact, now the voice section which I believe has been limiting us is the sopranos. As anyone who has ever sung in a choir knows, balance is important in creating a blended sound which is why we try to keep the numbers in all sections: soprano, contralto, tenor and bass exactly the same.

The second factor which affects our numbers is that the choir aims to keep our total numbers to around 80 or so people (of course this is subject to change, but not on a whim). For me, I like this number as it means that I can get to know all the Pinkies. Singing in a choir is a very social experience, and keeping the numbers at this level gives me a breadth of friends while preventing the choir from breaking up into cliques. This works for the choir too, because a cohesive choir sings better, and we share a real sense of community. From a practical perspective as well, 80 means that we can find decent rehearsal venues. Any larger and it is impossible, not to mention smelly, to rehearse in any space smaller than a football stadium.

The combination of these two things does mean that the demand for places often exceeds supply, and we have some amazing performers auditioning for the choir. It makes me value my place in the Pinkies, because I'm not sure that if I had to go through the ordeal again I'd get in. I certainly don't take my place for granted, but I also do think that people who join the choir don't just bring their voice, they bring their own skills and contributions to our family in different ways. The trouble is that the selection process is by no means perfect, but we are constantly trying to refine it. In this process you are never going to please everyone, and the objective is to be both as fair as possible, while keeping it as friendly and comfortable for would-be newbies. It is a serious dilemma for which I don't think there is an easy solution.

Vote For The Pink Singers

A fortnight ago the Pink Paper came up with its annual "best of" survey. This year the Pink Singers have been nominated, so get your mouse at the ready and do hop on over to their survey and vote for us.

Frankly though, while I do recognize the publicity value winning such awards entails, I remain a sceptic. It asks us to decide what "the best gay social group" is and while I naturally and honestly believe that the Pink Singers are the best, it certainly isn't possible to make an accurate assessmentof any group unless you are actually in it. What this means is that larger groups are naturally going to have an advantage, or that popularity in the wider community is going to decide. To me, this defeats the purpose of the question in the first place.

This is all perhaps a bit too much navel gazing for something which is supposed to be fun, but it disturbs me.

P.S. If you do vote, please also tick the London Frontrunners for best gay sports group. Ta.

Time For Something New

I have always asserted that one of the great things about being in the Pink Singers is the constant challenges we face as a choir, some of which are self imposed, that keep us getting better. Getting the balance right between change and familiarity is a difficult one, but at least any modifications to our repertoire, our staging and the way we are run have been gradual. More importantly though, there is a palpable sense of excitement in the choir as we see our labour, be it in performance, in production, in publicity or in community involvement, bear fruit.

There are times, however, when the steps we take are a little more adventurous, and one of those times is coming up this season. I am not at liberty to disclose what's in the cards yet, mainly because nothing is confirmed, but one simple move has implications for many different areas within the choir, with the opportunity to really up our singing and our community. Keeping us cohesive as a choir is going to be one of the greatest challenges, and I'm hoping that there will be understanding and participation from the rest of the Pinkies.

Why I Take Photos

I am no Ansel Adams but I guess the one thing the Pink Insider is known for is the almost obsessive photography, and now videography, of all Pink Singers’ events. Over the years, I’ve had a couple of friendly gibes sent my way about it, and this week Joanna came round for dinner, and asked me why I’m so fastidious about capturing every event, so I thought I’d put my thoughts down on this subject. Why does the Pink Insider take so many photos?

I can tell you what precipitated it: about 4 years ago when the Pinkies’ website was being redesigned I remember looking for new photos to fill the pages. Sadly, at the time we were hamstrung my rather oppressive guidelines regarding photography and privacy, and that meant we had a grand total of a dozen photos which we could use. It also put people off taking any photos at all, and the ones which were taken weren’t really shared with others, so the choir didn’t really have any access to them anyway. It was then that I decided to fix the situation by at least taking some pics, principally for use on the website, but also as a memento of events we had organized or participated in.

Fast forward to today, and we live in a digital age where most phones have cameras, and sharing pics is as easy as pressing a button on Facebook. The choir itself has much clearer guidelines on the use of photography and are now striking a good balance between the privacy needs of individual members of the choir and the publicity needs of the choir as a whole. And we also have regular pro photographers taking our pictures, which helps in developing a good stock of photographs which can be used for the choir’s promotion.

On the face of it then, some of the pragmatic demands for photography have been satisfied. But at the same time, some of the more fundamental uses of photography must continue to be addressed. I hail from a former British colony, and as such, am very interested in issues to deal with culture and identity, and how they are represented in history. For that reason I love the field of post-colonialism, and am a fan of writers like Edward Said who question the foundation of historiography and its wealthy, white, straight, male bias. Certainly the views of the minority are often left out in the narrative of society, often because these views are not considered important.

