As part of LGBT history month, every Thursday this February we’ll be posting a video from the archive.
Here’s a short documentary filmed in 1994 and presented by Jonathan Reithmueller on the LGBT choir scene in London at the time. Choirs covered include Vocal Minority, Diversity and us Pink Singers. It even features an interview with one of our tenors who’s still in the choir 21 years on, Philip Rescorla.
There’s another scene in London, a scene that not too many people know about, that can be just as fun and a lot more sociable. Welcome to the wonderful world of London’s queer choirs.
Philip In the first of a series of blog posts leading up to our next concert, Legends – Homage to the greats, tenor Philip Rescorla explains why David Bowie is his favourite musical legend: Singing “Under Pressure” with the Pinkies at our last concert reminded me that it was my love of music legend David Bowie that once got me thrown out of the Coleherne, a popular and notorious gay pub in Earls Court. My partner Martin, my best friend John and I had got tickets for Bowie’s 1973 world tour which reached Earl’s Court Stadium on 12 May. The shows, which included songs from both his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane albums, were theatrical affairs with Bowie stripping down to a sumo loincloth, and simulating oral sex on lead guitarist Mick Ronson’s instrument! Bowie concert, May73 To get in the spirit of the occasion we decided to wear make-up just like Bowie did on his album covers and minced gaily into the Coleherne for a pre-gig drinkette. To our bewilderment the barman refused to serve us as “only women wear make-up (sic)”. Oh the irony: the Coleherne had prided itself on attracting a bohemian clientele in the 1930s before becoming a gay pub in the late fifties. In the event we popped into the ABC Café down the road where the tea ladies loved our look. The Coleherne’s attitude was even more bizarre when you remember that Bowie had declared himself bisexual in an interview with Melody Maker in January 1972. Later that year Bowie, with flaming red hair and a skin-tight body-suit, appeared on BBC’s Top of the Pops with his song Starman, watched by 14 million people. Last year, Dylan Jones editor of GC Magazine, published a book arguing that this remains a crucial moment in cultural history. It certainly had a huge impact on the fledgling gay community and made it easier for people to make tentative steps out of the closet, if only as Bowie fans! More recently he has underplayed this aspect of his life but that’s not surprising. Bowie has reinvented himself many times over the years (as musician, style icon, artist and actor) as revealed in a major sold out retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year. I still play his albums regularly and remember when “Ziggy played guitar” and the Coleherne, now no more, didn’t like men with make-up.
The Pinkies are a dedicated bunch – as well as giving up our Sundays for some melody making loveliness, a few of us are also elected to join our management committee. This year’s crop includes a gold level standard figure skater, a gossip girl, a shoe stasher and our very own George Clooney. Meet the team! Find out what our favourite songs are as well as some other interesting tit-bits… Richis our Chair and has been a Pinkie for five seasons.
Rich holds the world record for the most committed pinkie when it comes to commuting to choir (it was 250 miles for nearly two seasons).
His favourite music is “the sound of whatever I am singing to in the shower. I get good echo”.
Oli is our Artistic Director and has been a Pinkie for ten seasons.
Oli is obsessed with shoes and owns over 100 pairs which he struggles to store in his flat!
His favourite Pinkie performance was ‘One Night Only’ from the movie ‘Dreamgirls’.“We spent a long time perfecting the choreography to this number; it wasn’t easy! However, on the night, the energy of the choir, the band and the audience all came together to produce an electric performance”.
Nicola is our Multimedia Director and has been a Pinkie for two seasons.
Nicola used to be a part-time reggae DJ in Uganda.
Her favourite song is, “anything by Fleetwood Mac and any Pinkies’ performance which involves choreography (regardless of what the song actually is!”).
Gary is our Membership & Social Secretary and has been a Pinkie for four seasons.
Gary attained his Gold Level Grade in figure skating in 2010.
His favourite song is Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’, as it makes him…feel good!
Zoe is our Choir Liaison & Events Officer and has been a Pinkie for six seasons.
Zoe went to the same high school that ‘Gossip Girl’ was based on.
Her favourite song performed by the choir is ‘Baba Yetu’.
Iain is our Bass Section Leader and has been a Pinkie for five seasons.
At the age of 18, Iain stood as the Green candidate in his school’s mock election. He had a campaign team and used a screen print of Greta Garbo in green paint on recycled newspaper as posters. The campaign slogan was, “Greta is…”
His favourite song is ‘I know it’s over’ by The Smiths:“It’s a song about desperation and loneliness so hard to explain why it would be a favourite. Listen to it & we’ll talk…”
Lucy is our Soprano Section Leader and has been a Pinkie for three seasons.
Lucy’s grandad invented the Terry’s Chocolate Orange (and no, he wasn’t called Terry).
Her favourite song(s) are any nineties Kylie, Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’, ‘I Am the One and Only’, most of the songs of 1996 and the choir’s rendition of Adele’s ‘Set Fire to the Rain’.
Chris is our Tenor Section Leader and has been a Pinkie for one season.
When Chris was 19, he submitted a song called ‘Rush of Emotion’ to the BBC Eurovision Song contest. It wasn’t selected, but he might still sing it for you if you buy him enough beers…
His favourite Pinkie perfomance was ‘Set Fire to the Rain’, as he loved the arrangement and the tenor line.
Sarah is our Alto Section Leader and has been a Pinkie for eight seasons.
Sarah believes in pushing herself out of her comfort zone and often tries to do things that scare or challenge her. For example, this summer she undertook her first solo camping trip in the woods!
