Happy New Year! It's a new year, a new start, and here is one of the many activities going on that you can get involved with to become #MadeinMiddlesex
I had the chance to witness something special that happened last Wednesday and, I learned that it was taking place for the second consecutive year: the very first rehearsal of the choir that will act during the Fairtrade Fortnight on February 25th 2019.
Fairtrade Fortnight? What is that, I hear you ask...
Well, to keep it short, it is an annual promotional campaign funded by the Fairtrade Foundation here in England in 1997, wherein goal is to increase awareness of Fairtrade products.
The event that already took place this year was a success, and included for the first time the performance of a staff and student choir. Its organizer, Jo Williamson said that “last years’ experience was so good we had to do it again; I intended the choir to be a female choir to empower women and without notice, men where joining too. This is now all about equality and have a good time together”.
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Funny enough, Trevor Alexander, a member of staff of Middlesex, commented “When I saw that the choir would be all female I couldn’t help inscribing my name as a joke, and soon I discovered I wasn’t the only one who did that”.
All the members of the choir are teachers and members of staff of the university that joined to “just have fun”.
Kimba, the choir director prepared a very interesting and diverse playlist, from Aretha Franklin to Michael Buble. The song that they started with was Respect, and they worked through that for an hour and a half without time to stop, repeating, improving, and working as a group. It was engaging and dynamic and after just one rehearsal they look a promising group.
I enjoyed how a group that never sang together managed to eventually sound so beautiful. As a viewer, it was fun to see people start off so shy but then let themselves go with the rhythm of Aretha and completely forget about their stage fear.
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I can’t wait to see the final result; the performance takes place on Monday 25th February in the Quad as part of the Fairtrade Fortnight. And if that isn't enough, there will be activities such as an escape room, and the presence of a guest star, the presenter of the game show Countdown, Nick Hewer.
Do you need more reasons to come alone? Hopefully I'll see you there!
If you want to try out your musical abilities and meet new people along the way, join the staff and student choir! To find out more, contact Jo Williamson at J.E.Williamson@mdx.ac.uk
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