Youngstown Complaints Choir sings final show today

YOUNGSTOWN

Kelly Bancroft has heard a lot of complaints lately.

But she expected that when she began coordinating the Youngstown Complaints Choir, which held its final public performance Saturday at Ward Bakery Building during the Artists of the Mahoning Commons and Friends Open Studio and Art Sale.

The Complaints Choir is an international project founded in 2005 by Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen. The choirs encourage local people to gather complaints and turn them into musical pieces.

“This has been done all over the world. The complaints, whether they’re from Africa or Korea, are pretty similar: They’re about our bodies, freedom and money,” Bancroft said.

The Youngstown Complaints Choir’s completed work is titled “Does Anybody Really Care” and features snippets ranging from small annoyances to serious social commentary. A stanza from the first verse reads:

“People put clothing on cats, take pictures with their phone.

People are mean to children, especially their own.

It’s so hard to lose weight but so easy to put on.

I hate that I now understand youth is wasted on the young.”

The choir’s Saturday performance was filmed and will become a permanent part of the traveling Living As Form (The Nomadic Version) exhibition.

For more on the choir and today's performance, read Sunday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.