Choir! Choir! Choir! and Rufus Wainwright invite singers from all around the world to help create an epic live video of the timeless classic “Across The Universe.”
Unveiled last week, the open call asks singers to record themselves at home singing harmonies to The Beatles song, which was featured on their final album Let It Be in 1970. The submissions will be collected and edited together into a piece featuring Wainwright on lead vocals.
Choir! Choir! Choir! has uploaded two guide tracks (Part A – lower, Part B – higher) as well helpful instructions on their website to help guide participants through the process of recording their videos. Submissions are due by Friday, May 15 and can be uploaded directly via the same site.
Choir! Choir! Choir! co-found Nobu Adilman explains:
“It’s really hard to watch your project be altered so dramatically in an instant. But can the virus keep us from singing together? NO! Choir! Choir! Choir! is all about creating community and building safe and creative spaces for people to enjoy so… if we can’t be together IRL, we can, and will, create some beautiful harmony to send out into the world with an epic crowd-sourced video. And who better to do this with than Rufus Wainwright? We’ve loved collaborating with him in the past, and have always loved his take on ‘Across The Universe.’ It’s a song we need right now, and, with Rufus on lead, and the world singing along, we can’t think of anything better!”
Rufus Wainwright adds:
“Across the Universe has always been a special song to me. When Yoko asked me to perform it at Radio City Music Hall with her son Sean and Moby in 2001 raising funds for New Yorkers in the aftermath of 9/11, it sort of put me on the map. It is eerie how the chorus ‘Nothing’s gonna change my world’ has taken a completely different meaning today. Because everything has changed for everyone in the world at the moment. I cannot imagine anything that has affected the entire world like this before, so that is why we want to create a version of this song where the entire world can participate. I have always enjoyed working with Daveed and Nobu in person and this digital collaboration is very exciting.”
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Choir! Choir! Choir! creative directors Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman have been hosting weekly Choir!ntines live on their Facebook and YouTube garnering over a million views to date from all over the world. In April, the duo raised over $70,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society as part of a one hour “sing-a-thon” they hosted in support of the organization’s Daffodil Month.
Rufus Wainwright has been posting daily videos of his songs performed at his home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. He has published over 50 of these daily #roberecitals #quarantunes and, to date, they have been viewed more than 1 million times. He was also the first artist to launch the Royal Albert Hall’s #royalalberthome concert series and has lent his voice to many institutions raising money for COVID-19 relief.
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