All things must end
After six brilliant years, the "beloved" (so says the Guardian) alternative Cornish male voice choir Men Are Singing is coming to an end. But before we disband, we want to go out with a bang. There's so much we need to create, document and finish well. Can you help us?
The brain child of artist Seamas Carey, Men Are Singing was originally a social art experiment, exploring whether if he could get younger men to join a choir, by singing less conventional material and taking themselves less seriously. Since September 2018, over 150 men have passed through the doors of the Woodlane Social Club in Falmouth, where we meet every Monday night. The group has become a strong community of positive, supportive and caring men - creating music videos, inventing new traditions, holding talking circles and entertaining thousands of people along the way.
Here's a picture of a t-shirt, which may or may not bear some similarity to the t-shirt you can get through our rewards!
What does it mean to end well?
But all good things come to an end. It's time for Seamas to move on and rather than let it dribble out we have decided to go out with a bang, celebrate the time we've had together and embrace the ending. (we hope that something new will inevitably take it's place once the dust has settled, TBC)
But there's so much we need to do before that happens. We want to create an online archival legacy, which acts as a blueprint for future choirs to use and be inspired by. This will include:
- A new website, featuring our songs and music videos, and all the archive material we have
- New music videos and as a documentary film explaining how the choir works and the effect it has had
- Recording and producing an album
- Creating our farewell stage show, with new songs, script, choreography, directed by Seamas Carey, which will tour in Autumn 2024
Our vinyl album! Vinyl. Final. Get it? Anyone? Bueller?
How you can help
The money you chip in, however big or small, will enable us to pull off our most ambitious endeavour yet. To give the warm, smile inducing effect that community singing can give to as many people as possible. To properly record and document our message of positive masculinity, which will be easily accessible for future generations. And to inspire other communities to carry on the idea of singing together. It always makes people feel better.
Stickers! Who doesn't love stickers? No-one, that's who.
What we have done so far
Our latest music video is all about why we think choirs like this are so important. The words are direct quotes from the men themselves, about why they come to choir and how it makes them feel, set to music by Seamas Carey. 'I Came to Choir' has become an immediate favourite for audiences and the men themselves:
Have a look at some of our other videos to get a better idea of the approach to shared singing that we are so passionate about.
Einstein's Idea - Our cover of Johnny Flynn's gorgeous song all about fatherhood:
A short documentary by the Chair Project, following the choir during our performance on the Rame Peninsula.
An Maw Kernewek - written by Seamas Carey, our song in the Cornish language, about the complex nature of the Cornish identity:
The limited edition print will not look like this. Which technically makes this one even more limited.