Throughout June, The Spooky Men's Chorale are bursting the COVID choral barrier with a massive online community singing event that will boast up to 500 singers of all ages and backgrounds.
The Spooky Men's Chorale are a group of Australian male folk singers - most reside in the Blue Mountains. They will host events every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening throughout June.
Calling the weekly singing events 'Massive Singlets'- there is an adult edition, a kids' edition, a ukulele edition and a massive 'spooky' edition - promise to 'gloriously transcend' the technical limitations of zoom singing and deliver choral adventures that are fun and redemptive. And they also raise money for the COVID fund of Medecins sans Frontieres.
The Spooky Men are an all-male choir and comedy act who have captured the imagination of the music-loving generation for more than 25 years. This new idea, which is open to all, is the ultimate invention of mother necessity, pioneered in UK by long-time Spooky singer James Sills Taberner.
"This is a thing which has been made necessary by other things, the things which make us all be in our smaller rooms, and not in bigger rooms with other people," he said.
"This is what I've been doing for 27 years, only usually in the same room as people! But these are interesting times, and the solution might be interesting too: hence, the Massive Singlet. For people to come together, to be together, to sing, has always been a human need: it is so now, even more than ever."
In the first week hundreds signed up. Those signing on will participate in warm-ups, the learning and singing of a song (or two), a little drink break, and then a bit of sharing: thoughts, knitted things, flags, or snippets of music... sometimes even finishing with a dance track.
The black clad, bearded, steam powered behemoth have been charming audiences around the world since 2001. (www.spookymen.com). Would-be singers can find out all about the Massive Singlets at www.massivesinglet.com
