The Flin Flon Community Choir is in the national spotlight, thanks to a new Christmas song featuring dozens of Canadian musicians - including the choir.
Members of the choir feature prominently in “A Canadian Christmas 2020”, a Canada-themed holiday song released online Dec. 16. Created by Toronto-based musician Suresh Singaratnam, a frequent collaborator with vocalist and former Flin Flonner Joanna Majoko, the song is a version of a previously released track created by Majoko and Singaratnam in 2017. Majoko, who performed on both the original song and the 2020 version, sang the song live during the Flin Flon Community Choir’s 2018 Christmas show.
The 2020 version of the song features singers and musicians from across Canada, ranging from CBC host Adrian Harewood and viral video star Brittlestar to symphony musicians and groups like the Hamilton Children’s Choir. No fewer than 12 members of the Flin Flon Community Choir sing on the song and can be heard - and, in the official video, seen - throughout the song’s chorus.
“You’ll hear us throughout the whole thing. We are sort of the chorus,” said Crystal Kolt, cultural coordinator for the Flin Flon Arts Council and conductor of the Flin Flon Community Choir. Kolt makes an appearance in the video for the song, along with husband Mark, daughter Katryn and sons Brandon and Julian. Other Flin Flon choir members involved with the project include sopranos Pandora Furniss, Rhonda Head and Janeve Masson, alto Penny Grove and tenors Tom Heine, Markian McColl and Tim Spencer.
“It’s a really beautiful, poignant, fun piece. There’s some humour in there too,” said Kolt.
The song was featured on CBC News Network Dec. 19, including an interview with Singaratnam. The portion of the video featuring Flin Flon Community Choir members was shown during the interview.
While the video has been publicly released, a special bonus feature, as of press time, has not been - a version of “A Canadian Christmas” sung entirely by the Flin Flon group. Kolt said this version will make its debut during the Arts Council’s Christmas Eve livestream show.
“The composer [Singaratnam] made an a cappella version video just for us, of just us, that’s going to be shown for the first time during that broadcast,” she said.
