PAUL DONOVAN applauds an intriguing multi-layered depiction, dominated by a stunning impersonation of Marilyn herself
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Herstory of a socialist feminist choir
The lasting influence of Velvet Fist to be marked on February 18
LEO BOIX applauds an audacious, self-questioning film about grief, friendship and film-making
MARY CONWAY admires a brave and topical study of Armageddon that is, unfortunately, unable to come to a conclusion
ANDY HEDGECOCK, JAMES WALSH and JAMIE BRITTON review Hanging by a Wire, I Want Your Sex, The Pout-Pout Fish, and Rise of the Foot Soldier: Retribution
Chris Searle speaks to US pianist RAN BLAKE
The Bard hands out medals for his Edinburgh campaign and urges us to support The Men They Couldn’t Hang
FROM their beginnings in the 1980s, the Velvet Fist acapella women’s choir sang songs of peace, resistance and solidarity in support of struggles in Britain and beyond.
Known for their beautiful performances and innovative arrangements, the choir performed a huge range of material about people past and present and their struggle for liberation, from historical folk numbers to ballads of British feminist and trade-union struggle such as No Going Back by Sandra Kerr, which explored the impact of the 1984-85 miners’ strike on women, to songs of solidarity with struggles around the world like the South African traditional freedom song Senzenina.
Emerging in the 1980s from the Artery Choir, the group later became women-only and changed its name to Velvet Fist.
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