Four years it took Artangel to seduce me. And I never regretted it. You wouldn't believe it when you heard that I have travelled all over the world the last decade, being away sometimes for weeks and that, at the same time, I get homesick when I have to work abroad even for two days.... So when Artangel asked me if I wanted to make something for the Roundhouse, I first tried to explain in a polite way that it would be difficult because of my 'time schedule'. But then I gradually got so amazed by their initiatives, that I wanted to be part of it. That's when I said "yes".
From then on I came to London on a regular basis. Let's say once a month. For a weekend or so. That was the longest I could manage. London is too overwhelming. I get sad in these big cities. I feel like I lose my identity, my 'importance'. Of course it's also very exciting for a 'voyeur' like me to wander around. It took us a while before we finally decided to organise a musical event in the Roundhouse, inviting a selection of amateur-choirs who would sing their favourite song. Orlando Gough, one of the directors of the amazing choir The Shout, became the perfect musical director of the event. People thought we were brothers when we arrived together to witness choir-rehearsals. We must have visited about forty choirs together, or apart.
The visits were a wonderful way for me to get used to the big city, to bring it back to a human dimension. And of course the way we were welcomed wherever we arrived was amazing. More and more we were concerned about the fact that we would never be able to translate these experiences to the event in the Roundhouse.
We first had wild ideas about it. Maybe we could bring in an old train, use horses or construct an immense 'wip-plank' (see-saw) on which we could move the choirs. But the more we got to know the choirs, the more we were sure we had to "cut the artistic crap" and just listen to the voices.
The first miracle happened a week before the event. We had selected sixteen unique choirs and invited them for the (unique) rehearsal in the Roundhouse. All together there were about 600 people arriving from all corners of London. They entered a huge, empty and cold 'cathedral' as nervous and excited as we were (and we were VERY nervous). We just asked them to sing their song and listen to each other. It sounds very sentimental but most of us could not hold back their tears... and we were not able to explain it. And here I also must confess you that I have NEVER in my whole career been involved in a complicated event like Because I Sing, where the support and the engagement of every single person involved in the project (and we were MANY people) was so ... full and perfect.
A second miracle happened on the 31st of March and the 1st of April when hundreds of people witnessed Because I Sing and got trapped in the same emotional effect of the singing. I couldn't rationally explain it. But it was there....
And finally a third miracle was given to us. Sophie Fiennes, who made a documentary about some of the choirs and the event in the Roundhouse, was able to translate this strong two-year-long experience into the right images. So overwhelming that people who weren't there on one of those two days in the Roundhouse, could have a similar experience by watching 'the movie'. Sophie and I are sure we got a little help from the Holy Ghost.