In that context then, I particularly enjoy speaking to people like Philip R and Michael De because they have such fascinating stories about the Pink Singers in the early days. My fear is that unless we capture these tales, they will be lost to history. Liang has been working on a project to collate and archive all the material the Pink Singers produced in our first quarter century; being given such a window into our past is an amazing privilege. The sad thing, however, is that material from that time is both scanty and patchy, and so our early story is not a continuous one.

Recently Bill, one of our longest-standing members, decided he was going to retire from the choir. As a thank you for being such a dedicated member we created an album of his pictures over the last ten years. Thankfully when the request went out, members who had been in the choir as long as he were forthcoming about sharing their photos, but the reality is that this is only possible because these Pinkies were still in the choir. When members leave the choir they take their memories with them, and as a choir we lose a part of ourselves in the process.

So I take snaps, and I share photos, and I write about my experiences in the choir because I love the Pink Singers and I want to let people know about what my experience of being in London’s LGBT community choir is like. And it is not just the big events which are important, the small moments are as key in painting our picture. Not just for now, but for the future too.

Chillin' After The Big Pink

Every concert is a special event, not only because we have been rehearsing for the twelve or so weeks prior to it, but because every single one is different. The Pinkies’ last concert – the Big Pink Chill – this Saturday just gone, was no exception, but for me, there were a number of changes this time round which made this particular experience more memorable.

The most significant difference actually began a week or so before the concert itself when we had news that the tickets had sold out. This is an achievement in and of itself, and it was with some disappointment that I had to turn away some of my tardier friends. I’m not sure of the ins and outs of it, but it looks like this was due to a combination of more tickets sold by members, combined with a trebling of the tickets we sold through the website. Now, usually we do, especially in the winter season, sell out, but to do so so far in advance certainly caused Simon W a bit of a headache and more than a few late, sleepless nights.
We aren’t a professional organization by any stretch of the imagination, so our systems are constantly being developed. In the past it was easy to have tickets both for direct sale by members, as well as on line, because we knew that even if the exact numbers of membership sales was not known, there would be enough of a buffer to meet the on-line commitments. With the growing scarcity of tickets though, it looks like this process will have to be tightened up.

This does beg the question why it is that this has happened now. One can only conjecture, but on-line at least, the Pink Singers’ web presence has stepped up, with a more active Facebook fan page, MySpace page, Twitter feed and even a number of YouTube videos (all the links are in the column to your right). It certainly helps that in the popular press as well, shows about group singing, including Glee, have kept choirs in the limelight. This is all good, especially for those of us on stage, because there is nothing like performing to a packed and wildly appreciative audience.
The Royal College of Music is fairly familiar to us now, given that this is our second time there, so there are fewer surprises in terms of the venue itself. Nevertheless, since this time we were performing with two other choirs, Purple Harmony and Sing Out Bristol, rather than by ourselves, it took significantly more organizational work to make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time. None of this would have been possible without the volunteers like Kate D who kept Sing Out Bristol entertained and updated, but a great deal of credit goes to our UK Concerts director Ben P.

I have no idea how he does it, but he manages to co-ordinate moving nearly 150 people in and around the theatre, set out instructions to the production crew, and act as the general lynch pin of the whole operation, while still keeping a calm exterior and still singing! The fact that, as a choir, we just have to concentrate on our own performance, and not worry about all the extraneous logistical issues is down in no small part to Ben’s hard work. Ben, for going above and beyond the call of duty, I salute you!
Indeed, I wish to salute all the Pinkies in general, not only for putting on a great performance, but for contributing to it in so many different ways. The Pink Singers are about singing, true, but the creation of the end product requires so much input from a huge number of people. It is salutary to observe that it is no longer just the people in the committee doing all the work; there is a whole phalanx of Pinkies helping out in other ways, from choreographing our moves, to making announcements, to performing solos, to arranging sectionals, to recording multimedia, to organizing social events. All of these things create a much richer experience for all the members. And all of these Pinkies are doing this as volunteers at that, so it is good that we now have a tradition of recognizing their efforts at the concert. This Pink Insider loves his new key chain thank you very much!
One of the big events this season has been our inclusion of religious music in our repertoire. To be correct we have, for a long time now, sung music with a sacred theme, but the songs have largely been in Latin or classical, or about Christmas. So if you really want to split hairs, this is the first time we have sung modern Christian songs which are not carols in English. Hopefully that just goes to show how arbitrary the classification is, but it would be remiss of me if I did not acknowledge that this caused some consternation in the choir. We are an LGBT choir, and many of our members have an uneasy and occasionally fractious relationship with the Christian faith. So it is with some pride that the choir still stuck together to perform these songs well, despite any individual reservations.

