Newsletters

It’s been over a year since our last Newsletter, and Red Notes has been very active over that time. Some of the highlights were: our first ‘concert’, in October ’04, contributing to a fundraising evening for schools in Swaziland held at Wrington; an interview about the choir and singing some songs on Commonwealth Radio FM in November; opening the National Central America Conference and the Bristol Social Forum in April’05; singing at the launch of the Bright Project and at the “Make Poverty History” event on College Green in June; taking part in street fairs in Easton on hot summer days; and joining Chorale Populaire de Paris at the Fête de l’Humanité in September. These are just some of the things we’ve done and it looks as though we’ve got a busy year ahead.

We have been singing regularly at the Bristol Peace Vigil in the Centre and have now made a commitment to sing on the first Saturday of every month, as well as other street-singing on behalf of various causes.

Future Events

▪ Saturday 4^th March: Bristol Peace Vigil, Bristol City Centre, opposite Hippodrome, 3 to 4 p.m.

▪ Wednesday 15^th March: ACTSA AGM, YHA Narrow Quay, 7.15 p.m.

▪ Friday 24^th March: Concert for the World Development Movement, Park Way Methodist Hall, St Werburghs, 7 p.m. (tickets £3/£2 unwaged info: 924 8407)

▪ Saturday 1^st April: Bristol Peace Vigil, Bristol City Centre, opposite Hippodrome, 3 to 4 p.m.

The Spring and Summer are likely to be busy as well so check our website for details!

TONY BENN

We were singing at the Tolpuddle Festival in 2003 when Tony Benn joined us and asked for our CD. At that time we hadn’t made one but encouraged by his enthusiasm we decided to, and it was finally ready in July 2004 (it arrived the week after that year’s Tolpuddle Festival!).

Well, he hasn’t forgotten us, and in an interview in the music magazine ‘Word’ in February 2005 he mentions Red Notes and the CD as some of his favourite music. When speaking at a packed public meeting about the war in Iraq at the Council House, Bristol in early 2005 (where Red Notes had been singing) he stopped mid sentence and said “I forgot to say about Red Notes who have a great CD available” or words to that effect, before carrying on with his speech!

Quentin

Red Notes sing for a hero

On a dismal, wet November day, as I was walking towards the city centre I spied a double decker bus with a banner proclaiming “Walter Wolfgang”. The bus was parked and empty. I knew that Walter Wolfgang was the frail 82-year-old Labour Party member who had been roughly thrown out of the Labour Party Conference. Like many others I had watched the amazing scenes of his eviction, subsequent detention by the police under the Terrorism Act and then the revolting “apology” by Tony Blair.

I carried on my way to sing at the Peace Vigil which is something that Rednotes try to do once a month to support the daily protest against war in Bristol.

The vigil and our singing went on pretty much as usual but as we finished at 4 o’clock the “Walter Wolfgang” bus arrived and stopped outside the Hippodrome. The Rednotes charged across the road and jumped onto the bus, dripping water over anyone in our path.

Our hero, Walter was sitting in the bus looking rather tired but as we started to sing he soon put in his requests for favourite campaigning songs. The bus continued on a tour of the City Centre with its noisy passengers. As well as us singers there was a jazz band performing on the top deck and the whole bus was completely full of a chattering, exited mob of people. At intervals the bus stopped and some street performers travelling with us got off to do amazing acts for the public. One of them, we learned, was a political street performer from Spain. His act involved lying on his back and juggling with his feet – spectacular!

Eventually the bus arrived at L-shed where there was a rather academic political debate in progress. The jostling entrance of a busload of party goers was hardly noticed by the debaters but we gathered that at sometime Walter would get the chance to speak to the large crowd that had gathered.

Unfortunately I could stay no longer, not having bargained for such an exiting afternoon. You never know what might happen on a Rednotes gig but getting to talk to Walter and to sing for him must be one of the highlights.

For the record Walter, who had been a Labour Party member for 57 years, shouted “nonsense” and then “ that’s a lie” as Jack Straw tried to defend UK military presence in Iraq. He was manhandled out of the conference hall, along with another man who tried to protect him, by so-called “stewards” both of whom turned out to be paid bouncers with criminal records. As Walter observed “Tony Blair cannot face any criticism about this illegal war”. He went on to say “ What happened to me when I was ejected from the Labour Party Conference tells us that there is something deeply wrong with the culture of our government under Tony Blair. We have been lied to about the war, but not only that, the party has been manipulated so that it has not been allowed to discuss the issue properly”. Walter believes that democracy will have to be rebuilt in the Labour Party after Blair goes. Well said Walter – it was great to meet you!

Tess

Green in Red Notes

Trevor and I joined the choir in September this year. On a visit to Bristol while we were still living in Cambrai, in the North of France, Trev picked up a copy of the Spark about the choirs in Bristol – he knew I missed my old choir in the South of France. I decided I was going to give a go to Red Notes when we’d settle in Bristol.

Because of the nature of the choir, Trev agreed to give it a go too. We were both a bit nervous on the first day. In a few minutes, we were doing the name game and singing a round. A few practice sessions later, it felt like we had always been part of Red Notes. We were readily invited to Clare and Quentin’s peace group party, sang in Glastonbury and Bristol’s peace vigil.

Red Notes is the choir I never dared dreaming about. The people in it are generous and good-willing, smiling and open, impossible not to love.

I sometimes get bitter remarks from people when I tell them about a choir which tries to make the world better by singing; people who have given up on change because they have been disappointed so many times. People who think the values we sing for are old fashioned.

To these people and to you, I would like to tell this story:

At the Underground Political Film Festival in Leeds last autumn, we watched a film called the Third World War. Footage from all over the world was used to show dramatic events, but sometimes hopeful ones.

One of them was about the Chiapas. It showed them walking in total silence for hours, children, old folks, men, women. They finally reached a military base made of wooden gates and buildings, as well as barbed wire. There they stopped walking and started singing rebellious songs to the soldiers in the base, urging them to go from their land and join their fights. They must have thrown some mud because some soldiers had some on their uniforms, but there were no fights, not altercations.

In the film, the singing seemed to go on for a long time. But slowly and surely, the soldiers were giving way, without any violence. In the end, the base was left empty by the army. The Chiapas had taken the base with songs. The army never came back.

Audrey