Report by Andy Wallis
A video dedicated to all those affected by Covid-19 has been released by The Virtual Choir – made up of members from Thanet Male Voice Choir, Harmony Ladies Choir and choirs from Lizzano in Belvedere Italy and from Cologne in Germany.
The Virtual Choir idea came about while one of the members of Thanet Male Voice Choir (TMVC) was chatting, during lockdown, with a friend from Coro Monte Pizzo, an Italian choir based in a village called Lizzano in Belvedere, a small village in the Appenine mountains near Bologna.
Thanet Male Voice Choir, founded in 1977, is now a registered charity and performs regularly throughout the year raising money for various local and national charities. The highlights of the choir’s year are their annual charity Christmas concert, which has raised in excess of £40,000 over the last 20 years, and two free summer concerts at Broadstairs Pavilion entitled Proms by the Sea, which always draw a capacity crowd.
As with all choirs, TMVC has been forced to take a break during lockdown and one of its members suggested that it would be good to embrace modern technology and try and produce a virtual recording, with members recording their part individually in their own home, with these recordings and videos then being combined to produce a choir sound.
For the last 35 years the choir has, every couple of years, joined with Broadstairs based Harmony Ladies Choir and choirs from Lizzano in Belvedere Italy, Coro Monte Pizzo, and Cologne in Germany, Mannerquartett Frohsinn to sing and form friendships in a festival named Harmony In Europe. At each of these festivals the choirs combine to sing, among many other pieces, an Italian piece, Signore Delle Cime, written by an Italian composer, Bepe De Marzi.
The members of TMVC, Harmony Ladies, Coro Monte Pizzo and Mannerquartett Frohsinn took part to form the virtual choir of some 75 singers
The result is the finished recording, which has been dedicated to all those that have been affected in whatever way by Covid-19. It is now available to be enjoyed on either the choir’s website www.thanetmvc.org.uk, the Thanet Male Voice Choir Facebook page, or the Coro Monte Pizzo You Tube channel.
The video is entitled: Signore Delle Cime – Distanti Ma Uniti. Distant but United, to reflect the fact that the singers are geographically distant, being in the three countries, but united in song.
Excellent, singing is very good for our mental health as well as being very enjoyable thing to do.
I watch #keepbritainsinging Rock Choir which is on every day on Facebook at 3 pm.
Thank you for your kind words Ann. Some people say “We don’t stop singing because we get old, We get old because we stop singing”
This was terrific,Andy. Really enjoyable. (Your observation on age is well taken I assure you. R
I sent this to a friend in Italy who was mesmerised by it. Apparently it was written by o person who lived near the town I lived in for a year (Valdagno near Vicenza). It was in honour of a friend who was killed in the mountains. He was a member of a choir called “I Crodaioli”. Lyrics are heart-rending.
Thank you for your kind words Peter. If you’d like to hear more of the same kind of music then take a look at Coro Monte Pizzo, the Italian choir featured in this piece, either on YouTube or on their own website http://www.coromontepizzo.it
Excellent we really enjoy the singing and all the effort that goes into putting the video together. Keep up the great work Jane & Paul (New Zealand)