Complaints Choir Forms for Grumpy Locals

Share Your Gripes in Song and on Video

Let's face it: we all love to complain, but what if you had the chance to get together with a group of people and write all your complaints down?

What if you could sing out your complaints as part of an impromptu choir? You might have the opportunity: a complaints choir might be coming to a city near you.

The old Finnish word "Valituskuoro," means "Complaints Choir." To take this concept of "Valituskuoro" literally, Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen and his wife organized a real choir, with real people singing their complaints together.

The First Complaints Choir

In 2005 in Birmingham, England they put up flyers and posters in the streets, libraries, pubs, and supermarkets. They invited people to complain about anything they wanted to and to sing their complaints with others.

People were a bit shy about the prospect of singing in a choir, but there was a strict "no singing skills required" policy. If they could sing loud and with attitude, they were in.

The complaint and the singer were inextricably linked; it was a prerequisite that complainers could not be anonymous. it is the first step to actualizing the complaint.

With 18 participants, they gathered all the complaints and divided them into four different categories: complaints about Birmingham, complaints about the world, complaints about other people, and complaints about oneself.

At the first "rehearsal" the choir was divided into small "expert groups", and each group worked on one of the categories, choosing the best complaints and re-wording them into a draft for the lyrics. A musician from Birmingham, Mike Hurley, wrote the song within 3 days.

Complaints Choir Worldwide

Soon after the Birmingham choir, a Helsinki choir formed, and then someone uploaded videos of both choirs onto YouTube. YouTube decided to showcase one of those videos in its "Featured Videos" section, generating enormous and widespread interest.