The result was, for me, the most significant event of the evening, which was when Purple Harmony joined us on stage to perform. They are a children’s choir from Surrey, and the choir in which Cass used to sing when she was a little one. Thanks to her hard work, she managed to get them to perform with us where my own efforts at securing a children’s choir had failed. To me their being on stage with us was a profound statement of how far our society has progressed in terms of inclusiveness and equality. In rehearsal, our joint song Rutter’s Look At The World sounded beautiful, but with children’s voices it was sublime. I had to stop myself from choking with tears during the song itself it was so transcendent. The performance defied all stereotypes of what an LGBT choir is, and I certainly hope that the more conservative elements will at least have had some of their prejudices questioned.
I also want to highlight our other guest choir, Sing Out Bristol. They are one of the newest LGBT choirs in the UK, being just over two years old, but already they have over 60 members, 40 of whom came to London. I met them for the first time at Various Voices back in May 2009. Speaking to some of their members, they face the same problems we do – deciding on a direction for the choir, managing a large group of people and dealing with the right balance between the needs of the individual and needs of the choir as a whole – but at least we have had a quarter century lead on them! There is so much to learn, from each other, and it is wonderful what we can give each other the platform to perform at and support each other in the way we do. I can see our relationship growing from here on in.
All of this is wonderfully virtuous, but the best part is that the Pinkies really know how to have fun, so after the concert it was on to a raucous karaoke at the Imperial College bar, followed the next day by an understandably more subdued post-concert brunch at the Ku Bar in Lisle Street. Time to put away the pink accessory for another season; see you at the end of February for Summer 2010!

Being Part Of Something Special

"Being a part of something special makes you special, right?"

Just watched Glee last night on E4, and it was great. Reviewers have compared it to High School Musical on steroids, but that is selling it short as it is nowhere as near as saccharine.

First of all it reinforces my suspicion that if I had grown up in an American High School I would have been a major social reject. One good thing about being in Singapore is that, while sports achievements are laudable, so too are academic prowess and musical talent. This was just as well as I have never been particularly athletic, my closest brush with sports being on the cross-country team when there was absolutely no-one else who would do it. I was also the non-sports co-ordinator designate for my house. What that basically meant was that I organized the drama nights, the talent contests, the chess tournaments and the science and maths olympiads. A recipe for murder if ever there was one, certainly in the Glee universe.

Secondly it comes up with some amazing quotes like the one above. Said by Rachel to her teacher, it was conveyed with such a sense of hopeful self-deception it rang a chord in me. Do I disbelieve it? No, I think contributing to something special does make you special. Certainly the feeling I have from years of theatrical productions and concerts never seems to die with every new performance.

The Pink Singers' winter concert happens on Saturday and looking back at the season it is with great justification that I can say that what we've created is special, and that's just one reason why the Pinkies are special.



Random track from Glee included above because I love it.

Competition, Vindication, Learning

We're back! And the Pinkies come bearing a prize for second place in the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition. As you know, I have written about my misgivings when it comes to choral competitions, but in the end, I am quite happy to admit that I was somewhat mistaken, and the experience of being in a choral competition again was much more pleasant this time round.

Second place was a tremendous achievement, especially when you consider that we only had 2 months of vocal rehearsals and 3 weeks of choreography rehearsals. At the same time, none of the competition pieces are in our winter concert repertoire, which may be seen as dividing our attention a little. Even so, the majority of us recognized the challenge for what it was, and knuckled down to some serious memory work, and at the end of the say we could spend most of that short time polishing the performance.

Manchester is a beautiful city, even in the torrential rain and gale force winds, and the organizers from the MGLC were gracious hosts. This year, the real tragedy is that they did not manage to secure funding for the event, and are so reliant on ticket sales to pay back the bills for the event. I'm crossing my fingers that they at least break even, but from the way the audience filled the auditorium (even discounting the choirs) I am at least somewhat optimistic that this will happen. They deserve massive applause for making it happen this year though.

We arrived early at the venue, and because it was somewhat chaotic and there wasn't much room to warm up, we ended up rehearsing in the foyer. The stage check also proved to be a bit of a downer when we realised that the stage not only had no risers, it had wasn't even sloped. It put paid to the original plans for the cross formation for Locus Iste, but the consummate professionals we are, the show must go on!

And go on it did! Actually we were amongst the earliest to perform which meant there were fewer members of the audience in the auditorium. These conditions are hard at the best of times, but we put on a proficient performance and managed to get a standing ovation at the end of Italian Salad from some of the judges.

