SOINTULA – Griping with gusto. That’s what a choir in Sointula does on a new set of CDs featuring Complaints Choirs from around the world. A Complaints Choir sets complaints to song, singing out islanders’ frustration.
The Complaints Choir concept was started by Tellervo Kalleinen of Finland and Oliver Kockta-Kallienen of Germany in 2004. The first choir performance of complaints was in Birmingham, England in 2005 and since then Complaints Choirs have popped up all over the world, including Sointula. Their performances are all over YouTube.
“We, the hearty souls of Sointula, have joined the ranks of ‘connoisseurs of complaining’ and organized a Complaints Choir,” said Heidi Soltau in a press release from Smog Veil, producers of the 3 CDs and a documentary DVD about the choirs. A poster and complaints box was put up the Sointula Co-op last spring and in two weeks, the choir had more than enough material to work with, said Soltau.
The song they produced is called History Always Trumps Common Sense.
“... that was one of the complaints we just couldn’t find a place for in the song!” said Soltau.
The song was performed for the community during Artopia last July and the performance is posted on YouTube.
The Sointula choir complains about everything from ferries to frogs to fog and rain in a humourous harmony of song led by Stephanie Eakle.
Now it is has been included with others from Chicago to Melbourne to Jerusalem and others around the globe.
Pre-orders for the CDs and documentary DVD are available on the Smog Veil website http://www.smogveil.com/ecom/ for $19.99.