March of the Women (Ethel Smyth)

[@sr6154]

Go and vote tomorrow! You owe it to the memory of those brave women

[@sussexwoman]

Don't think they would approve of anyone voting for politicians who don't even know what a woman is!

[@colinalston3578]

Still a great choir fifty years after I sang in it. Beautifully done!

[@o0OHermioneO0o]

What fine and clear voices.☺ The sopranos are excellent.

[@topologyrob]

A very stirring performance of a wonderful composition

[@cvtberlin2583]

Very well done. And what a great message. "Shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend!" We all need to find and keep up women solidarity. Will do this with my choir, too. Lots of love to Glasgow from Berlin

[@sussexwoman]

If only there was some solidarity.

[@christeleklund7624]

As a young feminist in the mid-70s, the 'Shoulder to Shoulder' series meant so much to me, and still does.

[@splinterbyrd]

In the simplest possible terms, what is a feminist? Is there a single definition?🙂

[@sonjag.466]

Love this! Beautiful work, singers.

[@petrakeil7573]

Großartig 💯👍✌️

[@mariagraziazollo9180]

HONOR to the Suffragettes and the Women's League, the first feminists (who were Christians and humanists) who bravely faced martyrdom so that all of us women could have rights, dignity and respect. Great woman composer Ethel Smyth! ❤🌹 ❤

[@splinterbyrd]

Beautiful song, but it's odd that the lyrics don't actually mention women specifically at all. Wtf??

[@mariagraziazollo9180]

@@splinterbyrd Maybe for three reasons... 1) There was persecution and they had to be careful with their words. 2) At the beginning the League of Women was the eighth against all injustices and discriminations aimed at both men and women who threatened women even if they specifically fought to obtain equality between men and women, the right to vote, to study, to have a social career also for women (they were not yet called "feminists" and in my opinion the name "League of Women" is an even more beautiful term than the later term whose etymology derives from "femmine". Better an etymology linked to the word Donne. But it is only my poor thought, which can be contested. I wonder how they can distinguish in French where woman and female are said with the same word "femme"). 3) This song has many similarities with the biblical psalms. The League of Women (the first feminists) were believer (indeed "believess"), very religious, they prayed, sang psalms and hymns to God before their fights asking for help from God who is Father and Mother. The anti-religious drift in the Women's movement came after Engels and only after that it was called Feminism. Before that it was the Women's League belonging to the Struggle for Equality and to female humanism of secular-Christian origin. It would be nice if in the movements for women's equality there were two souls, believer and non-believer (possibly not making war but seeking a certain harmony). Because equal opportunities between men and women must be a shared universal value that must embrace the entire world, even if it has, depending on each person's belief, different political and ideological nuances.

[@splinterbyrd]

@ 👍🙂

[@mariagraziazollo9180]

Great music! 🌹🌹🌹

[@sharongray6901]

This was the theme song of the Masterpiece Theater show Shoulder to Shoulder, which was about the Pankhurst family and their struggles to secure votes for women in Britain.

[@1saracen]

Wonderful anthem, Ze, thank you for the words

[@ishtar2848]

Great! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@lindavid1975]

Awesome - encore!

[@ruffian25505]

What lovely singing! I am proud an excited to be singing this tomorrow in London tomorrow to protest against the Orange threat to all that is decent and kind in the world.

[@lindavid1975]

What is the Orange threat?

[@Marlene55M]

@@lindavid1975 Probably Trump & all the other misogynist company.

Shout, shout, up with your song! Cry with the wind, for the dawn is breaking; March, march, swing you along, Wide blows our banner, and hope is waking. Song with its story, dreams with their glory Lo! they call, and glad is their word! Loud and louder it swells, Thunder of freedom, the voice of the Lord! Long, long-we in the past Cowered in dread from the light of heaven, Strong, strong-stand we at last, Fearless in faith and with sight new given. Strength with its beauty, Life with its duty, (Hear the voice, oh hear and obey!) These, these-beckon us on! Open your eyes to the blaze of day. Comrades-ye who have dared First in the battle to strive and sorrow! Scorned, spurned-nought have ye cared, Raising your eyes to a wider morrow, Ways that are weary, days that are dreary, Toil and pain by faith ye have borne; Hail, hail-victors ye stand, Wearing the wreath that the brave have worn! Life, strife-those two are one, Naught can ye win but by faith and daring. On, on-that ye have done But for the work of today preparing. Firm in reliance, laugh a defiance, (Laugh in hope, for sure is the end) March, march-many as one, Shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend.

[@splinterbyrd]

Beautiful words, but isn't it odd that they don't actually mention women specifically?🙄🙂

[@pong9000]

In 1971 my mother was singing this, as coached by her circle of radical feminists, while I was being delivered. Yes that was a thing. I was premature so from full dilation while they ran her singing and pushing in a wheelchair to a delivery room, fighting to restrain her and knock her out, I was caught before they lifted her onto a bed, and before the song would have finished, when she lost consciousness.

[@splinterbyrd]

That story would make an absolutely superb short film🙂

[@schmiedenkrieg]

Katy Cooper! I was looking for Ethel and I have found you too! Love.

[@travellingrhea6856]

Never forgotten this wonderful piece of music since hearing it usd for the Suffragette programme so many years ago.

[@cyranodebeargerac]

The name of the program was “Shoulder to Shoulder.”

[@rainadkins4827]

Yes, and I'd love to find it on here. It was brilliant.

[@sussexwoman]

Wow! I did not expect this! The voices of angels!

[@jacquelinehourani2018]

Beautiful!!

[@aprilsongstress]

Lovely!

[@Caambrinus]

The theme song to _Shoulder to Shoulder_ , the BBC series of quite a few years back (nver repaeted …I wonder why not). The programme had a better version, because you could *hear* the lyrics.

[@colintaylor5172]

Brilliant

[@drgreensteam]

I defy anyone to listen to this and not either feel ready to take on the patriarchy or else to get goosebumps and start sniffing. Or both.

[@rosiecurtis7066]

Love this. Sad to think women are STILL having to fight. Especially in the music industry. 😮

[@splinterbyrd]

You just have to make sure you're fighting the right battles, and not other people's

[@julieconlon9343]

Bravo

[@brittizepunkt4838]

💓

[@marktaha2701]

Among my favourite songs.Sung it after Brexit!

[@splinterbyrd]

Added to my muzak list😊 Btw, you need to be a bit more raucous! Ladies!! PROJECT!!!

[@MonkeBigHeart]

HELlO MY Name IS Harveer

[@EarthMama]

Beautiful!

[@hudsoncampos5976]

Bravo