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bigmacbear) wrote2009-06-13 10:10 am
bigmacbear) wrote2009-06-13 10:10 am
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Le Choeur du Metro de Montreal
I'm not sure if I posted much about this at the time of the event, but something ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
danlmarmot mentioned about his trip to Montreal, combined with some difficulties individual SMC members are having with memorization of foreign languages for our upcoming concert, reminded me of this story.
For the GALA VIIe event in Montreal in 2004, I was planning to set a smattering of "menu French" (soup du jour, boeuf Robespierre, etc.) to a possibly recognizable tune, after the fashion of "Insalata Italiana" with Italian musical directions.gmjambear suggested instead that I set all of the names of the Metro stops to music. So with the help of Dennis, the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus' composer-in-residence, and Steve, a teacher of French and Spanish in the chorus (who, incidentally, resembles Stephen Harper, only younger and cuter), we set all the Metro stops to the "Soldiers' Chorus" from Faust by Gounod.
Steve pointed out that Papineau (the namesake of the Metro stop closest to the heart of the gay village along Boul. Ste-Catherine) was a major military figure in the early history of Quebec, and as such is even today a revered name among Quebecers. So we made sure to repeat "Papineau" a few times, usually in the combination "Beaudry, Papineau, Henri-Bourassa".
Unfortunately for the chorines, memorizing a list of proper names, most of which are in a language you do not speak, proves to be a challenge -- and one of the Empire Bears who was singing with RGMC will never forgive Gary or me for the piece. Rev. Darrell, a teacher of Latin and Greek who also sang with the RGMC at the time, suggested visualizing a scene that could be described in English words more or less phonetically equivalent to the actual French, with the added assistance of the occasional English place-name thrown in. For instance, for
Angrignon, Monk, Jolicoeur, Viau
he conjured up an image of an angry young monk with a jolly cur (dog), and I added that the latter place name was pronounced "V.O." as in the initials of a former RGMC member. And
Atwater, Peel, Guy-Concordia
evoked an image of lounging by the riverside peeling the clothes off a cute fellow named Guy Concordia.
Fast forward to this concert cycle and the SMC. We are singing an Indian Raga with unfamiliar lyrics in an ancient language of India, that go something like this:
Humuhri bath kachu maan pyare
Thumure milanuh ki ahsuh pyare
Which I visualized in English (more or less) as
humory bath kachoo = laughing in the bathtub until you sneeze
tumor Ray Milan nookie
So that kinda sorta works.
Unfortunately this approach can be taken to extremes, leading to a form of parody known as soramimi. Examples include the "Ken Lee" song ["I Can't Live (If Living Is Without You)"] that's been going around, as well as the YouTube phenomenon of "Buffalax" who brought us "Benny Lava", a Bollywood extravaganza with priceless lyrics like "Who put the goat in there?" and "You know the hole to put it!"; and "Tunak Tunak Tun" with "And you party, laying bears".
By the way, SMC is presenting "Unplugged" this evening at 7:30 PM at McIntyre Hall, on the campus of Skagit Valley College in Mt. Vernon, WA. We won't have our special guests m-pact with us but it should be a fun show nevertheless.
danlmarmot mentioned about his trip to Montreal, combined with some difficulties individual SMC members are having with memorization of foreign languages for our upcoming concert, reminded me of this story.For the GALA VIIe event in Montreal in 2004, I was planning to set a smattering of "menu French" (soup du jour, boeuf Robespierre, etc.) to a possibly recognizable tune, after the fashion of "Insalata Italiana" with Italian musical directions.
gmjambear suggested instead that I set all of the names of the Metro stops to music. So with the help of Dennis, the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus' composer-in-residence, and Steve, a teacher of French and Spanish in the chorus (who, incidentally, resembles Stephen Harper, only younger and cuter), we set all the Metro stops to the "Soldiers' Chorus" from Faust by Gounod. Steve pointed out that Papineau (the namesake of the Metro stop closest to the heart of the gay village along Boul. Ste-Catherine) was a major military figure in the early history of Quebec, and as such is even today a revered name among Quebecers. So we made sure to repeat "Papineau" a few times, usually in the combination "Beaudry, Papineau, Henri-Bourassa".
Unfortunately for the chorines, memorizing a list of proper names, most of which are in a language you do not speak, proves to be a challenge -- and one of the Empire Bears who was singing with RGMC will never forgive Gary or me for the piece. Rev. Darrell, a teacher of Latin and Greek who also sang with the RGMC at the time, suggested visualizing a scene that could be described in English words more or less phonetically equivalent to the actual French, with the added assistance of the occasional English place-name thrown in. For instance, for
Angrignon, Monk, Jolicoeur, Viau
he conjured up an image of an angry young monk with a jolly cur (dog), and I added that the latter place name was pronounced "V.O." as in the initials of a former RGMC member. And
Atwater, Peel, Guy-Concordia
evoked an image of lounging by the riverside peeling the clothes off a cute fellow named Guy Concordia.
Fast forward to this concert cycle and the SMC. We are singing an Indian Raga with unfamiliar lyrics in an ancient language of India, that go something like this:
Humuhri bath kachu maan pyare
Thumure milanuh ki ahsuh pyare
Which I visualized in English (more or less) as
humory bath kachoo = laughing in the bathtub until you sneeze
tumor Ray Milan nookie
So that kinda sorta works.
Unfortunately this approach can be taken to extremes, leading to a form of parody known as soramimi. Examples include the "Ken Lee" song ["I Can't Live (If Living Is Without You)"] that's been going around, as well as the YouTube phenomenon of "Buffalax" who brought us "Benny Lava", a Bollywood extravaganza with priceless lyrics like "Who put the goat in there?" and "You know the hole to put it!"; and "Tunak Tunak Tun" with "And you party, laying bears".
By the way, SMC is presenting "Unplugged" this evening at 7:30 PM at McIntyre Hall, on the campus of Skagit Valley College in Mt. Vernon, WA. We won't have our special guests m-pact with us but it should be a fun show nevertheless.