Trinity Newmarket Singers

Happy New Year! Sale Now Mobarak. Nowruz Pirooz. At 5:01:30, winter ended and spring began at the moment of the vernal equinox, the moment that the sun crossed the equator. That is the moment when people celebrate Persian New Year, people all over the world, and my family, the Naghavi side of my family too. I shared a picture of my haft seen spread, and we talked about the symbolism of the items, and the traditions practised over the weeks before and after the equinox. They are some of the very same things that many other cultures do and think about at the turning of the year or at spring celebrations. We are more alike than different, all of us on this planet. We talked a little bit about religion and politics, and Iranian women. We listened to a couple of Iranian songs from my Persian Party playlist. We couldn’t sing along because we can’t read Perso-Arabic script.  And then, we switched to Irish music, in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, which was Monday. This playlist had lots of s...

This year, I missed the opportunity to serve pie at my singing night. In fact, I brought store-bought cookies because I had been baking "cheese and onion pies"(quiches) for my PIE Day/Affirming Day event happening this evening (honestly, I was a little disorganized/distracted and forgot to bake for this too). We did have a PIE/Affirming theme, a Pride theme, for our songs. It was interesting and inspired quite a lot of good conversation.  We meet in a church, and the Pride theme is clouded by some misconceptions about the Bible, so we talked about that a bit, and I'm encouraged again to try to have a screening of the film 1946: The Mistranslation that shifted culture.  Robin and Thain have started exchanging books, so now it's low-key a book club and singing club. It's such a wonderful thing, to meet and sing and talk in a safe and comfortable setting that we end up sharing so much more. I had a book to recommend too: Fayne by Anne-Marie MacDonald. I love learning...

March 6th. We're not in Black History Month anymore, but we're still on that theme. At church, my Affirming and Inclusivity Team has chosen to focus on anti-racism for 2025, in addition to our main role of affirming the Pride community.  My Black History Month playlist is huge, and there's so much to talk about and so much good music to listen to. This time, we were talking about the big influence Black people have had and continue to have on other music, the rhythms and techniques of ragtime, jazz, the blues, R&B, gospel, funk, reggae, and afrobeats are not only used by Black artists.  Last week, Don sent me some interesting information about a Canadian tenor, Edward Johnson, that he was instrumental in including Black singers in opera at the Met in New York. I didn't find that, when I looked him up, but quite the opposite, that he is known for excluding Black singers. I found reports that it was the next General Manager of the Met that introduced Marian Anderson f...

It was so good to be back together! We sang and listened and talked and nibbled and sipped happily in good company again. There were heavy moments, but we were mostly very positive and hopeful. Our theme was Black History Month. We first talked about Sunday’s Affirming and Inclusivity Service. We all agreed that it was uplifting and fun. I pointed out that although I did aim for uplifting and hopeful, I also wanted it to be powerful, and I was proud of my team and Celena for making it strong and meaningful too. We watched a bit of the video and listened to Celena’s poem. We were all impressed by her powerful words and effective delivery, and we were all touched and heavy-hearted. We listened to the choir and praise team sing God Weeps and Put a Little Love in Your Heart. Thank God for uplifting music that reminds us that there are good people, and music that inspires us to be better as individuals and in our communities! I’m proud of my church that is a place where I feel that we can m...

So, we're not meeting because of all that snow and the wind blowing it around, but we can still share some songs. Robin says she's thinking of watching Moana. Great idea! Watch a movie with lots of good music, some nice Disney animation with singable tunes and palm trees beaches and ocean. Wonderful escapism for a snow day! Our theme is Black History Month, and we were planning to continue with that for the rest of February, and for today we wanted to be sure to sing some love songs too, since tomorrow is Valentine's Day. We already mentioned last week that some of the heavy, serious music was made by artists we know by their love songs. So, we can stay in our theme.  Here's some suggestions for songs you can listen to. Love songs are in bold : Marvin Gaye: What's Goin' On and Mercy Mercy Me, and Ain't No Mountain High Enough and How Sweet it is to be Loved by You Beyoncé: If I Were a Boy, and Halo Temptations: Ball of Confusion, and Get Ready and Just My I...