Choir! Choir! Choir! So good they named it thrice

Whether you enjoy losing your inhibitions at a group karaoke session or are more comfortable belting it out in the privacy of your car, Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman of Choir! Choir! Choir! are getting audiences up out of their seats this May, with Hallelujah: An EPIC Anthems Sing-Along. Audiences are invited to be part of the show, learning harmonies from well-loved songs, and with no auditions or previous singing experience required, it means everybody’s welcome.

Each night the audience are invited to be part of the show as they are taught harmonies and sing songs from Leonard, Joni and Whitney to Oasis, Adele and Pink Floyd.

Both native Canadians, Daveed was managing a brunch spot and Nobu was new to town when they were asked to put a choir together for a mutual friend’s birthday. That was 2008. Fast forward to 2011 when Daveed suggested they “do that choir thing. It’ll be fun”, so they set up Facebook post which needed a title. Nobu cupped his hands around his mouth and said, “Choir..! Choir..! Choir..!” The local weekly news came to opening night and credited them as that, and it stuck.

Keen to emphasise that everything to do with CCC is accidental, Nobu has never even been in a choir. Daveed says: “Nothing was planned. We saw the community forming, with audiences wanting weekly events and it was so encouraging. We’re simply keeping pace with interest and 14 years later we’re somehow travelling the world.”

Aside from singing, they are both naturally musical, able to pick up instruments and make music in some way, although Nobu is keen to highlight his recorder skills from his youth. “I was big on the recorder scene. The Kenny G of recorders, then clarinet and sax. The Toronto school system had very strong music programmes.”

They are both Jewish, but had different upbringings, Nobu’s was a non-religious one, with a Jewish father and a mother born in Japan who moved to Toronto. He watched his Jewish friends take off school when it was a Jewish holiday and asked his dad if he could do the same. “He said, ‘Stay home and read up on it’ and I was like, hmm, I think I’ll go to school! But I spent a lot of time going to saunas for a schvitz with old Jews, learning how to talk to people. Culturally I grew up as Jewish but without instruction of what it meant to be Jewish. I even pitched a tv show: ‘Getting to Nobu – Putting the Jew in Jewpanese.’ I didn’t know what it meant to be Jewish and to be honest I still don’t, but it’s such a flexible faith and it’s interesting for me to have this connection to Judaism, as it’s so wide-ranging in terms of what it can mean.”

Daveed’s was a far more traditional upbringing – keeping kosher, going to synagogue and, naturally, singing in the choir. “I went to a small private Jewish school called Akiva and we’d always win the choir competitions. I was a soloist. It was very cool that we could beat these big choirs.”

More than 100 million songs have been recorded and published globally, but CCC know what the people want. Daveed explains, “The show is a malleable one, a bit like stand-up comedy.  You must become really good at listening – people are out there yelling stuff at us. I jump out with my microphone, or we call someone up on stage. And suddenly we’re talking about a song we hadn’t planned on doing.” Nobu adds: “We make it flow, but also mess with the flow. And because of the humour aspect, it comes back to Jewish cultural humour and once they laugh, they’re open.”

Reflecting on a show they performed in Ottawa featuring Christmas songs, they found it mind-boggling that they’re two Jewish guys from Canada who didn’t sing these songs growing up. Daveed says: “After the show, this old lady wearing a cross spots me in the lobby and makes a beeline. I was so worried what she was going to say, but she hugged me and said it was such fun. I felt very Jewish in that moment in that it affects people in such a wonderful way.”

In terms of the demographic, it’s such a mixed crowd: some come solo, parents with kids, large groups of women, although they noticed that lots more men came for the ‘Queen’ show. Daveed says, “It’s great seeing teens come to the show who are just discovering the music.”

Last year CCC performed last year on Canada’s Got Talent, with all four judges saying “yes” and they got Shania Twain to sing.

An impressive repertoire of artists have worked with them, including Brandi Carlile, David Byrne and even Kermit the Frog. The CCC mindset is “if they have a song we think will work, then let’s do it”. Daveed says, “We did a night with Rick Astley and he was so talented, so funny – we were not expecting that. He understands his place in musical history, and it’s given him the chance to perform that song [Never Gonna Give You Up] for 40 years. He’s the coolest.”

With so many performing Jewish artists, it’s no surprise they have put on themed nights, including a couple of events at a synagogue in Vancouver. “We covered artists like Leonard Cohen, The Ramones, Kiss,” says Daveed. “The thing about CCC is that when people are having a difficult time having conversations on so many levels, we try to create an environment by using music as an excuse to gather and connect, showing that different faiths can be together in a room and celebrate.”

Choir! Choir! Choir! are performing at Islington Assembly Hall on Wednesday 14 May. For tickets: choirchoirchoir.com/shows