Choral competitions are always interesting because I have a vicarious interest in seeing how other choirs do things. Over the last five or so years the Pink Singers have maintained our sense of family, but our look has become ever more professional. I think Pinkies are proud to be Pinkies and this shows in how we dress, stand and behave on stage. There were a number of choirs who looked sloppy or messy, and very few who can "perform", and not just "sing", like we do. We were undoubtedly helped by our new pink accessories, the handiwork of the very diligent and skillful Mikki and Karin.

Then there are other choirs who are so beyond our league it just isn't funny, and it is both humbling and an honour to see such greatness. I'm talking of the eye-opening Cottontown Chorus, who are without a doubt, one of the slickest choirs I have ever seen. Barbershop is a difficult musical style at the best of times and they had such a beautiful sound, a breathtaking dynamic range, and moves to die for. I was deeply impressed.

I guess the question then is whether the Pinkies want to be that kind of choir, and it isn't clear that we do. I was watching us perform later that afternoon in St. Ann's square, in the pouring rain, and thinking, "Look at us, we're performing well, we're having such a good time, and that's what counts." And there was the meal together that evening in Villagio followed by drinks and dancing in Via Fossa that night which reminded me that we don't really need to compete with other choirs to share our special Pinkies magic.

But we can still learn, and there is always room for improvement. I know I would like us to learn our lines earlier, so we can spend the time on the repertoire as we did with the contest, polishing and buffing, and not just learning the notes. It does mean that everyone will have to up their game, certainly in terms of learning the music, fast and early in the season.

We are getting there, and I am re-energized to bring that polish to our winter concert!

Edit: Bonus! Check out Oskar's photos of us warming up and on stage. There are even more photos available - links are in the Pinkies On The Web column to the right.

Edit edit: And now I've added videos of the performance - more in the Pink Insider YouTube channel in the list of links to the right!

A Proper Welcome To the Newbies!

What a wonderful time I had at the Pinkies newbies welcome party last night! We are now into week 6 of the winter season, and the new Pinkies are started to get bedded in. It is hard to socialize in rehearsal because everyone is concentrating on learning the music, and if you don't go to the pub afterwards then you don't really get much of a chance to chat. That's why the newbies' party was born: it is an opportunity for the oldies to get to know the new Pinkies better. What a friendly bunch we are! Besides, with karaoke, beer and Pink Singers, you can pretty much be guaranteed a fun evening!

And loads of the newbies picked up the courage to get on stage to perform. Kudos to Ryan, Jerome, Paul and Al for picking up the microphone and really going for it. Wonder why none of the new girls got up on stage though...

Thoughts On Choral Competitions

Now here's an interesting subject: choir competitions. The reason it has even come up is that the Pinkies are, for the first time in my travels with them, entering such an event. On the face of it there is quite a lot of interest from many Pink Singers, particularly in light of the recent successes with Various Voices London. But the difference is that Various Voices was a festival and not a competition, a small but very significant difference.

Prior to joining the Pink Singers I was in several church and university choirs, some of which were semi-professional, and at least two of which regularly entered competitions. I have some idea of the amount of blood, sweat and tears it takes to put up a competition-level performance. It involved an awful amount of work and committment, much more, dare I say it, than many Pinkies realise.

We are a community choir, and many members join because they love singing. I know I adore being in the Pink Singers because I like the relaxed environment. Not everyone has the same vocal or choreographic ability, innate or acquired, by the time the season ends, but that's okay because it is about getting together and enjoying both the concert we put on and each others' company.

Add a little competition to the mix and the emphasis changes somewhat. If you've been to one of our concerts you will know that the Pink Singers already perform to a very high standard, but to take it to the next level requires far more attention to things like blending, dipthongs, breathing, consonants, dynamics, posture, choreography etc. Then you go to the competition itself and have to deal with the added stress of performing in front of critical eyes. I must admit to being a bit apprehensive about turning a hobby which I enjoy into something I just know I will fret about.

Thankfully, the competition we are getting our feet wet in is the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition, organized by our counterparts in that city, the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus. Despite my concerns I am reassured by their statement that:

The competition is not solely focused on the winning choir and there are no great financial rewards at stake - simply the satisfaction of having sung to a high standard and had an opportunity to experience and enjoy the diversity of performance from other amateur choirs.

Perhaps more importantly, it looks like all the choirs which took part in last year's inaugural contest had a really good time, so it was, in spirit, more like a festival with the competition component thrown in for added frisson. Despite my reservations I've been won around and not only am I going to go, I'm actually quite looking forward to it. In fact, I think a bit of concentrated preparation will improve our choirs general performance as well. And of course a trip anywhere with the Pinkies is bound to be fun!

