Forty Words for Yes!

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Forty Words for Yes is a 40-part choral work by Nelson composer Doug Jamieson. Forty singers, recorded from around the world, sang words that meant ‘yes’ in their mother tongues.  This original composition was presented at St. Saviour’s Pro Cathedral in Nelson B.C., June 9-11, 2023. The recording was played on 8 synchronized surround sound stereo systems. Each speaker stand was enhanced by dynamic batik banners by Kootenay artist Alf Crossley. Forty Words for Yes was inspired by Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium, and by Canadian Janet Cardiff's art installation of Tallis's masterpiece. Jamieson blended 40 voices from around the world, including 17 Nelson singers, to create a harmonious choral arrangement of eight five-part choirs, focusing on the most positive word in each and every language–Yes! 

For further information and to inquire about a live performance, contact: doug@dougjamieson.com. 

 The Singers: Anuj Sharma  -  Hindi Bella Cat  -  French Chimi Bärchen  -  Chichewa Ciraj Premanantham  -  Tamil Clara Chang  -  Cantonese Dea Shahinas  -  Albanian Donné Roberts  -  Malagasy Doug Jamieson  -  English Ekinsu Durgun  -  Turkish Elizabeth Hallborg  -  Ukrainian Emily Forstinger  -  Croatian Eric Hoodicoff  -  Russian Fang Yuan  -   Mandarin Ivan Vutev  -  Bulgarian Jan Bäckström  -  Swedish Janice Mainvil  -  Basque Jay Bhargav  -  Telugu Jeremy Hardjono  -  Indonesian Kelly Vrugteveen  -  Dutch Lance Ledger  -  Cree LaRae Wiley  -  Sinixt Salish Marama Butler  -  Maori Marcelo Porto Goncalves  -  Portuguese Maria Koebsch  -  German Marianna Bertozzo  -  Italian Martin Kratky  -  Czech Merlyna Lim  -  Sundanese Nancy Suuban  -  Estonian Puleng Pratt  -  Sesotho Ramah  -  Mohamad  Arabic Reza Yazdanpanah  -  Persian Sapphire Guthrie  -  Spanish Shermaene Baguio  -  Tagalog Sol Snir Shaool  -  Hebrew Sulustu Moses  -  Spokane Salish Susanna Heinonen  -  Finnish Vernon Williams  -  Haida Werner Knudsen  -  Danish Yeseo Lim  -  Korean