Northern Proud Voices

The north east of England has seen even more added to its local LGBT community recently. As Sunderland gets its own gay advice centre, Gay Advice Sunderland, Newcastle has seen the creation of its own LGBT friendly choir. Northern Proud Voices aims to compete with choirs from LGBT communities across the UK and is open to anyone who can hold a tune. In an interview with So So Gay, Ken Mortimer talks about the need for this type choir in the community and the reason he decided to set it all up.

SSG:What is Northern Proud Voices all about?

Ken Mortimer: Northern Proud Voices is a new North East choir for lesbian, gay, bisexual & trans people and our lovely non-LGBT friends, set up to unite LGBT people across the region through a shared love of music. We rehearse every Friday evening in the centre of Newcastle. Being a part of Northern Proud Voices allows us to celebrate our diversity through song within a safe environment. Lots of my friends in the LGBT communities told me how much they wanted a new way to socialise and be creative, and LGBT choirs exist in Manchester, London, Sheffield, Brighton, Leeds and Glasgow, so I thought – why not Newcastle? And so Northern Proud Voices was born!

Do you think that the formation of Northern Proud Voices is just another step in showing that LGBT life in the North East is improving or at least progressing?

I think establishing an LGBT choir helps raise the visibility of our lives in a really positive way. Some people might argue that with greater legal equality for LGBT people there should be less need for segregated groups. However, changes in equality law don’t always lead to greater acceptance, and there are still many LGBT people out there who face discrimination in many aspects of their everyday lives. Spending time in the company of other LGBT people in creating something truly amazing is a great way for people to develop their confidence and make new friends. The choir is LGBT but the fact that it’s open to LGBT-friendly people too helps us to reach across community boundaries.

Do you think that there is a need for an LGBT choir in the region?

I think in any society where people in certain groups can experience marginalisation and discrimination there will always be a need for inclusive activities in a safe environment. Somewhere where people can just be themselves and celebrate who they are. Whether that’s a choir, drama group or writing group, it doesn’t really matter. However, something magical happens when voices are raised together in song, and we had well over 30 singers at our first rehearsal belting out ‘I Am What I Am’ and having a ball doing it - so I reckon Northern Proud Voices is happening at just the right time.

Where are you hoping Northern Proud Voices will lead?

I’d really love Northern Proud Voices to grow and become a long-term feature of LGBT life in the North East. Manchester’s Lesbian and Gay Chorus has a membership of around 60 people and Northern Proud Voices had more than half that number in the first week alone – so I think we’ve got off to a great start! One of our ambitions is to give a performance at Northern Pride on 16 July. I’d also really like us to be able to put on a concert at Christmas. We’ve got a tremendous Musical Director, Graham West and I’m sure he’s going to work us all very hard to help us reach our goals.

How does Northern Proud Voices compare with other choirs across the UK?

Many of the ’gay’ choirs across the UK are gender specific - like the London Gay Men’s Chorus – but I wanted Northern Proud Voices to be open to everyone in the region who is L, G, B or T, or who cares deeply about our communities.

Is this a professional choir or can anyone join in and take part?

Northern Proud Voices is first and foremost an LGBT community choir and we welcome everyone. All we ask is that you can carry a tune and come along to rehearsals regularly. Singing is great and we have a lot of fun. Of course, we also want to develop a reputation as a choir capable of giving high quality performances so alongside the fun goes a lot of hard work as well.

What sort of songs does the choir sing?

Graham, our Musical Director, and I are really keen that members of the choir should be involved in deciding what songs we perform during rehearsals. In our first week, as well as ‘I Am What I Am’ from La Cage aux Folles, we sang Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and ‘Holding Out for a Hero’, Chesney Hawkes’ ‘I am the One and Only’ and even Dusty Springfield’s ‘I Only Want to be With You’. Different people will have different tastes in music, so we’ll be doing show tunes, popular numbers, standards and hopefully some more serious choral work too – something for everyone!

Northern Proud Voices meets every Friday evening from 7.00 pm onwards in central Newcastle. For more information on how to get involved e-mail northernproudvoices@ymail.com or contact Ken on 0191 2963445.