Seattle Men's and Women's Choruses Director Paul Caldwell

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to thepublic affairs show of this your favorite iHeartRadio
station right here in Seattle. I'myour host, Lee Callahan, delighted to
have on a gentleman from both theSeattle Women's Course and the Seattle Men's Course.
He's the artistic director of both thoseformidable courses. He's Paul Caldwell to

(00:22):
talk to us about some upcoming shows. Hi, Paul, hellolee. It's
good to hear your voice. Youtoo, Hey, how long have these
courses been around? Because I've beenaround a long time in Seattle. I'm
just curious. The Seattle Men's Chorusis over forty years all coming up on
fifty not too far away, maybefive years, I'm not sure exactly.

(00:45):
The Women's Chorus just celebrated their twentiethanniversary last year. I love this longevity.
Hey, we got a couple ofshows coming up. On February third,
The Seattle Women's Chorus is performing atTown Hall. They've got a show
called Band and Beloved. What isgoing on here? There's a lot going
on here. It's about banned books, Am I right? That is correct?

(01:07):
There are a lot of books beingbanned now for really crazy reasons,
and so we took the point ofview that if people don't want us to
read these words, okay, we'llsing them. We'll sing them boldly and
proudly, and we'll have a goodtime doing it. And we're really focusing
attention on the fact that, youknow, well, reading is fundamental and

(01:27):
being told what we may and maynot read is intrinsically limiting. I mean,
it's really almost a scourge on oursociety now, and we want to
we want to stand shoulder to shoulderwith all the librarians and all the teachers
who want to reduce this trend.It sounds like you've hired or I don't

(01:52):
know, maybe it's within the chorusthemselves, but you've got some songwriters who've
written about these books, five differentwomen or men. Tell me more.
That's correct, Oh say, sothey're composers, professional composers living all across
the country. But I approached fivecomposers with five books that the books have

(02:13):
been banned, some of them nomusic had ever been inspired by those books,
but we wanted to focus on thosebooks in particular, so we sort
of assigned a different book to eachcomposer, and then that composer went away
and figured out kind of how theywanted to get at the material in terms
of songwriting, and each of themtook a very different approach and the books

(02:38):
are very different. Michael Bussawi Kwarmis a trans woman who's a composer in
New York, and she took achildren's book which is the coming out story
of a young trans girl. It'scalled Melissa. Let's see Amy Burgess,
who's the New York theater composer,took a book called This Book Is Gay,

(03:00):
which is a collection of essays fromvarious people in the LGBTQ community representing
different points of view. She tooklittle quotes from many different essays that just
sort of get at issues of labelingpeople and choosing your identity, accepting your

(03:21):
identity, embracing your identity that kindof a way. Alice in Wonderland is
a book that has been banned oftenon for generations, believe it or not.
So a different composer, Andrew Ramsey, wrote several little miniatures which are
just quippi quotes from Alice in Wonderland, things like if you drink too much

(03:43):
from a bottle called poison, itis sure to disagree with you sooner or
later, just little lines that sortof comment on obliquely the issue of banning.
An Hampton Callaway wrote a book inspiredby Heather Has to Write a song
inspired by Heather Has Two Mommies,which is actually the first children's book like

(04:04):
two decades ago that portrayed on LGBTQfamily with a child. So there are
a lot of historic Spence posts hereand we're just really sort of celebrating it,
embracing it and singing about it.Wow, everybody on the phone with
me. I have the artistic directorof both courses, Seattle Women's Course Seattle
Men's Course. He's Paul Caldwell.And the show that he's talking about,

(04:28):
the Seattle Women's Course, Banned andBeloved, is coming up February third at
town Hall. Do you know ifthese books are on the I mean,
they've definitely been banned in some places, not just on the watch list,
but do you know if they havebeen banned in Washington State anywhere? I
know that there was a case ofa city in western Washington, I'm sorry,

(04:53):
eastern Washington recently. I know therewas a city in eastern Washington recently
where the library was closing as aresult of this phenomenon. I don't know
personally of other instances of the booksbeing banned in our state, but that's
not to say that they haven't beenright. In my research about the books,

(05:15):
had I run across specific references tothem being banned in our state,
I certainly would have noted that.All right, Well, we'll talk about
the women's course again in a bit, but I want to talk about the
Seable Men's Chorus and their show comingup called Love Beyond Borders February eighteenth at
ben Arroya Hall. What a marvelousplace to have your concerts. Will you

(05:40):
tell me what you're hoping to communicatein Love Beyond Borders in that show?
Well, it's an incredible story,and it's a love story between individual people,
and it's also a bigger story aboutheroism and hope. There is a
network of people based in Seattle whohave spent several years extricating gay people from