I'll leave you with some videos of the kind of competition we are up against. These are all from last year's inaugural MACC.

Look Back In Wonder

Every season with the Pinkies is memorable, just as every season is different. There are always new Pinkies coming, old Pinkies leaving, new places to visit, old friends to catch up with, and the baseline level of flux keeps things interesting. This season, and this year in fact, has been significantly more exciting than before though, because there has been a considerable amount of change happening. Lynne, our former chair, left the Pinkies on a very even keel, and I know I felt a little trepidation at the prospect of someone else taking over. But Mark and the new committee have put their own successful stamp on the Pinkies, and I thought I'd like to jot some of my thoughts down on what it has meant for me.

1. A much busier season
The biggest change has got to have been that we have performed a whole lot more this season than in any season before. Even before the summer session properly kicked off we were in the Southbank Centre, and this was followed by loads of small gigs, trips to Paris, Edinburgh and Malta, Various Voices London and our usual summer concert. There has been nothing quite like it, and it has been challenging to the choir to learn all the music and choreography to the level we want.

I must confess to not being entirely comfortable with this level of activity, in the main because choral singing really is a team effort. Because we are amateurs, it is hard for all of us to commit the time required to fully polishing up our performance. Most seasons I learn all my music by week 6 or 7, and then I just cruise until the concert. This time round though, the music was chopped and changed from concert to concert, and we had new joint songs to learn as well. I barely got all my music down pat, and must confess that I probably had 95% of the repertoire at performance level, not the 99% I am used to, but even that required a lot of hard work. I am not sure that others want to or can put in the hours needed, nor, arguably, should they be expected to.

On the plus side - there's nothing like common adversity (this word is a bit strong, but you get the idea) and a shared challenge to draw people closer together, and I know the Pinkies who stuck through all the gigs from the start of the year came away feeling exhausted, yes, but with a sense of satisfaction at having worked hard to create something which was worthwhile. I was rather teary at the end of our gig in Malta, partly because we performed really well, but also because it was the end of a great season, packed to the brim with fantastic moments and lasting memories.

I hear that in the coming season we are going to take things just a little bit easier, with fewer events. After the summer I think we need it! But at the same time we do need more performance opportunities to progress us musically, and also to create those experiences which make me glad to be in the Pink Singers. That line is a fine one, and I think the Pinkies are still trying to find the right balance. We know now how far we can go if pushed though!

2. A cap on numbers
When I joined the choir those years ago there were just over thirty members. In the intervening years our choir has grown steadily, and each time we moved our rehearsal venue, from the Drill hall to the Royal Academy of Music, and then to the Place, it became possible to increase the size of the choir. Thankfully, the choir has never had a shortage of would-be Pinkies, but the number of place in the choir always seemed to grow in tandem with the them. At present, however, we have a cap of 80 members, that's 20 per section or 10 per voice. Yet our retention rate is now very high as well, and if you couple that with more and more people writing in their interest to Liang, our new-members' rep, something has got to give.

The first thing was that former Pink Singers are now no longer guaranteed a place in the choir if they have spent more than 2 seasons out. Retired Pinkies still get first dibs on places if they are under that threshold, because people have to take time out for a multitude of reasons. But I certainly think this makes it much fairer for newbies. At the back of my mind, I realise that circumstances may mean I am unable to sing for a year, which would in turn mean that I may not be able to come back. But at the same time I would not want to deny others the wonderful experience of being a Pink Singer.

The second thing, is that the entry process is now not just a simple "voice check" as it used to be. In fact, for a while it has been an audition of sorts. But while Mladen and Michael De can keep an ear out for vocal quality, the Pinkies are not just about singing, it is a real community of people. Sadly, you can't tell how much people will embrace being in the choir by a single trial session: some of the quietest people in their first rehearsal have blossomed the most in the past year, just as some of the noisiest contribute the least. How this is going to be addressed is another issue. I know this is an area that Liang is putting a lot of thought into. We'll see what happens in the coming year!

3. Dividing the load
Although a larger choir means a lot more organisation, this is balanced by having more people who are willing to volunteer a little bit more in running the choir. For the first time in a while all the committee positions were filled, and we even had two positions which were contested at the elections. This is a marvellous place to be in. Part of this was due to the reorganisation of the roles within the committee, to make them more consistent with what they were actually doing, but part of it is due to people now getting more involved in how the choir is run. The open meetings certainly give people a say, and many Pinkies now participate in the running and promotion of our concerts. I agree with Emelda, as she told me on the night of the concert, that it has felt a whole lot more of a team effort this season.

