Come Sing in the Village Square!  

A NEW MULTI-CULTURAL SINGING COMMUNITY IN TORONTO

A unique celebration of community singing traditions from around the world.

SING FOR PLEASURE – NOT PERFORMANCE!

The Village Square is a unique celebration of Community Singing Traditions from around the world, including Sharpenote (Sacred Harp), Shaker tunes, South African choruses, Balkan and Georgian styles. Favourites Old and New.

"We gather to sing together, for pleasure... without the anxieties of public performance," explains Alan Gasser, one of the project's leaders.  Public performances are not the objective of this new Toronto-based gathering, which is open to anyone who likes to sing.  The group meets to sing "with" and "for" each other, and warmly welcomes new singers.

"The Village Square is an actual square," Becca Whitla, the other leader, elaborates.

"We stand to form a 'hollow' square, beloved of community singing enthusiasts, with Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass singers on each of four sides, and singing towards the centre, towards each other."

Whitla is a community music maker and organizer in Toronto.  She is co-founder and co-director of the Echo Women's Choir (a vibrant community choir) and is Music Director at the Church of the Holy Trinity.  She is on the board of Friends of South African Performing Arts and is helping to organize a Canadian tour for South Africa's Polokwane Choral Society in June of this year.

Gasser has sung Georgian folk music since 1985, with the Kartuli Ensemble, and was a founding member of the Trio Kavkasia and founding leader of Darbazi.  He has co-directed the Echo Women's Choir with Whitla since 1993.  More recently, he began teaching and conducting choirs in the Music Department of York University and the Royal Conservatory.

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