HURRICANE CHOIR
was conceived in September 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina had caused the greatest ever loss of life and destruction on the United States mainland. It was formed by a small core group of Australian, Canadian and local volunteers, and documented by Australian filmmaker Hereward Dundas-Taylor.
The idea of the Hurricane Choir was inspired by the remarkable true story of survival of a large group of Australian and British Army nurses and Dutch Civilians who were interned in a punishing rat hidden jungle camp Samtura during World War II. Most notably was Australian Army nurse Lt. Vivian Bullwinkel, and two British women: a missionary, Margaret Dryburgh, and a civilian woman who was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London and who was also the first female conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in the 1930's, Norah Chambers.
Dryburgh had a photographic memory for music and Chambers knew how to conduct the music. This was a rare and unusual situation in any setting, let alone in the middle of the jungle in WWII, and together they found a way to use music to lift their spirits beyond the wire. The Australian Army nurses were only too willing to form the backbone of the camp choir, even though it put their lives in further danger if they were caught rehearsing.
The camp choir also gave these women a sense of freedom their captives could not break. More importantly however, it gave them an incredible sense of hope. As a result almost half of their number survived the atrocious conditions. Each of these survivors attributed their survival to singing in this unique choir. This was in part depicted in the 1997 motion picture Paradise Road starring Glenn Close, Cate Blanchett, Frances McDormand and Pauline Collins and others. It was this spirit of survival, of surviving in adversity, that lead to the idea of the Hurricane Choir. In the modern day setting of the disaster that unfolded in New Orleans where tens of thousands of people suffered the symptoms of post traumatic stress, the healing power of music was again put to the test in a real life situation.
Two of the Australian volunteers of the Hurricane Choir project helped develop the film script and movie. One became the first musical director of the Hurricane Choir. The other became the film director of the international documentary, and the television director of their live concerts.
Like the camp choir, The Hurricane Choir was made up of those suffering severe traumatic stress. However, unlike the camp choir it included many mental health professionals including substantial support from the Volunteers of America, Mental Health Association in Louisiana and the Minority of Mental Health (Baton Rouge). The youngest choir member was just 9 years old. The eldest active member was a youthful 98 year-old survivor from the worst hit area of New Orleans, the lower 9th Ward. She waded through waist and neck deep water for 40 city blocks, singing and gathering people as she struggled and found her own way out of the heavily flooded city.
In the many months of rehearsals, it was noted through medical research conducted by Sentiens Health in Western Australia, that those initially suffering severe PTSD were slowly being empowered through the activity of community singing. The signs were so significant that the Governor of Louisiana wrote to the Prime Minister of Australia thanking him for the efforts of his countrymen, particularly Sentiens for their research. Before the volunteers shipped out in June 2006, the Hurricane Choir had given many public performances, the last three being very highly successful. These were documented by a voluntary multi-camera film crew made up of Australians, Canadians and Americans, and led by the Australian filmmaker.
Multiple cases of survivors suffering severe trauma, some with suicidal tenancies after having lost so much, were the focus of the filmmaker and Sentiens Health. The survivors long journey to recovery was dramatically shortened from years to just several months with the caring support of volunteer organizations and the act of communal signing.
Of these volunteers, only the filmmaker remained after the closing concert at the end of June 2006. Forever changed by the experience, he proactively lobbied the Hurricane Choir to form a bona fide not for profit organization. A board of Directors was formed in July 2006 and it was later granted State not for profit status under the name of Sing For Humanity. This took over from the defunct commercial operation that ceased to operate in June.
In May 2007, Give Them A Go Group began the lengthy process of creating a Federal not for profit status for Sing For Humanity USA. Over the following two years, many of the choir members gradually pieced their lives together and the choir slowly faded without having achieved its primary goal, to sing on the steps of Capitol Hill with thousands of voices in defiance of mother nature’s destructive forces and to bring attention to the power of music.
In late 2010 with Federal not-for-profit status in the wings, Give Them A Go Group notified former members of the choir that it would like to assist in the reestablishing the Hurricane Choir in 2012, and the first initial goal would be to sing on the steps of Capitol Hill with thousands of voices. The response has been deafening!
Give Them A Go Group also oversees the construction of the new website for the Hurricane Choir. The website is being built with the technical expertise of iVent Services and the creative team from Give Them A Go Group. When this new website is launched early 2012, a link will be provided here.
