Flashmob Choir! It actually happened!

On Saturday 24th October we surprised shoppers in Birmingham City Centre with a special ‘flashmob choir’ event in the Pavilions Shopping Centre. The event was covered by Central News who interviewed audience members about the experience. We also had Birmingham Mail journalist Phil VInter ‘undercover’ in the choir trying out singing for the first time since he was a child! See both videos below for all the coverage:

 

The Ulfah Collective

On Thursday night the Ulfah Collective held their open rehearsal. Here is our video of the exisitng members talking about their experiences in the collective.

The Ulfah Collective are made up of practicing Muslim women. With an age range of 13 to 42 and a core team of five which expands to fourteen members for larger performances, they are from Pakistani, Somali, Bangladeshi, Arab and Jamaican backgrounds. The varying backgrounds and cultures bring together different interpretations of Islam that are catered for, by women only audiences and performances with just the hand drum.   They write their own lyrics and vocal compositions. Their performances have included Wembley Arena (London) to an audience of 12,000 alongside Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees and Ruby Wax.

 

Notorious

Notorious also rehearsed last night with lots of new people trying out their open rehearsal.

Notorious with a difference has been running since 1997 and aims to perform a wide range of music in a wide range of places. There are no fixed weekly rehearsals, no auditions and they perform in unusual venues.

photos: Adrian Burrows

sshhhh… and if you’d like to sing this song with Notorious on Saturday have a look at this secret web page…!

Vox Populi

We had so many open rehearsals on Wednesday that we also sent our photographer Adrian Burrows to some of the other events…

Vox Populi is a community singing group based in Sheldon, Birmingham and conducted by Kate Buttolph. The group aims to deliver concerts and music-based projects, primarily in community venues, and to experience and communicate a wide variety of musical styles including popular, contemporary, world and early music.

Here they are in action last night!

Kiss the Ceiling

Kiss the Ceiling met last night for their open rehearsal and we had a guest conductor Genevieve Sylva.

Kiss The Ceiling Acappella Singers is a performance vocal group usually under the direction of Jackie Roxborough meeting weekly in Stirchely, Birmingham. Focusing on the ‘natural voice’, the group sings a broad variety of Global songs from many cultures and styles ranging from Gospel, African, Eastern European, Folk, Doo Wop, Popular to more traditional British Songs.

City of Birmingham Choir

Last night we held an open rehearsal at the City of Birmingham Choir‘s normal Tuesday rehearsal – here is a video about the choir.

Bulava Chorus

The Bulava Chorus – a Ukrainian Choir based in the Midlands held an open rehearsal as part of Sing! Right Up your Street on Sunday. Here is the video we made about the choir: