Singer's Blog

A Picture and a Thousand Words

I have been a part of Vocal Line since a beautiful day in August 1997. Thinking back some 13 years later while wondering what to blog about, I came to the conclusion that among the many things I have been a part of with Vocal Line none is bigger than giving audiences everywhere a musical experience unlike any other they have had – or expected to have.

Having only heard the choir in concert once before I joined I was not aware of this at the beginning. But while it took me a little time to begin grasping what Vocal Line was all about, I also got a sense of what might be possible in the future.

Since around 2004 I have brought my camera with me wherever Vocal Line has gone, whether in the recording studio, backstage at huge festival concerts, in the tour bus, or just about anywhere else. You have probably seen some of them on the website already. Once I came to the conclusion that Vocal Line offered audiences something unique I immediately thought of a photo I took five years ago in Taipei. Not because it is a great photo from a technical standpoint by any means; To me it simply encapsulates everything that is great about Vocal Line:

The photo above is from an after-show performance we gave following one of our concerts in Taipei. You can feel the response we got from the mostly local audience. They went wild with a kind of enthusiasm we hadn't seen before and asked for autographs and photos. Coming from Denmark where audiences can be somewhat reserved in places this felt for many of us like we had reached the tallest of many peaks in the history of Vocal Line so far.

Here is some background: Ever since our European tour in 1997 we had taken every opportunity to promote our unique brand of vocal music and also tried to search for new inspiration wherever we went. Fresh from my audition and with only a few weeks of rehearsal under my belt, I got my first glimpse of what Vocal Line had to offer audiences. We were participating in a choir competition in Riva del Garda in Italy. While we didn't win the competition I discovered that nobody else appeared to be doing what we were trying to do. Also, there was no doubt in my mind that we were reaching audiences that were used to classical choirs, gospel choirs or small vocal groups seemed to be trying their best to combine a cappella and visual comedy. We were different.

In 1999 we returned to Italy and one thing I remember in particular was the reception we got from a large German youth choir following our competition performance. When we got off the stage they were crowded around a broad staircase backstage, clapping and cheering for us, with their faces lit up by sheer joy. This was not something we had seen before and from talking to them we realised that we had done what we set out to achieve; We had shown them what modern a cappella music could do when performed by a large group of people. What's more, I believe we showed them a new way forward.

We had more of these experiences in the following years. Every time I talked to people in the audience or people who had bought our CD I got the same sense from them that I got in Italy and it thrilled me every single time. As I reminded my colleagues in Vocal Line following a successful concert: "I am so not through with being worshiped!"

Then in 2005 we were invited to sing at the "7th World Symposium on Choral Music" in Kyoto, Japan and at "6th International Choir Festival" in Taipei, Taiwan. This was to be the culmination of many years of hard work,
especially by our tireless musical director, Jens Johansen. We had previously without success tried to raise funds for a trip to Busan, South Korea in 2002 to participate in the 3rd Choir Olympics so we were of course very excited to go to Asia for the first time in our history.

Looking back, 2005 was in many ways a turning point for us. Never before had we travelled so much and so far. To headline the Vocal Jazz Summit in Mainz, Germany in the distinguished company of Take 6, The Real Group and the New York Voices was amazing – to be greeted as rock stars in Taipei was simply unbelievable! Since then we have reached new peaks and new audiences but that is a story for another time.

Being a member of Vocal Line means performing at every kind of venue imaginable. If your head is getting a little big from performing with Bobby McFerrin in front of 2000 people or entertaining the entire country on national TV, don't worry – you will soon be singing for 50 people in a village church in a remote corner of Denmark! But the thing is, I still feel that we always – no matter where we sing and no matter who the audience is – reach someone new out there, someone who had no idea voices could do this. And that is why the photo above of Jens Johansen in a sea of excited people listing to the magic of a cappella to me represents what Vocal Line is all about.