(06:08):
fundamentalist Muslim countries. Just at themoment where they were about, their families
were staging honor killings, and theyalso suffered state sponsored violence because being gay
as a crime in many of theseplaces. So there are literally people living
in Seattle who were smuggled out ofIraq, smuggled out of Syria to safer

(06:31):
places, and took them a longtime to get to Seattle. More and
more those people have been taken toCanada because Canada was more readily accepting of
them than the United States. Inrecent years, Germany is now taking a
lot of them. But we're talkingat this point, it's hundreds of LGBTQ
refugees, really extraordinary accomplished people,well educated, successful artists, successful scientists,

(07:00):
et cetera. Dentists, people whohad to flee their country because they
were about to be killed simply becausesomeone discovered that they were gay SAE And
it's it is sad, but atthe same time, it's incredible because they
made it out. Many of themmade it out and are living happy,

(07:21):
productive lives and other places now.And it's a story that not many people
know, but it's incredible and wewant to tell it. It's unbelievable.
It's like I always say, it'sboth harrowing and hopeful, the way that
love can overcome the gravest of circumstancesthat is grave. I mean, families

(07:44):
would rather have their children no longerwith us dead rather than be themselves.
Right, that's right, right,Hey, will you tell me a little
both of these shows. This isbeautiful music that you're going to be sharing
with us, but also the arepolitical stances, which I completely appreciate.
But has there been a history ofboth courses doing these kind of shows,

(08:07):
making a stance, taking a stand? Well, I mean we're the queer
choir, right, so a littlebit a very beginning, yes, from
our very beginning, we were makinga statement. I mean when the Seattle
Men's Chorus walked on stage in theearly eighties and said, you know,
we are gay and we are onstage and we are singing and are here,
that was taking a stand. Butyou know, more than political,

(08:31):
it's just about human It's like takinga stand about human issues, taking a
stand about what's right, taking astand about allowing people to just be who
they are and not be persecuted.That's absolutely at the root of why the
Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Women's Chorusexists. This is fantastic, all right,

(08:52):
Seattle Women's Courus bandon Beloved that iscoming up on February third Town Hall,
Seattle Men's Course Love Beyond Borders Februaryeighth, eighteenth at Ben Arroya.
My guest this morning is the artisticdirector of both courses, Paul Caldwell and
Paul. Will you tell us whatit means to be the artistic director of
both choruses or a chorus at themoment, I think the most exciting thing

(09:18):
about being an artistic director is thatyou get to create shows like this that
tell important stories, that make importantstatements, and then you get to do
the work to put those shows onstage so that other people get to experience
the wonder of what you discovered inyour private research along the way. So

(09:41):
it's just building the show, designingthe show, getting the music written.
Both of these shows required a wholelot of brand new music produced by many
composers and different types of people.You know, love Beyond Borders. There's
a composer who is a Muslim woman. As I said before, Michael Busswitz

(10:01):
Quam is a trans woman who wrotea transcentric book, a song based on
a transit centric book for Bandon Beloved. So connecting with so many different types
of people, really exploring and celebratingthe diversity that is in our world.
And then elevating those voices so thatthey can be on stage. It's really

(10:24):
it's a very fun job. Ibet now back to Love Beyond Borders by
the men's chorus. You say therewas one Muslim woman? Was there?
Did she write all the songs forthe show? She wrote one song.
She wrote a song, and actuallyshe was like a principal contact for one
of the couples escaping from Syria.But she's a professional jazz bass player living

(10:50):
in Chicago, and she wrote asong that tells the story of a Muslim
man who is in hiding, let'ssay, in an attic, trying to
preserve his life, and in thedistance, he can hear the call to
prayer, and he's remembering the factthat, you know, not that long
ago he would have been responding tothe call to prayer, but now he's

(11:15):
in a place hiding where all hecan do is hear it and think about
the fact that you know, hisvoice is silenced now during the prayer because
he can't pray out loud right,and wondering if people even notice that he
has disappeared. It's a breathtaking,breathtaking piece of music. I want to

(11:37):
thank you so much for coming onand telling us about these two upcoming shows.
Seattle Women's Course Bandon Beloved February thirdat Town Hall, Seattle, Seattle
Men's Course Love Beyond Borders February eighteenthat been A Royal Hall. Paul Caldwell,
You've been a pleasure to talk with. Oh everybody, go to Seattlecoruses
dot org Seattle Choruses dot org fortickets to these shows coming up in February.

(12:03):
Is there anything I'm missing anything else? I don't think so. I
don't think so. It's wonderful totalk to you this morning. Lee,
Thank you so much, thanks forbeing on the show. Paul, Bye bye,