Zangzaad
Zangzaad is the queer choir for low voices from Groningen, a city in the northern part of the Netherlands. For moren than 35 years we were a gay men’s choir, but we are now open to everyone won can sing the traditional male voices, regardless gender or sexual orientation. Lead by our inspiring conductor we sing a capella as well as accompanied by piano. Our repertoire valies from pop to ballads, seriious songs and songs with a humorous undrtone. We are not afraad of a pinch of thetrality. Pleasure in singinging and performance are key features of Zangzaad. We like to perform and throughout our public performances we want to enhance the visibility of our queer community and spread our message in diversity and acceptance. Characteristic of Zangzaad is our yearly free podium (De Schuifdeurenavond) on which members of our choir and friends sing as soloist or in smaller ensembles. Throughout the years this free podium has become a very popular and vividly entertaining event. Being found in 1988 Zangzaad is a choir with a rich history. We organized together with Gemgd Dameskoor the Various Voices festival in 1995, some 30 years ago. With 30 choirs it was a small-sized festival compared to this edition in Brussels. Zangzaad is fond of exciting experiences. In 2024 we were on Dutch national tv in a production dealing with nightlife in Groningen ( Nachtdieren). Last September we were offially part of the civil deputation during Prinsjesdag, the day on which the Dutch king addresses the Parliament. Lined up alongside nicely firm dressed soldiers, we stood there, queens awaiting the royal couple and their three princesses.
We we’re found in 1988 in a bar called Leto in Groningen. In 1993 we went to Zürich to attend our first festival abroad. In 1995 we organized the Various Voices festival. In 2024 we celebrated our 35th year of existence in the Forum Groningen. We also accepted then our first female singer in the choir.
Various Voices means a lot to our choir. It is a place to meet other singers, choirs and see friends again. It is always a place where we get enthousiastic for other choir performances or get inspired by new music, theatrically acts or marvellous clothing. It is also a place when we experience as community that we are not alone and that we sometimes feel we have the majority in a town. For our choir this will be the ninth time we will attend the festival and one time we organized it ourselves with the Gemengd Dameskoor in Groningen. The festival also unites the choir itself and gives everyone nice memories.