Choir! Choir! Choir!
Choir! Choir! Choir! is a Canadian musical choir, based in Toronto, Ontario.[1] Instead of a traditional organizational model, the choir is structured as an open participation group where anybody who wants to attend an event is welcome to perform as part of the choir.[2]
The group was founded in 2011 by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman,[1] initially as a one-off event for the birthday party of Matt Murphy.[3] Meeting at Clinton's Tavern in Toronto twice weekly,[2] each performance revolves around a single song, starting with Goldman and Adilman teaching the song's arrangement to the participants, and culminating in a live performance of the song.[1]
The group attracted widespread media attention for several performances in 2016. Their rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", performed at the Art Gallery of Ontario six days after Bowie's death, went viral on the internet and saw the choir invited to perform at two Bowie tribute shows in New York City, at Carnegie Hall and Radio City Music Hall;[4] a performance of Prince's "When Doves Cry" in May 2016 drew 1,999 participants to Massey Hall;[5] and their regular Clinton's Tavern session on May 25, 2016 was devoted to The Tragically Hip's "Ahead by a Century" following Gord Downie's announcement earlier in the week of his diagnosis with terminal brain cancer.[6] On June 19, 2016, they performed Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" at Nathan Phillips Square, at a memorial vigil for the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting.[7]
In December 2015, they performed John Lennon's "Imagine" at Lee's Palace as a fundraising event to raise money for Syrian refugees.[8] The event raised enough money to sponsor two full families.[3] In the same month, they collaborated with BADBADNOTGOOD To perform the holiday classic Christmas Time Is Here.
The choir has also performed as an opening act for Patti Smith and Jay Leno,[3] and as supporting musicians with Tegan and Sara.[3]
The group were finalists for "Torontonian of the Year" on CBLA-FM's Metro Morning in 2015.[9]
Daveed & Nobu (DaBu) signed with The Lavin Agency in 2015, and now travel around North America giving motivational talks inspired by their experience growing C!C!C! from twenty people in a real estate office to thousands of participants. They credit many of their achievements to harnessing the power of the community they have built from the ground up.
References
- 1 2 3 "Choir! Choir! Choir! Celebrates Five Years". Torontoist, February 2, 2016.
- 1 2 "Choir Sings Justin Bieber's 'Sorry' And It's Totally Actually Amazing". Huffington Post, January 6, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "Breathing New Life Into Pop Songs with Choir! Choir! Choir!". The New Yorker, June 17, 2016.
- ↑ "Toronto’s Choir! Choir! Choir! goes from Clinton’s to Carnegie Hall". Toronto Star, March 31, 2016.
- ↑ "This is what it sounds like when 1,999 people sing “When Doves Cry”". Chartattack.com, May 16, 2016.
- ↑ "Choir! Choir! Choir! sings “Ahead by a Century” in a touching tribute to Gord Downie". chartattack.com, May 27, 2016.
- ↑ "Toronto tribute to Orlando victims planned for City Hall". BlogTO, June 16, 2016.
- ↑ "Choir! Choir! Choir! sings it for Syria". Now, December 1, 2015.
- ↑ "Torontonians of the year: Choir! Choir! Choir! Choir group sings popular songs while building community". Metro Morning, December 17, 2015.