Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen

Complainers of the World—Unite!
www.complaintschoir.org

Just imagine: instead of complaining in private, feeling unhappy, you complain about all of your worries and frustrations—from global and political concerns to the most banal personal ones—together with others in a public place, and then composed as a catchy song. Would that make any difference? I bet it would. In fact, I know it would, because I’ve seen a video of the four Complaints Choir performances led by artist couple Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen.

Dozens of people in the cities of Birmingham (England), Helsinki (Finland), St. Petersburg (Russia), and Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg (Germany) have participated in an innovative complaints workshop, which resulted in four local Complaints Choirs and their performances. The first workshop took place in Birmingham in the spring of 2005 and the last one in the fall of 2006 in St. Petersburg. The idea is simple but brilliant—by participating in a workshop, the negative and private energy of complaining is transformed into something collective and public as well as something extremely positive. Most participants seem to enormously enjoy being able to free their minds from the habit of expressing discontent in private and, at least once in their lifetime, to complain in a different way.

Concerning the complaints themselves, citizens in all four cities seemed to be frustrated with the following things: poorly organized public transportation, dead-end careers, streets littered with trash and dog poop, expensive cost of living and, of course, too little money, too much noise, and rotten weather. Required computer skills seemed to cause a lot of suffering, too. All this was to be expected. What I found interesting was that most complainers seemed to hate the large amount and size of advertising in the public space; ads take over the space and are impossible to avoid. It was a clear message to the property owners, city authorities, companies, advertisement designers, and so on.

Current international, national, and local political issues were also touched on with complaints about the fact that the income tax of British citizens pays for war, and that Finnish women—despite the fact that the country is so well known for its equality of the sexes—are still paid less than men holding the same position. Why are old people fed tranquilizers in nursing homes? Why is the wait for the communal dentist six months long? The people in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg do not want a new motorway. They are dissatisfied by the fact that parent money only starts in 2007, and that the customs fence around the harbor—and between Wilhelmsburg and the city’s center—has not been dismantled yet, even though the legislation has been changed. The Choir of St. Petersburg complains, for instance, about the increase in electricity fees, how they can’t travel without a visa, and that Finnish customs officers are very rude. If I wanted to pick out some local characteristics—national stereotypes, if you wish—I would say I find it very Finnish to complain about people in a public sauna not asking if it’s okay to pour more water on the stove and that the gigantic “meter pizza” sold in the supermarket is actually only half-a-meter long. As a former university student of Russian language and culture, I find it terribly Russian to complain about the corruption of one’s mother tongue. Others don’t seem to be worried, even if perhaps they should. In this context I also find it very Russian to complain—repeatedly and in chorus—about falling in love and continuing to love despite the pain it brings. I’m immediately reminded of Alexander Pushkin’s wonderful poem Eugene Onegin and the beauty with which he describes the pain of loving.

As pieces of music, the works seem to represent a mixture of various types of popular and folk music flavored with national characteristics. The Russian tune touches my heart from this perspective as well—it’s full of Slavic courtesy, festivity, melancholy, and joy—all at the same time. The pieces have catchy choruses and deliberately entertaining lyrics to create a good mood and positive energy, among the performers as well as the audience. The lyrics and the melody have to be easy to learn, as the workshops are open to anybody, whether one can sing or not. The up-lifting effect of the r videos comes from the ease with which one can empathize with various complainers, recognize oneself in them, and laugh.

Paula Toppila