Rainbow Voices is vitally important
1996
“Rainbow Voices (LGBT (choir) is vitally important, I had stopped identifying as a
lesbian some time previously. I was dragged there kicking and screaming
by another prominent Birmingham lesbian on the basis of my previous
musical career as a singer, so I got stuck in, and had a lovely time.
Unfortunately because our director who was not a well man, given to
fits of hysterics there were dramas, and because I wasn’t working I
could participate in the drama, if I’d been working I think I’d have
had to quit – but there were highly sexualised arguments. There was a
women's group, which I sort of ran musically, we were meeting and
rehearsing separately, and there were tensions within the men, and
tensions, within the women, and the atmosphere did get ‘overheated’
which was very unfortunate.
Now it has all calmed down and just become
a gay choir which everyone can enjoy, which is a great relief. We did
some wonderful performances where we achieved things which I couldn’t
imagine, given we weren’t auditioned, anyone could come whether they
could sing or not, we achieved some wonderful results, we did the
Faure’s Requiem, and Mozart’s Requiem and a few other amazing works of
that kind. We had a wonderful time and we did some wonderful
performances and I was allowed to solo a great deal, and I remember
singing a song I had written in the late 70s, called ‘Shining Woman’
when I was still very much a lesbian, a lesbian love song, and soloed
that a couple of times at Rainbow Voices concerts”.
Contributed by: Belinda, 60