What is probably most reassuring for the committee members is that there are many Pink Singers who would be willing to take on individual projects, even if they do not want to go for a committee role. For instance, Gary did a superb job in handling our new T-shirts with Mark's guidance. Our twitter, Facebook and MySpace pages have been handled by people other than the webmaster (already a full-time job!). It was wonderful that the committee this year recognised the help so many general members provide by giving them a token of appreciation - the limited edition Pink Singers mug. Looks like I have to keep doing stuff for the next few years if I want to get my set of 6!

4. Taking care of new Pinkies, remembering old ones.
One downside of the manic summer season was that because we had so many concerts early on, it was really only possible for existing members to perform, using older repertoire. The new Pinkies were started on the new repertoire of course, but they didn't really get a chance to be part of a performance until later on, and I think they felt a little left out as the rest of us went of and did gigs everywhere else. Some people, like Joanna and Frances for instance, seized the day, but some others found it really hard going and eventually left the choir. My philosophy is that we can't please everyone all the time, but what we can do is offer as much support to struggling members as we can. I know the section leaders do keep an eye out to make sure people are not being left behind, but if they do, and they decide that being a Pink Singers is not for them, then we need to find out whether there is anything that can be done to remedy the situation. Often there is not, and being in a choir does need a degree of commitment which they were perhaps unwilling to make.

Conversely, this season we have also had to deal with two of our longest serving members leaving the choir for personal reasons. Bill has been a Pinkie for 11 years and Andy M has been one for a decade. Both have contributed in so many different ways to the choir, by singing and taking part in events, and in Andy's case also arranging music for us. They will be sorely missed, and it was wonderful that we could recognise their labours. Thank you both once again!

5. A sense of Pride
Although we can hardly be described as activists, I don't think it is going too far to say that for an LGBT choir we weren't very LGBT about it. This does not, of course, mean wearing spandex or platform shoes - we can be gay or lesbian without any of the stereotypes thank you very much - it meant that, apart from Pride, LGBT History Month and World AIDS Day, we weren't really doing very much in or for the community. Part of the hesitation was that people were, for personal reasons, worried about being out. However, the fact that the Pink Singers identifies as a lesbian and gay choir, and have many public performances, makes this point somewhat moot, as well as being incongruous. Indeed, just because you are in the choir doesn't mean that you are necessarily lesbian or gay, just that you share a sense of social justice for all members of society, especially lesbian and gay people. The good news is that where we were once hamstrung by issues of privacy, we are now much prouder. Our role in Malta has galvanised me, and now that we have a community director by way of Jules, expect a lot more Pinkies community involvement in the future.

There are so many other people to thank this season: the entire committee of course, with special shout outs to Ben P, Andrew F and of course Mark. And there are so many things to look forward to in Winter 2009. It is a very exciting and challenging time to be in the Pink Singers, and we are still all trying to find our way. But it is oh so rewarding as well!

The Pink Singers Hit Malta Pride!

