Rebecca A Withey: Unify – the all deaf sign performance group, performing at the King’s Coronation Concert this weekend! (BSL)

To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III this weekend, there will be a performance at Windsor Castle by the Coronation Choir. The Coronation Choir is a 300 strong choir made up of 17 community groups and choirs from all across the UK, all hand picked for the Coronation Concert.

Joining the Coronation Choir is all-deaf performance group Unify which I founded last year for the Queens Jubilee. We are a group of deaf BSL users who sign songs and we come from all across the UK with members from various cities such as Middlesbrough, Manchester, Kent and London.

We firmly believe that translating a song is a collaborative effort and we all work together to settle on sign translations that are accessible and true to the songs meaning. We regularly meet on Zoom to work on songs and to prepare for forthcoming performances.

Given that Unify have only been together for a year we were absolutely thrilled to be invited to perform at the Coronation Concert and so proud to be able to give British Sign Language a spotlight at such a mainstream, prestigious event.

I asked a few of our members to tell you about themselves and their journey so you could find out more about those who make up Unify.

Hi, I’m Oliver Graham, a British Sign Language user and I am profoundly deaf. Last year, in January 2022, I attended Rebecca’s sign song sessions on Zoom. During these sessions, I found that I could better understand the lyrics of songs and how they could be translated into BSL.

This was especially helpful for songs that varied genres, such as pop, rock, and musicals. Seeing the lyrics in a visual format gave me a fuller picture and better understood the story.

Before I joined the group Unify, I was interested in performing because I had previously been in a choir with hearing people back in 2012 for the Queen Jubilee’s 60th anniversary. At that time, I was the only one who signed, but thanks to my interpreter, communication was made more accessible.

On the day the Queen came to the new theatre, I showed my respect by signing ‘God Save the Queen’ and pointing to her. She smiled at me, and I smiled back before preparing for the next song, ‘Raven,’ about Corby Town. Fast forward to 2022, I thank my partner for helping me join Unify, as it has reignited my passion for performance that I have had for many years.

Unify had its first performance at Manchester Arena for Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee. When I was on stage, I saw my dream come true and it hit me that night that I was finally back on stage. Over the years, visiting different places with Unify has helped me build my confidence and develop my skills, which has been crazy because Unify is still a brand-new group.

The group now feels like a family because we all support each other through the good and bad times, which is important to me. This shows we include everyone in the group for people who are deaf and use British Sign Language as their first language.

Hi, my name is Debbie. I currently work in Cardiac Catheter Labs within the NHS. I was born with a hearing loss as my mum contracted German measles while she was pregnant. My parents struggled with my hearing loss, and I was never given any support. I went to a mainstream school, and struggled in class as I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

I’ve always had a passion for music, but not always catching the right words I’d always changed the lyrics, this would make my family laugh. We never had computers that could print off the lyrics, so I continued to sing the wrong words.

I used to do a signed Christmas song every year at our local deaf centre. Then I joined an online sign choir during the Pandemic which was with hearing and deaf people. I then saw an opportunity to join sign songs through Rebecca which was amazing because firstly it was with interaction on both sides sharing opinions and different signs.

It was through Unify that I have a better understanding of how to translate a song into BSL. British sign language is beautiful and I enjoy learning how to be more dramatic through body language and facial expressions.

It’s fantastic being part of this group which has people from all ages and genders. We focus on full BSL translation and with everyone coming from different parts of the country we respect each others signs and opinions.

We share experiences and decide as a group how we bring a song together.  I have immense pride being in the choir and how we share the deaf experience with the wider hearing community and hopefully make them keen to learn BSL and expand their knowledge and appreciation of the deaf community.

Hello, I’m Laura. I’m profoundly deaf. My mother had German Measles when pregnant which caused my deafness and growing up I went to a deaf school.

Before joining Unify my experience of sign choirs and performing was absolute zero. Since joining Unify, I have learned so much about how it works. It is such a new experience. My confidence has gradually improved too from the first time as I was very nervous when we first began.

There were such a lot of challenges for me over the last year. I feel I have learned so much from the professional sign singers in the group such as Colin Thomson and Rebecca Withey, they have given me such a confidence boost. Being on stage was my very first time but the team encouraged me and kept telling me I will be fine. Once I was on the stage I forgot about my nervousness. I have never done anything like it!

I love being in the group because it’s such a new experience for me and I have developed a real passion for sign songs. It has also really boosted my confidence.

I would love to see Unify grow and to have more opportunities to perform. Ultimately I would love to perform with Steps as they are my childhood favourite group!

Hello my name is Hearns Sebuado and I am a professional dancer and actor. I am deaf and I wear Cochlear Implant on my left ear and I am profoundly Deaf on my right. I first got into signed song when I was at High School and all the deaf students at my school came together to perform Season of Love by Rent.

I truly enjoy my experience signing songs. Knowing that I went from only performing signed songs at school on a small stage to a small audience to joining Unify, it is great that we are able to perform to such a wider audience and be able to share our love for music.

It was funny because I didn’t personally know any of the other members or get the chance to meet them before our first show because all of our rehearsals were through Zoom! The first time I met the other members of Unify was at Manchester before our gig at the AO Arena. I found the other members were all lovely people with the same passion as mine, we all clicked!

To be able to perform with over 25,000 people in the audience in Manchester for our first show was absolutely mind blowing. I am grateful that I be able to meet these amazing and talented people and get to perform with them.

Unify is one of the most unique signed song group that shares a love for music and signed song.

You can see Unify in the BBC documentary Sing for the King this Friday 5th May on BBC1.
You can also tune into the Coronation Concert on Sunday 7^th May at 8pm on BBC1 to see Unify perform live with the Coronation Choir.