Tag: history

40 Years of Pride

This year London Pride celebrates everything 1970 because it’s 40 years since the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. The Stonewall Rebellion began in New York in June 1969 and just over a year later the GLF was born. According to the Pride London website “the GLF was a revolutionary group of radical queens, hippies, students and activists who brought LGBT rights out in to the open.” Pink Singer Philip remembers the first GLF march a year later, officially to protest the age of consent:

The march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square was on 28 August 1971. There were about 1,000 people and the whole thing was lead by a Nigerian drum band. A very tall guy from Sweden grabbed my arm and said ‘I march with you’ and didn’t let go until we reached the Square. I remember we sang Bachelor Boy and My Guy. I felt like a gay Cliff Richard. We were joined by lot of sweet men in drag who sang along. It was possibly the first ever gay men’s chorus!  I’ve been singing on Pride marches ever since.

Photo by Oskar Marchock

Philip has been marching and singing since the start and is a long serving member of the choir. We’re proud that the choir is made up of old and new members. Last year, on 3 July 2009, when the Pink Singers thrilled the crowd in Trafalgar Square once more, it was Kate’s first Pride:

The best bit of my first Pride was singing on the main stage in Trafalgar Square and seeing thousands of people who had turned up to enjoy the day, being proud of who they were, and everyone belting out the chorus to YMCA. That, and getting my first rainbow-coloured cowboy hat.

Performing in Trafalgar Square at Pride 2009

The first ever London Gay Pride Rally was held a year after the GLF march on the 1 July 1972 and about 2,000 people came. Times have changed: in 2009 London Pride attracted 1,000,000 visitors. However, many of the original GLF demands from 1970 have still not been met in this country and in many countries throughout the world. In summary, these demands are:

  • discrimination against gay people must end
  • gay people should be taught that their feelings are normal
  • sex education must be inclusive
  • homosexuality isn’t a problem or sickness
  • communication between gay people should be open and police harassment must stop
  • discrimination by employers must stop
  • the age of consent should be equal for all
  • gay people must be free to hold hands and kiss in public.

Many of the Pink Singers also took part in Malta Pride last year. Our collaboration with a church youth choir resulted in a performance where LGBT people and the Catholic Church joined together to call for equality. And surprise song Hallini brought the house down! The Pinkies’ support for the Pride march showed how much we believe in supporting gay rights internationally. Kate says:

Malta Pride was a much smaller affair than London and it reminded me of how lucky we are in London and the freedom that we have. It drove home how important pride marches are to creating awareness of gay rights. The bravery of the people openly marching in Malta was completely inspiring. But then again the big celebration of gayness at London Pride is no bad thing either!

Malta Pride 2009

And now here we are in 2010. The Pink Singers are once again in the Pride parade and also on stage in Trafalgar Square, singing ‘Does your mother know’. There was never a better double entendre to ABBA’s classic song!

Louise Tondeur (with Philip Rescorla and Kate Nicholls)

Timeline datestamp: 03 July 2010

Tales of the Pinkie – Nathalina

Nathalina
Nathalina

As far as I know I am the youngest Pinkie ever to join. I was 19 at the time, just off the plane from Finland. Being so young also means that I wasn’t even born when Mark Bunyan and the late Brian Kennedy formed the Pink Singers in May 1983. It seems amazing to think that when I was just a twinkle in my fathers eye, the Pink Singers were born.
I cannot remember how I found out about the Pink Singers, it was probably while browsing through Diva or perhaps on the Internet, but anyhow, in the late summer 2003, I took up all the courage I had and went along to a rehearsal.
I remember wearing a bright yellow jumper and a big smile on my face. During that time the Pinkies rehearsed at the Drill Hall and we were not as many Pinkies as we are now in 2008. Now we cant even accept more altos as we have too many already. Continue reading “Tales of the Pinkie – Nathalina”

Tales of the Pinkie – Andy Quan

Andy
Andy

“I had tried out another choir. Their rehearsal space was in a basement, the tea break chaotic, and we were required to stand for the entire practice. When I wandered into the Pink Singers, into a room with light streaming through the windows, there were chairs to sit down, and we had our break in the Drill Hall cafeteria with tasty snacks!
But of course, those were minor pleasures. The greater ones were found in the people there who welcomed me warmly, the songs we sang (if I remember correctly, we sang No One Is Alone and Big Spender on my first day), and who was this east European fellow at the front of the room directing with such humour and skill? I joined the Pink Sisters and sang with them for over a year, from 1998 to 1999. It was not a large group of people and I liked it that way. With only a few tenors, it was important for me to be there for rehearsals and performances and I felt needed! I loved the mix of people, women and men, from many countries. Most important was that London was the largest city I’d ever lived in, and I’d found it tough to make friends, and if succeeding in that, arranging to match up our busy schedules. After a while in the choir, I realised that the Pinkies were giving me connection and community. I felt a satisfying glow to see the same people every week and to do something together that we loved. Continue reading “Tales of the Pinkie – Andy Quan”

The Pink Singers: a potted history

Philip
Philip

The Pink Singers were formed in May 1983 by singer/songwriter Mark Bunyan and the late Brian Kennedy, publisher of Kennedy’s Gay Guide to London, to sing at the London Pride Festival. This makes us the oldest established lesbian and gay chorus in Europe. The “Pinkies” have never missed a Gay Pride march or festival since (it’s hard work being gay!). In 1991 we celebrated Pride by singing on the roof of the BBC for Ned Sherrin’s Radio 4 show “Loose Ends”. Thanks goodness it didn’t rain.
In 1993 we appeared in the Pride Cabaret tent with Lily Savage, not yet a superstar. She even joined in when we sang the protest song We Shall Not Give Up The Fight, although she may have had a different fight in mind. In May 2001 we appeared at the Mardi Gras Festival in Finsbury Park on both the main stage (closing the Festival with pop group A1 singing Take On Me) and the classical stage. When the organisers introduced a Pride rally in Trafalgar Square in 2004 it was the Pink Singers who opened and closed it (a great way to celebrate 21 years as a choir). We returned in 2005 leading a packed Trafalgar Square audience in the singing of our unofficial theme song Hand in Hand. Continue reading “The Pink Singers: a potted history”