With another week into the lockdown, f*choir keeps swapping favourite songs, doodles, snacks and memories between online rehearsals. Here is what we’ve swapped last week:
Bianca explains why hummus is her favourite snack. Note that hummus is something like a fuel for f*choir (when and if missing at rehearsal, there is normally a debate):
“Well well well, my favourite snack is something that goes with anything, anytime of the day morning or night and also works for the halfway point in f*choir’s allotted snack time (which we take extremely seriously). This would be for me ‘Hummus Featuring’ which mean hummus with any kind of bread, veg or crisps whatever you feature with hummus it works and has a strong hold on our f*choir snack table.” #HummusFt
Ruth shares memories on the first song she’s learned at f*choir, and for reference’s sake we are posting the video of the original version below.
“I’m not Dancing I’m Fighting was the first song I sang with f*choir. I joined an open rehearsal in 2017 at the Keep it Complex event at Res. in Deptford. At the time the choir was just a year old, having formed at the previous Keep it Complex event, and they showed everyone the handwritten words/scoresheets (no musical notation, just words and directions) and thinking they had done about ‘what makes singing feminist?’
Jenny taught the three(ish) parts of the song to what must have been about 60 people. “This is the Beyonce rewind bit” Yes. I know exactly what you mean. And the timing of the part where I sing ‘do-do, do-do’ is easy because I’m being a doorbell. I loved this way of learning and singing.
The power in the room of those words, and these collective voices was incredible. The powerful volume and togetherness. I wanted to do it again. I’ve been in a political choir before, but this was somehow more complicated, more scratch and creative. There’s something going on with our bodies, singing together, working out how that noise is made, that makes f*choir into a singing practice.
I got home after the event and looked up the song – and this is something I now really appreciate about f*choir, being introduced to new, mostly womxn artists. The version by Tirzah & Micachu is, deeply, sparsely, cool. It’s not a fighting song, it’s understated, letting you know, ‘i’m not shining, i’m burning’.
Debs had an epiphany while being bored by the government’s suggestion on song choices for the corona hand-washing-routine:
“I was finding it difficult to gauge how long 20 seconds was, so I started timing myself while singing bits of songs. Rubie’s song “Anatomy” is pretty much exactly 20 seconds and divides really easily with the hand movements. Be Steadwell’s “Who have I become” is a bit longer but we’ve just been learning it in our zoom choir sessions so it’s been going round my head the last couple of weeks – I use the extra few seconds at the end to rinse my hands. I decided to make this in a really analogue way using the pictures from the government-issued Coronavirus advice leaflets we all got sent – it was nice to make something that looks more like an F*choir score even tho I knew I’d still have to share it digitally.”
Debs doodle of Rubie’s “Anatomy” triggered memories of an f*choir gig we held in February, wherein Rubie opened with that very song, curling themselves intimately through the audience towards the front: