A new choir, set up to welcome people from every walk of life, is already singing to the sound of success.
With their first major event already booked the singers are hoping to increase their numbers before the big day.
The idea behind the multicultural choir is to bring together as many people as they can who are all able to share their heritage and help teach each other about their culture.
“When the singers met for the first time, sharing stories happened instantly, people were sharing different elements of their culture,” says Mel Kinsella who is a soul and Motown singer and is one of the people leading the choir.
Mel is the director of Kinsella HR Solutions and has always loved to sing. She started singing at an early age in church and has led small groups and choirs on her musical journey.
‘I am excited by the idea of bringing voices together from many nationalities from across the city and hope many people will be interested,” she said.
The multicultural choir is a place where different cultures are able to sing with one voice and learn about each other’s stories.
Mel added: “It’s a multicultural choir and everyone is welcome to join. We have people from all walks of life from far and wide. Our dream is to have a 40-strong group, however we’re not quite there yet. We especially need tenors and bass singers.
“It’s really special and it is so different from a regular choir – at our last session we had people having an in-depth conversation about how their differing cultures name their children. You could see people learning and sharing right in front of you. If they hadn’t been there, they might never have learned those differences.
“I’m excited about what we can share and what we can learn from each other. Our first show will be at the Culture Bazaar in April so we have a lot of work to do until then but we still need tenors and bass singers.
“So far the sound is amazing and the mix of music we sing is really special we’re not just another choir. I want us to be as multicultural as possible and have a mix of different voices.
“We have a great group of people at the moment and they’re really welcoming and you instantly feel part of it. We want more people to be able to be part of this.”
The choir meets every Monday at the chapel on the Fusehill campus at 5.30pm.
The choir will make their debut performance at the upcoming Culture Bazaar, a spectacular two-day event which aims to bring people from different backgrounds together to celebrate their cultures.
Culture Bazaar will be a great chance for people to experience the food, dance, music and art of people who may not have been born in Cumbria but call Carlisle home.
Culture Bazaar takes place on April 22 and 23 at Carlisle College.
