Necronomicon filk!

I'm writing this from Necronomicon, in Tampa--it's a long-running science fiction convention with a healthy group of Vampire the Masquerade attendees and some traditional parties.

I've had the best time.

I didn't actually plan on having a filksing here. I've wanted to attend a filksing for a while, ever since falling down the rabbit hole that is knowing that people did gather at conventions and perform songs. Cosplay is theater, if a sort of personal theater that can mean a lot of different things to the wearer; but we don't as a society gather to do music. We perform fashion; we don't perform entertainment. That's a commercial, often pre-recorded, often for-professionals-only. For the people "who are good at it".

Filk isn't like that. Oh, sure, you're going to have some professional-level performers, people who can play an instrument, but you're also going to have people who have just a voice and varying levels of training.

Necro had a two-hour slot for filk this year. I think Ann Morris might have had something to do with it (she's an older fan who appears in some Worldcon materials and possibly some old fic zines). Altogether, we pulled about a dozen people and made a circle out of the ballroom chair ranks.

The circle is important. I get why. It's democratizing. It's sociable.

The event itself was run with inclusion aforethought. Apparently some filksings had a setup where the last player selected the new one, but that would be cliquey. We went in a circle; you wanted to sing, you could sing. You didn't want to, you said pass, and that was it. No comments, no pressure, no annoyed sighs (for singers or non-singers).

And most of us did sing. I got to sing! I actually got to sing around people! See; I don't really know how to sing properly. I have some conscious experimentation in how I do sing, but I don't know how to "really sing". I wasn't in chorus in school and wasn't allowed to try out for the non-class chorus, and frankly I never shelled out for lessons. I suspect that I could find Youtube videos, but ...it's not like I'm not already starved for time. Maybe one day. My point is: OH MY GODS, I GOT TO SING :D

And I think people liked it! Or didn't mind it. And, see, that's the thing: really! Things were okay! We had so many neat people! Our strongest performer was Avelyn Davee, a SCAdian with stringed instrument experience, who brought original songs; she was great. We had our event running, Ann, who wasn't really willing to sing much, but was happy to pass out some lyrics and lead group performances of some songs set to well-known tunes. We had a Herald (they were cosplaying a Herald! from Valdemar! That's a first for me) with a filk journal; we had an older man who knew some sea shanties (on- and off-color) and a short but funny Greensleeves parody; we had Nienna Nir, who brought some formerly-unsung fic and a great voice, and a couple of others who either used recordings to sing over or who, being unwilling to sing, still wanted to share with the group.

There was no "well, you're doing it wrong" here. I think that if there was, it would have been right to judge in favor of inclusion.

We sang about sci-fi shows, about dragonriders, about spaceships, and cats. This too is filk. ("Whatever you sing in the filksing, that's filk" was said at one point, I think.) And then, on the second night of the show, when we didn't have space reserved, three of us sat out in the hall and sang more. A couple of the con volunteers and staff came out and joined us. One congoer pulled out a cell phone to record for a while. One guy came over to tell us he was glad to see filk-as-impromptu-gathering at a con again. Were we causing trouble? Yeah, maybe. We were taking up a social space willfully. We were noisy. But at this point in life, at this point in society, getting to take up space is sort of a gift. And the confidence boost of knowing I got to sing in front of people is sort of liberating. It's hard not to feel a confidence boost knowing that you did, in fact, get to take up space, and not be pelted with tomatoes for daring to. Near as I can tell, that's a fundamental tenet of filking. You get to do it.

Really, the social element is what delights me more about this. The cassette tapes, recordings, videos, and print material from the 80s and early 90s demonstrate a thriving vocal tradition among fandom. That just doesn't seem to have made the transition to anime/game fan events, and certainly not to the corporate chain convention scene, and it's... a bit sad. Would an anime event allow gathering in the hall? Making a lot of noise? I don't know; they might be cool with a filk panel, though, and... really, I'm considering trying to pitch one at an event in the future. I'm usually at a booth, so that may not work, but you never know.

And if you ever get the chance to try, whether it's with older filkers or younger people who want to try, or people who have their own music circle traditions from other groups... maybe do it. You, too, can filk.