Choir invites the world to sing

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir (SGLC) is aiming to create the world’s largest virtual choir and wants your help.

OutPostChoir is an online project which celebrates diversity and highlights discrimination and violence against LGBTI people.

At the project’s website, people will follow video instructions to learn the song You Make Me Proud, record themselves via webcam, and then submit their video.

Each video will be mixed into the virtual choir on the website which will become an expanding mosaic of voices as more people participate over the life of the project.

The SGLC hopes international interest in the project will grow in the lead-up to International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) on May 17.

“The original idea for OutPostChoir was to give isolated LGBTI people in regional Australia or less tolerant countries around the world the same opportunity we have of being part of a supportive gay and lesbian choir,” SGLC music director Dr Sarah Penicka-Smith said.

“OutPostChoir is an opportunity for anyone to be proud, sing out, post your voice online and be a part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir, no matter what outpost you live in.”

The SGLC will take You Make Me Proud to the streets during May to encourage people to join OutPostChoir.

The SGLC will perform at Parramatta Town Hall as part of Family IDAHO Day on Sunday, May 6, 1pm. On IDAHO itself, it will perform the song at Sydney’s Central Station for thousands of early morning commuters from 8am.

You Make Me Proud was selected as the official OutPostChoir song as the result of an international competition.

Composer Howard Alexander, from Brighton, England, said the song was about recognising and celebrating people in the community who help to give LGBTIs the strength to be themselves and to be the best they could be.

“Sometimes those people have had to deal with huge challenges themselves and have overcome them, and become an inspiration to us in that way,” Alexander said.

“But often it is just the incredible love and support of our extended family and friends which gives us the courage to really overcome our own personal struggles and to follow our own dreams.”

INFO: www.outpostchoir.com