For Those Who Have Been Waiting for a Rocking Finnish Male Choir…

Everyone knows Beijing is the center of China’s musical universe. With everything from punk rock to Mongolian folk to Peking Opera gracing the capital’s stages every night of the week there is always something for everyone. But for those who have been hanging out for a Finnish choir that combines elements of rock, theater, and a cappella, the wait is over. Semmarit, a Finnish male choir, comes to Beijing in November and promises to put on a show that will entertain even the most skeptical. We had a chance to ask Semmarit some questions in anticipation of their first China tour.

Your style of music sounds quite unusual – how would you describe it to the uninitiated?
Our style is based on various different musical influences, so we can sound quite different from song to song – we alter the style and performance to suit our ever-changing ambitions. Since every singer in our group uses his own wireless headset microphone, the sound of the choir is strong, modern and has a lot of influences from pop and rock music. Perhaps we could name the Beatles or a show group called Stomp? Monty Python maybe?

A rock-theatre performance choir is pretty unique, how did you come up with the idea?
There was a group of friends all studying at Jyväskylä University. They wanted to play music and make songs, but not by forming a rock band like everyone else did at that time... Many of the original members studied drama during the early years of the choir. They saw the potential to combine straightforward singing with drama elements. Most of those early members still are part of the group.

What does Semmarit mean and why did you choose that name for your group?
The name Semmarit is actually our playful nickname, since our full Finnish name is very long and complicated. Our original full name in English is Seminar Hill Male Singers (Seminaarinmäen Mieslaulajat), since the choir was established at that location. Seminar Hill (Seminaarinmäki) is a very famous campus area in our hometown Jyväskylä.

Will this be your first tour in China?
Yes, and we are super excited about it!

What do you expect reactions will be in Beijing to your music and style?
Naturally we hope that the people in Beijing will find our performance entertaining, fun, surprising and hopefully beautiful and touching also. So far our performances outside our home country Finland have been successful. We feel that our music and performance speaks its own, international language.

Will you be performing in English in China?
Yes. We will also sing in Finnish. And we hope that we can surprise the audience with some other languages!

Will you be incorporating any aspects of Chinese music into your performances?
Our musical influences are international. We are sure that the Chinese audience will definitely find some familiar elements in our performance!

Semmarit play at 8pm on Friday, November 19 & Saturday, November 20 at The One Club. RMB 150/180. Tickets available here.