An introduction to musical selections at Melodia’s concert “Always Something Sings,” by Christine Fiala
I have the great pleasure of being a tour guide in the city. I get to tell visitors all sorts of amazing stories all about the history of New York, but my favorite ones to tell are about the strong women in this city who fought for equality. I’ll share one of my favorite stories with you: the Statue of Liberty was finally completed in 1886 after nearly 20 years of construction. A grand unveiling ceremony was planned and of course, who was invited? Only men. No women were invited to the ceremony. But this was at the beginning of the suffrage movement in NYC, so some suffragettes found out about this, and they got in row boats in Manhattan and rowed all the way out to Liberty island, and they basically highjacked the whole ceremony.
The plan was to have Grover Cleveland, our president at the time, get up and give a big speech about Liberty, democracy, etcetera, and at the end of the speech he was going to wave his arms, which would serve as a signal to drop the French and American flag shrouding the statue’s face, revealing “the face of Liberty.” It was going to be very dramatic.
But these suffragettes pull up to the island and they get our pots and pans, and they start banging them together, and screaming as loud as they can. They were so loud that Grover Cleveland couldn’t get a word in. So he started waving his arms saying, “will you ladies please quiet down!” And the person holding the flag said “that’s my cue!” He dropped the flag, the band started playing, and no man got to say a word at the whole ceremony. So moral of the story is, invite ladies to your party, because we’re coming either way!
Our next three songs perfectly encapsulate the strength of all the women who have fought for their seat at the table, but their beauty and elegance as well. “The Rose” and “Northern Lights,” both by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, paint a picture of just how scary but wonderful that beauty can be, and “Bread and Roses” by Mimi Fariña has served as an anthem for suffragettes and workers rights activists for over 100 years. You can feel the passion and fight in these pieces, so much so that you might think you hear the banging of pots and pans in the background.
Listen to the concert, Always Something Sings, on YouTube.
Melodia Women's Choir 