One word – it was hot! In the metaphorical sense, with the audiences giving the warmest of welcomes to all the choirs performing, but also literally, with temperatures in the shade exceeding 34 degrees Celsius. We survived only thanks to constantly fanning ourselves, the focus we had to maintain before and during our performances, and the unwavering calm of Lew, our conductor.
This edition of Various Voices, the international festival of rainbow choirs, took place on the 24th to 28th of June, 2026, and brought over 120 diverse queer vocal ensembles to Brussels. Krakofonia performed three times. Our first was a street concert in Place Sainte Catherine, where we took our audience on a musical journey across countries, languages and genres, starting with the Romani folk tune Rumelaj, to sensuous Because The Night by Patti Smith, the melancholy Nie ma, nie ma ciebie by Kayah and Bregovic (soloists: Hanna and Bartek), cheerful Karma Chameleon, to the latest addition to our repertoire, Aurora’s The Seed, in a stunning arrangement written by our own conductor.
Our second and primary performance happened in the grand concert hall of the BOZAR culture centre (Salle Henri Le Bœuf), where we presented mostly our rock repertoire with lots of solo parts: Holding Out for a Hero, Dream On (soloist: Remi), Cykady na Cykladach (Tomek), Dog Days Are Over (Basia and Asia BG) and Running Up That Hill (Kysy), to end on a strong note with The Seed, a manifesto and a tribal-sounding wake-up call („You cannot eat money, oh no!”).
The third and final but by no means less emotional performance was a part of the grand show in the ING Arena, where 15 choirs sang one song each. Krakofonia performed Rebeka’s Pocałunek, a piece well known to Polish queer audiences, and while the Polish lyrics were inaccessible to our listeners, we still managed to convey the sadness, frustration and rage of this song. Special appreciation goes to Dominika and Vi, whose heartfelt solo parts did justice to the song’s message, and to Marina for accompanying us on the piano. The show closed with a joint performance of the festival anthem, Let Your Heart Be Heard, by all the choirs present.
Aside from singing our own concerts, we attended plenty of those by other choirs: during their main performance slots, in shows, in the streets, in the opening and closing ceremonies, or in the Brussels city hall. We met with old friends and made promising new acquaintances. The impressions, emotions, laughs, standing applauses, gushing feedback given and received and all the gestures of support are too many to name here. One thing is sure – we will keep this festival edition in fond memory!
Our participation in the Various Voices festival was organised and managed by Leonardo, Marina and Lew, whose concerted efforts (pun intended!) helped us not to get lost in the flurry of meetings, warmups, rehearsals, soundchecks, concerts and ceremonies. Supporting them was Ilde, and the social media coverage was provided by Kasandra, Aga, Asia BG, Hanna and Leonardo. Financial aid for those of our members who needed it was made possible by fundraisers coordinated by Joanna, Basia and Asia BG (with prizes for fundraising auctions provided by many of our members and our fans). They all have our big thanks and applause for their efforts!