“It’s a collision between beauty and stupidity,” says Stephen Taberner. “And hairiness.”
This may be an unusual description for a choir, but the Spooky Men’s Chorale is a little different. With a repertoire including original works (such as the anthemic Don’t Stand Between a Man and His Tool), cover versions (such as the “Swedish folk song”, Dancing Queen) and traditional Georgian songs, the Spooky Men have no fear of pushing boundaries.
“The initial motivation was to make beautiful sounds,” says musical director Taberner, AKA the ‘Spookmeister’. “But from the beginning we did silly stuff.”
Taberner formed the choir in the Blue Mountains in 2001.
“I contacted all the guys I knew who looked relatively interesting and who could sing. They’re just ordinary guys. They’re graphic designers, nature care people, social workers, doctors, lawyers. None are full-time performers.
“We did a show in Sydney and the response was verging on hysterical, so I knew we were on to something.”
Six albums and countless gigs later, the Spooky Men are about to head to Tasmania to play at the City of Hobart Bonfire and Big Sing, the main event of the annual Festival of Voices.
It’s another opportunity for the Spooky Men to shake up the “museum” of classical music by returning some spontaneity to it, and express their unique brand of musical manliness. Making the audience laugh will be one goal. But it won’t be the only one.
“If you listen to funny stuff something changes in you,” Taberner says. “You open up. We soften up the audience by making them laugh, then we hit them with something sweet and it has a greater impact because they’ve been laughing. Sometimes people have tears of laughter and tears of crying from one song to the next. Both those things are our aim.”
A double bass player with a jazz background, the New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based Taberner believes singing can convey emotions in a way that instruments can’t.
“You can be moved by the sheer beauty of piano music but the directness of emotional expression that comes with singing makes it unique. You’re cutting out the middle-man. When you have an ensemble of people just using their voices there’s something raw about that.”
Visitors to the Festival of Voices will have plenty of opportunities to test that theory over three weekends in July, as singers from around the world descend on Tasmania and put their vocal cords on the line.
Not that the performers at the festival will be strictly vocal-only. Tony Bonney, in his third year as director, says the festival has evolved since its debut 12 years ago.
“One of the things I’m proud of is that we’ve broadened what we mean by voice,” Bonney says. “We certainly have choral, a cappella and gospel, but we also have a much stronger contemporary music program.”
The appearance last year of Van Canto, a German a cappella heavy metal band that got rid of its keyboards and guitars but kept the drums, shook things up a bit, and this year the line-up of artists includes everything from an Aboriginal women’s choir from the Central Desert singing Lutheran songs in their own language, to beatboxers, rock choirs and a Timorese choir that will perform Timorese and French choral music in traditional costume.
“That will be interesting in Hobart in mid-winter,” Bonney says.
Interest in a cappella has been bolstered in recent years by a younger generation that has decided it might be cool after all, thanks to the Pitch Perfect movies.
“There’s a lot of that R&B Pitch Perfect sing-off activity happening in Australia and South-East Asia, so we’re engaging with that,” Bonney says. MICappella, from Singapore, fit right in to that Pitch Perfect genre. “Their repertoire extends from traditional Chinese songs performed in a cappella to Taylor Swift to Iron Maiden.”
Workshops are also a big part of the festival, and about 1800 singers are expected to fly in to take part. “Choirs will come in and might spend two days working with a conductor, then do performances in the street and see concerts,” Bonney says.
Events take place in Hobart, Launceston, and on the east coast, where the Unplugged weekend of music, food and wine brings the festival to a close.
The theme is unplugged from the capital, rather than unplugged from an amp, says program manager and singer-songwriter, Ange Boxall.
Artists including Taasha Coates from The Audreys and Shane Howard from Goanna will lead a blues-roots line-up performing in east coast locations such as vineyards, dairies and retreats, with mountains and beaches as backdrops.
“The east coast is stunning but also really wild and we try to capture that,” Boxall says.
“It feels magical to play there. Despite the cold, people are really up for it. That’s inspiring as an artist. You feel like you’re all there all together.”
Festival of Voices runs from Thursday 30th of June to Sunday 17th July 2016. To book a great deal, visit http://tasvacations.com/curious/festival-of-voices.html.