I love the Pink Singers' overseas trips. We've travelled to tons of places around the globe, mainly to north America and around Europe, and every experience is a new one. These little excursions give us the chance hang out with other Pinkies in a relaxed setting, do even more singing and, of course, meet other people who enjoy singing.
Our trip to Malta last week though, had a few notable differences. The first was that we were going to Malta to help support the Malta Gay Rights Movement at their Gay Pride week, and the second was that we were to sing with a church-linked choir. Maltese society is very traditional, and also staunchly Catholic, which made the whole event a unique one, in that we were there to build bridges and overcome differences.
Worthy as all of that is, before it - of course - came the holiday! We were all going out at different times, centering on the time of the concert, and these Pink Insiders left on the Monday after our summer concert. Malta is hot in July, and that limits activities any more strenuous than walking to the hours before 11am and after 4pm. Our first day was spent fixing the air conditioning in the hotel room and downing a bottle of rose.
I don't want to detract from any of the many wonderful historical and geographic sights in Malta - we went to the old capital at Mdina, saw the crypts at Rabat, and were dangly over the Dingli cliffs, and we visited the co-cathedral in Valetta and took pictures of the Grand Harbour - but at the end of the day this was a Pinkie holiday, so it was more about chilling with the others.
It isn't surprising that as the choir gets bigger you begin to lose touch with individuals. At rehearsal and then afterwards in the pub you don't often get the chance to speak to others. This time round though I spent much more time with people like Karin and Denise, Jules and Greg, James H and Alp. I really value getting to know them so much better, and it has reaffirmed my belief that the Pinkies really does attract some of the nicest people.
Kudos especially go out to Daniel B, who I regret not having gotten to know particularly well prior to our trip out to Malta, but who I now think is one of the kindest and most selfless people on the planet. After all it was he who basically made sure that our stay on Gozo was not only convenient, it was filled with experiences I never thought I'd encounter. There was the festa of St. George in Victoria with the frenzied enthusiasm of Gozitans cheering the placing of the statue on the plinth outside the cathedral. There was the slightly creepy sensation of swimming in darkness in the tunnel between the inland and outer sea.
Most memorable of all though was the glorious afternoon we spent on a boat cruising around Gozo. Jules was trying to demonstrate his cleavage to us ('nuff said) and a couple of ladies at the back of the boat overheard him and guessed that we were singers. It turned out that they were operatic sopranos themselves, and good ones too, from the Netherlands, and what followed then was much singing and laughing. It got the people on the upper deck chilled out too and they soon joined in. We jumped off the side of the boat into the clear blue water, swam, drank and sang some more. That evening was followed by a shared meal thanks to Charlie and Liang our chefs, accompanied by Bette Midler on the iPod, and operatic drinking songs. It was a magical day I will always remember, and none of it would been possible if it wasn't for the Pink Singers.
I was fully expecting the return to Valletta to be disappointing after that, and was surprised when things kept going on a high. We met the other Pink Singers that evening by the sea for a meal together but didn't stay out too late because we knew that it was Malta Pride the next morning.
Having just experienced Pride London a couple of weeks ago, and the sheer number of people both on parade and watching, I can honestly say that Malta Pride is a completely different kettle of fish. It was Pride shedding its ridiculous commercial appearance and getting back to the its roots: showing people that no, we are not weirdos, we are your brothers and sisters, your friends, your colleagues, so how can you discriminate against us? The march itself was not large, and the Pink Singers increased the number of marchers significantly. Andrew F had planned ahead and brought a stack of stickers from Amnesty International saying "Some People Are Gay, Get Over It", and had also invested in rainbow and trans flags for us to wave.
Despite the serious intent the mood was quite festive and we did provoke more than the odd stare from passers by. I had a long chat with Bernard from the Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM), and he lamented that there weren't more people active in their group. It seems that apathy is a global issue, and that many gay people seem to be happy with "adequate", rather than pushing for "equality". People do need to continue to fight intolerance, and it is interesting that the next day the Bishop of Gozo apparently set out a sermon condemning gays and lesbians as a danger threatening society, quite forgetting that we are part of society and have always been, not something which exists outside of it.
This makes the concert that evening all the more remarkable. It was partly the brainchild of MGRM, but came to fruition through Symphonik, a project of the Young Christian Workers of Malta. The latter group is made up of about thirty young men and women who have nobly taken on themselves the aim of overcoming prejudice through music. In London the Pinkies don't tend to be involved in such collaborative projects, so it was wonderful that we were given this opportunity in Malta.
As with all such events, there was some initial shyness as we first got to meet each other, but whether it is due to the incredible warmth of the Maltese people or just these Maltese in particular, I can honestly say that I now have some great new friends like Lorleen, Clyde and Martha.
Symphonik are a talented and very energetic group of performers. They write their own music and sing many of their own songs, and are lucky enough to have their own in-house band who provide much of the backing music, as well as many confident soloists who are not afraid to perform on stage in front of hundreds of people. I thoroughly enjoyed their set, especially their opening number Ameno and in the balcony I can tell you that the Pink Singers were singing along to almost everything from Can You Feel The Love Tonight to Bohemian Rhapsody.
As for our half of the concert, well what can I say? It was wonderful. Despite the stage being smaller than we are used to (despite our reduced numbers), and the presence of microphones, we sang well. We ought to have since the summer concert was just a week ago! This time round we performed 70s Dance Party as our finale, leaving Hallini as our last, surprise encore. I am the first to admit that I was worried about it. The last thing you want it for your encore to be less successful than your finale, but the moment we started singing the audience pretty much roared and clapped and sang along. Symphonik even formed a conga line and danced around the auditorium. The whole concert ended in a joint rendition of Angels which nearly blew the roof off it was that passionate and that loud!
Photo credit: Peter Borg
That evening was spent in the only gay (bar) in the village (sic.) called Tom's Bar. The proprietors didn't know what hit them because the Pinkies descended en masse after the concert, together with Symphonik and people from MGRM, swigging down their stock of Cisk, the local beer. It was there that Lorleen came up with the great idea of organizing a swimming expedition the next day.
Feeling just a little fragile the next morning, we left it until late to meet up, and even then it was after the heat of the day had lessened a little before we went out to the rocks. I was just thinking that our average Sunday is spent in one of the rooms at the Place; what a great idea if we could rehearse in the sea!
That evening, we met up again for what was another highlight of our Maltese visit. We took over the entire restaurant for some traditional Maltese food, including rabbit, fish and wrapped beef rolls. As with all these social events there was more singing to be had, from traditional Maltese songs, to spontaneous solos (Cormac was the consummate performer), to a reprise (albeit somewhat flat) of the previous night's repertoire. I loved it! At the end of the day, this is what it is about. Sexuality is a total non-issue and we share so much more in common than we have differences - it is these commonalities which count.
Speaking with MGRM at the end, I think they felt encouraged to keep Sounds of Diversity as an on-going event. Europe is certainly full of LGBT choirs who would jump at the chance to perform in Malta. I hope this is the start of many years of diversity to come!

