Das betreute Singen

The concept is as simple as it is unusual: the audience decides the course of the evening. Song requests are shouted out or written on slips of paper, a quick vote is taken – the lyrics appear on the screen, and Demian and Reentko start playing.

There’s no set list and no fixed programme. The only requirement: you have to want to sing along. You don’t have to be able to sing.

For ten years, Demian Kappenstein and Reentko Dirks have been organising the monthly series in Dresden. The evenings regularly sell out well in advance. At the film nights on the banks of the Elbe in summer, up to 4,000 people sing along with the two musicians. For over a year now, ‘Betreutes Singen’ has also been taking place monthly at Berlin’s Colosseum cinema.

What makes it special is that it is neither a traditional sing-along evening nor a concert. The musicians themselves do not know in advance what will be played. The audience decides – and in doing so, shapes the evening. A long-forgotten favourite song can suddenly become the highlight, whilst a spontaneous shout-out can turn into the catchphrase of the evening.

‘Guided Sing-Along’ thrives on people creating something together. And perhaps that is precisely the secret of its success: singing together creates a bond. For one evening, the boundaries between stage and audience disappear. Everyone sings the same song – regardless of whether they hit a single note.

So what would have happened if Reentko had left back then?

Then ‘Guided Singing’ probably wouldn’t exist. And thousands of people might never have experienced how good it feels to be loud together.

Upcoming screenings at the Colosseum Cinema:

• 21 October
• 24 November
• 16 December (Special Winter Edition)