Her favourite Pinkies song is ‘With a Lily in Your Hand’. “It was such a challenge to learn. I remember feeling really proud after having performed it for the first time and also a little surprised thinking, wow, did we really just make a sound like that?!”
Teddy is our Treasurer and has been a Pinkie for two seasons.
Teddy is a real life ‘Up in the Air’ George Clooney, having spent more nights in a hotel this year than in his own bed.
His favourite song is Ave Maria (Othello), by Maria Callas:“She slowly climbs up arpeggio towards the end and just lets the top note rest beautifully. It catches my breath every time. Three minutes of every emotion experienced”…
Gill is our Secretary and has been a Pinkie for 14 seasons.
Gill is a huge Nina Simone fan:“I once saw her perform live in concert. She was truly incredible – powerful, passionate and terrifying!!”
Her favourite song is ‘Feeling Good’ by Nina Simone; “lots of lovely rich alto notes for singing along to in the shower!”
Josh is our Concert Producer and has been a Pinkie for four seasons.
Josh’s favourite song is Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case of You’. (“I do need 12 bottles please.”).
Alto Helen reviews ‘Pride’ and looks at the wider, modern context surrounding the film today. We heard on the news today that a British man had just been released from a Moroccan prison where he had been incarcerated having been tried and found guilty of ‘homosexual acts’. The release had occurred after intervention via political and diplomatic channels, and it is obviously good news that he is now safely home. It remains to be seen what will happen to the Moroccan man who was also arrested and imprisoned for the same ‘reason’, Jamal Jam Wald Nass; I imagine there will be no political or diplomatic ‘get out of jail free card’ for him. It was a timely reminder that although we are tremendously lucky in the UK to enjoy freedom to live and love in private and public, across the world there are millions of others who risk imprisonment, torture and punishment by death for living the same lives we live every day. Consensual same-sex relations are illegal in some 78 countries. And being gay or lesbian could see you sentenced to death in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania, Sudan, as well as some regional states in Nigeria and Somalia. PRIDE the film, reminded me of the hundreds of brave LGBTQ folk who, over previous decades, have fought to get us in the UK to this position of equality and relative safety. It evoked a time when discrimination was being written into the law, through Section 28, and LGBTQ people had to withstand intimidation and violence on a regular basis. Most would agree that life is considerably easier for us now in the UK, than 30 years ago, but people still suffer from homophobia; the fight isn’t over yet, and we need to protect the advances so hard won in the past. Many young gay people continue to be made homeless by their families after coming out or being ‘outed’. The Albert Kennedy Trust is a wonderful, small, charity and I have seen them in action giving safe accommodation, access to a key worker, and counselling that helps these young people feel that there is someone on, and at, their side. Homophobic bullying is still a major problem in schools; if we can enable young people to feel confident in coming out, and to avoid their self-esteem being destroyed at a young age by bullies then the next generation of LGBTQ people will be in an even better place than we are now.
Pinkies at the Flicks
Another ‘Night at the Movies’ as the Pinkies head out in force to see Pride.
A group of Pink Singers went to see the film one Wednesday evening a few weeks ago, enjoying a curry beforehand and drinks afterwards. I have never seen a cinema so full on a Wednesday night. This was several weeks after the film was released and people were still packing in to see it. It is a big, emotional, warm film, and it tells a story that none of us had heard before, of a gay and lesbian group in London who raised money for a group of South Wales striking miners. The emotional heart of the film for me was really about the rejection and struggle that both groups faced, with the gay group struggling to find anyone even willing to take their money due to their social pariah-like status, and the miners facing near starvation and threats from the police and the political establishment. Many people who’ve seen it have experienced the audience applauding at the end; the applause is for both groups and the way in which they equally helped each other. The way that by joining forces and supporting each other they were able to take on the establishment and change things. The strikes, the fear and lives cut short by AIDS, the bricks through windows, all seem like another world. And so does the political activism.
The Pink Singers at Pride 2014
What does PRIDE mean? For many now it is shorthand for a day of the year when we get to dress up and party. This film gives us as a community much to be proud of, but the work of these wonderful activists needs to continue, to enable us to be able to dance with justification under the banner of the word ‘PRIDE’. Being part of the Pink Singers and publicly showing myself as a gay person has helped me to feel the word; walking through London streets every year at the Pride march shows other people, sometimes in other countries, that they are not alone. Visibility is still important as we subsume into the mainstream culture and gay venues are closed. Just today I found out that the Royal Vauxhall Tavern which featured in the film is the latest venue threatened. One of the most enjoyable weekends I’ve had was with Pink Singers at the Various Voices festival this year, an international gathering of LGBTQ choirs. Chatting to other LGBTQ singers from countries around the world really brought home the importance of the fight for LGBTQ freedom from oppression across the world as a first step, but eventually for equality for all. To quote from the film itself: “When you’re in a battle with an enemy that’s so much bigger, so much stronger than you, to find out you had a friend you never knew existed, well that’s the best feeling in the world. Can you see what we’ve done here, by coming together all of us? We made history!”
It’s our end-of-season break at the moment, a time for us to have a rest, enjoy Sundays in the park, relax and chill out a bit… Who am I kidding. Our management committee and artistic team are already busily planning our next season and GIRL, have we got some blockbuster songs coming your way at our next London concert in January. And plenty more besides! But before we reveal any more of that, we thought we’d take a look back at our 31st year in pictures and video. What a brilliant year, and what a fantastic one to come! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcOGiqfpA80 If you’re a nostalgia junkie (like me) you can check out our last few yearbooks here: 2012-2013, 2010-2011, 2009-2010. Happy viewing!
of the Pops
