It may seem like an unlikely claim, but London's "Harmonic Concordance" are billed as the UK's only pagan choir.
The recent burgeoning popularity of paganism in the UK (45,000 adherents at the last count in the census) has led to a demand for choral music associated with earth-based spirituality. "A lot of our members previously sang with choral societies and choirs whose repetoire consisted mainly of Christian music," says choir chairperson, Ben Collier. "As pagans they wanted to sing pieces that spoke to their own understanding of religion."
The choir began in October of last year and has grown steadily. It now boasts over 25 active members and is due to appear for the first time at the Beltane Bash, at Conway Hall, London, on the 30th of May. "The response from the pagan community has been fabulous," says music director Kevin Hollands. "People have been extremely enthusiastic and keen to help." The choir has been given numerous compositions, including an ancient pre-Christian carol, reconstituted and arranged by a modern hand.
In fact, the choir sings a range of material, from folk tunes and songs to modern compositions. "We are always open to suggestions for music," says Collier, but for the time being, their schedule is full. "During the summer months we've a number of performances, a picnic, and a trip to Stonehenge. It should be an interesting year."
The choir's website is at:
http://www.harmonic-concordance.com
The choir began in October of last year and has grown steadily. It now boasts over 25 active members and is due to appear for the first time at the Beltane Bash, at Conway Hall, London, on the 30th of May. "The response from the pagan community has been fabulous," says music director Kevin Hollands. "People have been extremely enthusiastic and keen to help." The choir has been given numerous compositions, including an ancient pre-Christian carol, reconstituted and arranged by a modern hand.
In fact, the choir sings a range of material, from folk tunes and songs to modern compositions. "We are always open to suggestions for music," says Collier, but for the time being, their schedule is full. "During the summer months we've a number of performances, a picnic, and a trip to Stonehenge. It should be an interesting year."
The choir's website is at:
http://www.harmonic-concordance.com
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
Am I missing something here?
20.05.2004 17:12
pagan choirs???? What???
startled
Yeah, and?...
25.05.2004 22:55
casp
THe Harmonic Concordance Choir Misrepresentation
27.10.2006 16:30
I am amazed to how this claim can be justified. The Harmonic Concordance recently have been challenged on it's claim that it is the ONLY PAGAN Choir in Britain. In fact there is a Bristol based pagan choir.
Harmonic Concordance were BOOED and Shouted at when only six members sung at the Halloween Fest 2006 and was re-named Harmonic Discordance.
One member calls herself, The Wicked Witch of Wimbledon and says she does so to deride all that is in the mind which she believes is Paganism. You can see her name signature at her websites.
Vee
Vee
Pagan Choir? What Pagan Choir?
28.10.2006 23:03
Now, a little background. I have been a member of this so-called "Pagan" choir since its inception. It was started by this Collier person (who since left, possibly having become bored) who, along with the Musical Director, built an impressive structure, it must be admitted. But that was to reckon without the formidable character of the Musical Director's partner, the self-styled "Wicked Witch of Wimbledon" who, it is said, was behind the demise of the choir's previous incarnation, Vox Magica. This person is not Pagan. A Pagan is a kind, understanding person imbued with wisdom and free from gross hypocrisy and, especially, free from intolerance. The Wicked Witch of Wimbledon is none of these things. She cannot, therefore, call herself Pagan. Neither, in this light, can Ben Collier - unless of course he has taken his lead from the Wicked Witch, in which case he is stupid. I must confess to having been guilty of a little stupidity myself, in that I have given the Wicked Witch the benefit of the doubt, but subsequent events have shown her to be living up to the first word in her self-description.
If being the partner of the Musical Director does one thing within the choir, it gives one licence to act almost with impunity - especially when said Musical Director is about as forceful as a paper windmill against the gust of hot air that is the Wicked Witch. Thus if anyone disagrees with her, no-one dares speak out on pain of expulsion - a typically un-Pagan trait, on both sides. So, came there a member who was prepared to speak out - a proper Pagan, whose family had been in the craft for four generations before her - and the Wicked Witch was not happy. And so it was that she contrived to rid her circle of this grit, claiming that the new member couldn't sing - a slander, and a bare-faced effrontery given her seriously off-key performance at a recent festival performance. It is, incidentally, to be noted that the choir has always had an open-door policy, with the only requirement being that one be at least nominally Pagan. It explicitly stated that there are no auditions, and that musical ability is not a condition of membership. The meeting to expel the new member descended into farce when the other members of the committee individually barged into the room, variously giving different excuses for her expulsion, exposing the whole episode as a farrago from beginning to end.
The so-called "Wicked Witch of Wimbledon" is not a witch. She is not even a Pagan - for the reasons outlined above, if for no other reason. She is an un-reconstructed Catholic apostate in denial, a weekend Pagan, a "fluffy". If she were a Pagan, she would not call herself as she does, because real Pagans are keen to squash the hateful images of the Pagan-hating churches and mosques, not to encourage them by propagating their use. Her interest in Paganism is more borne out of a need for status and money - but in acting as she has, does and, in all probability, always will, she is demeaning Paganism and should be ostracised. Yet she is at the top table of an organisation which seeks to represent Paganism whilst propagating otherdangerous falsehoods such as the supposed "9 million" womyn that died in the inquisition - spurred by an androphobic tendency that would make a Dianic (feminist) witch blush. Further, she is surrounded by those who are either in league with her or are too stupid to see through her - as I admit I once was. But in the end, she is but a tumble-down shack on whose front she has crudely tacked a grand facade.
This is why I have no longer anything to do with Harmonic Concordance, and why I contend that, as a Pagan choir, it doesn't exist. It is an insult to all who call themselves Pagan; should you wish to sing, there are - contrary to the choir's self-aggrandising publicity - other Pagan choirs.
Phantom