Subject: RE: Opinions please
From:
freda underhill
Date: 02 Jan 04 - 05:54 PM
In Australia we have a number of choirs around the country whose purpose is to turn up to sing protest songs at rallies, marches & various community events. These include The Solidarity Choir, the Sydney Trade Union Choir, the Illawarra Trade union choir, the People's Chorus (just in NSW) & more.
The Solidarity Choir was the first of these choirs, formed in 1987, when Oliver Tambo, then President of the African National Congress, came to Sydney on a speaking tour. Sydney-based anti-apartheid activists brought together ANC members and Australian supporters to learn the anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica and other freedom songs to sing at a public meeting at Sydney Town Hall on 30 March. It was so much fun that the members decided to continue singing together. And so the choir was born!
The Solidarity choir does about 40 gigs a year, at rallies, fund-raisers for a wide range of community groups and solidarity movements, and folk festivals. Some of performance highlights over the years have been:
Our first performance in 1987, singing Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika for Oliver Tambo and the African National Congress
Performing Miguel's original choral piece 'No Wealth From War' at a demonstration protesting against the AIDEX arms exhibition in Canberra in 1991
Singing with four other choirs for Nelson Mandela's visit in 1992, at St Mary's Cathedral and on the steps of the Opera House in front of 10,000 people
Singing for Bishop Desmond Tutu's visit in August 1993
Performing at the 1994 and 1998 National Folk Festivals in Canberra - both on our own and with six other trade union choirs from around the country
Singing at Petersham Town Hall in 1994 to celebrate the election of Nelson Mandela to the South African presidency
Singing for an anti-gun rally in the Domain, Sydney, in 1996
Performing at the opening of the 1997 ACTU (Australian Trade Union) Congress in Brisbane, as part of a massed choir of more than 100 voices from eight trade union and community choirs - premiering a new composition written for the event
Singing at the Australians for Native Title (ANTAR) rally in support of the historic Wik decision, in the Domain, Sydney, in October 1997
Perfformances at the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland (over 90,000 attended the festival)
Singing at the party for Mick Dodson, aboriginal activist and former Social Justice Commissioner, on his retirement from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission
Closing (with the Sydney Trade Union choir) the mass rally in support of the Maritime Union of Australia at Sydney Lower Town Hall in February 1998, and singing at crack of dawn picket lines throughout the waterfront strike
Supporting the Song Company at the Sydney premiere of the 'Quito' East Timor song cycle, Newtown Theatre, in August 1998
An evening of choral music for International Women's Day, St Stephen's Church, in March 1999
Premiering Miguel's arrangement of Grandola Vila Morena at the Portuguese National Day Festival, Portuguese Club, Sydenham, in June 1999
Entertaining the participants at the National Social Policy Conference dinner, Water's Edge, Sydney in July 1999
Opening a series of citizenship ceremonies for South Sydney Council, at Paddington Town Hall and Redfern Park
The mass rally in support of East Timor, Hyde Park, Sydney, in September 1999
Supporting Kavisha Mazella at the Three Weeds, Rozelle, in September 1999
The inauguration of the Korean Tilers' branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Campsie, in November 1999
Supporting Roy Bailey at the Three Weeds, Rozelle, in April 2000
Singing for the mass rally in support of East Timor, Hyde Park, Sydney, in September 1999
Singing at a midnight vigil in Sydney on the eve of the East Timorese independence referendum, September 2000
Singing at the Walk for Reconciliation across Sydney Harbour Bridge in May 2000
Touring the UK and Ireland in July 2001 -- including performances at the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival, the Social Policy Association conference dinner in Belfast City Hall and the Sidmouth International Folk Festival, plus other highlights too numerous to mention!
Singing at the rally in support of asylum seekers and refugees, Villawood Detention Centre, September 2001 ..and more.
these choirs are really inspirational, sing very well, and are great fun. they have been part of a social movement of music to uplift and motivate people in whatever cause they are working for. the solidarity choir went on tour to the UK in 2001 and met some similar choirs in London and Wales.
(I have to learn how to do those blue clickies)
|
sj