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.

Singing With Pride

It didn't start out well. Grey clouds rolled in at lunchtime and the few droplets of rain I felt going up Baker Street soon turned into a full-flegded downpour. Curse my leaving my umbrella at home in false optimism! I couldn't even find the Pinkies at first, my eye having been momentarily distracted by the Selfridges models wearing Calvin Klein. I did run into some of my twitter buddies from the LGMC though, and after walking along a bit I thought it prudent to perhaps loiter as the rest of the column walked past.

Call it fate, or a sign, but the sun came out at precisely the same moment I saw the Pink Singers, resplendent in our still-pretty-new T-shirts. The basses had baby pink eBay-derived wigs on and Jules went for the whole Dame Edna look. They looked absolutely fantastic! The Pinkies were also joined on the march by a number of WAGs, Lou being rather enterprising and buying a T-shirt for her other half which proclaimed as much.

This year's march has got to have been one of the best I've been on in terms of attendance. The pavements were packed from Baker Street all the way down Oxford Street, Regent Street, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Sqaure and even down into White Hall. This time round we were between a group in front selling web hosting (everyone knows IT geeks are strong in the way of the gayness) and the London Frontrunners (hurrah!) and the LGBT football clubs behind. The good thing about the IT geeks was that they had brought their own trannie DJ who played club classics as we were following, and that gave us some music to sing along to. You just can't stop us once the music gets going. Hmmm... Idea for next year's march perhaps?

Another idea is to have someone run along with a mobile bar. By the time we had turned into Regent Street I had reapplied my sunblock twice and gone through my litre bottle of water. Emelda had already downed her bottle of bubbly a junction earlier! Others had been drinking their own version of "Lilt" which meant they were in a decidedly good mood throughout the parade. At the end of the march I was feeling particularly prune-like and all I needed was a bit of a snooze.

The best was to come though, because the Pink Singers were on stage later on that evening. The good weather meant that the crowds were out in force, and the organizers were trumpeting that one million people were on the march. They couldn't all fit into Trafalgar Sqaure of course, but it it sure felt like it. The atmosphere was great, and the setting sun really cast a golden glow on the event.

The ever amazing Paleday came on stage, opening with Eurotramp, then segueing into the Pink Singers' emergence. Despite having had very little rehearsal and not knowing what the stage looked like before climbing the stairs, the whole process looked really smooth. The Pinkies launched into California Dreamin' much to the adulation of the audience. What really made the difference this year (apart from the weather) was the repertoire - which was what people wanted to hear and sing along with - and Paleday with their band and brass section. Everyone felt the vibe: not just the audience, but also the Pinkies who looked like they were having the best party of all on stage.

California Dreamin' was followed in quick succession by 70s Dance Party, introduced as ever by Philip R. Philip was at the very first Pride London march in 1971, which means this was his 38th Pride London, and he has been at all 26 of the Pink Singers' Pride Londons too. There was awed respect and a hearty round of applause for that.

When we first started rehearsing 70s Dance Party way back in February I never really thought it could be that good. But on stage at Pride when everyone was singing along, it felt so perfect. At one point the music seems to end, after Dancing Queen, and you could hear the crowd getting ready to whoop and clap, but then we started singing You're The One That I Want and the crowd went wild! The very last piece we did was a joint song with Paleday singing YMCA. It was a sight seeing everyone in Trafalgar Square doing the movements.

There has been much debate in the press about the depoliticisation of Pride, and while I do think that that is important, for people coming out, being overly strident can be a turn off. The march is especially significant regardless of how overt its activist credentials are, because while there are press-friendly muscle-bound men dressed in underwear and bearded bears made up like Dorothy, there are also people who don't conform to those stereotypes. Pride is that one day when gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transexuals and everyone of all walks of life can emerge and wave their colours before merging with the rest of society for the rest of the year. The Pinkies are a microcosm of London LGBT life, and we are proud of it too!