#opera for africa

[thesarahfiles]

On August 18, 1985, Sarah performed at the "Opera for Africa" charity gala at the Arena of Verona, Italy. She sang "Pie Jesu" with Paul Miles-Kingston while Andrew Lloyd Webber conducted the orchestra. At the end of the show, the three of them joined the stellar ensemble to sing Verdi's "Va, pensiero" from "Nabucco". José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Gwyneth Jones, Agnes Baltsa, Simon Estes, and Rosalind Plowright were some of the gala's most notable performers, accompanied by the Polish Katowice State Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlo Franci. "Opera for Africa" was a José Carreras initiative, a charity LP was released as well, all supporting the UN Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. 

[bonobochick]

When 2 of my faves on different soaps meet & hook up.

Elite's Ivan spent some time in South Africa in S4 of Blood & Water and had fun with Puleng. 💋 🥂 🪷 🌺

(I enjoyed it for what it was, a fun fling that was mostly unproblematic and angsty especially compared to their other romantic relationships. They didn't try to make it more than it was considering Ivan's limited time at Parkhurst but they definitely found something special and appreciated in each other. Good chem too.)

[damonalbarn]

DAMON'S 2024 AGENDA

Africa Express

Damon will tour South America with Africa Express for the first time. More dates to be announced (?)

February 16-18, Bahidorá, Cuernavaca, Mexico (Tickets on sale)

February 23, Parque Ibirapuera, São Paulo, Brazil (Tickets on sale)

The Curse (The Magic Flute Part II)

The Curse (provisional title) is Damon's new opera commissioned by Jean-Luc Choplin to compose the suite to Mozart's The Magic Flute, imagined by Goethe after the great composer's death and never before produced. We still don't know is he's doing just the music or singing as well. He said: "I'll try to mix Goethe with club music. That's my aim."

It will open in October at LIDO 2 Paris. Tickets on sale in January.

Gorillaz

After finishing with the writing for the opera he will travel with Jamie to India to record a new Gorillaz album. (Damon was in LA before Blur' South America tour doing some 'late-night music session' with Honey Dijon, A$AP Rocky and EarthGang. He also recorded something in Argentina. Could be for Gorillaz or could be not)

He talked a bit about Gorillaz' new direction: "It will be a paradigm shift, it will be very different. It will be an entirely different approach to everything — to the band, to everything. We’re at a point where we’re going to change. Why? Because it was always just Jamie and I. Although it is a very big thing now, it is still, in essence, just two people. If we decided between us that we want to do something unrecognisable then we will. You need that for it to stay alive, really.” - Damon.

And.... regarding Blur:

With the last show in Argentina the band went on an indefinite hiatus. There are no plans for a new tour or album. Some festivals tried to book them and received the response: "Blur will not tour in 2024". On the other hand, the Wembley shows were professionally filmed. Before that some fans were interviewed by a filming crew at the warm-up gigs, so there is a documentary being worked on. We still don't know how or when it will be released. And that's all (for now at least).

[polarisbibliotheque]

80, Dante if you're still accepting these!!

Thanks for sending this request, dear!! It ended up as such a heartwarming one, I hope you enjoy it 🖤🖤

Spotify Wrapped Special: 80, Dante - Africa, by Toto

Pairing: Dante x Reader

Summary: Dante was late for Kyrie's birthday party, making Nero very disappointed at him. Luckily, you knew very well how to summon the Crimson Slayer.

Author's notes: Seriously. Dante is the KING of grand entrances. He needed one, with Faust and fireworks and everything. Also, Nero and Vergil took over for a while on this one "^^

About the Song: Africa is a song by TOTO, with catchy keyboards and a such a good vibes feeling, no one can remain silent when it's on. Super 80's, great song. It got even more famous as a meme from Jon Pumper when you can't get Toto out of your head. Click the link, it's worth it ;)

80, Dante - Africa, by Toto

“Can’t believe this. Even Vergil is here and that ol’ excuse of an uncle is workin’?!”

To say Nero was fuming was an understatement – not that he was all sweets and roses around Vergil, but at least he didn’t berate his father so openly in front of him like that. Only when he was mad.

And Vergil just started at his son with frozen eyes. No one really knew how to read him, but after all the time living with the twins, you got used to that look.

It was the look of a thousand different thoughts going around Vergil’s mind at the same moment – you could almost see Urizen, V, Griffon, Nightmare and Shadow all fighting amidst a thundering storm and Vergil just there, holding the Yamato, completely clueless and having no idea what to do.

That was a good description of what was going inside his head at the moment.

“Hey, kid. Take it easy on Dante. The man has no idea how to deal with… This.”

Vergil stared back at you, still wearing the same expression, and you could almost hear him asking if he seemed to know how to deal with that as well. You held back a laugh.

“C’mon, it’s just a friggin’ birthday! What’s so difficult about it?!” Nero opened his arms, completely ignoring one of the kids of the orphanage running after another with their faces dirty from sweets and Nico running after them right after, screaming for them to give the bowl of candy back.

You just gave the young Sparda grandkid a knowing look.

Nero sighed, resting one of his hands on his hip and using the other to massage his neck. It wasn’t going to work to calm him down, but at least it was something.

“I know, I know… But it’s Kyrie’s party. The kids really wanted to do somethin’ for her and she’s definitely gonna expect the whole crew to show up… The whole family, ya know?”

A little far away, Kyrie was singing some Britney Spears on the karaoke alongside Trish and Lady. The trio was having so much fun you couldn’t help but smile. Lady didn’t let herself have that much fun often and Trish… Well, she wasn’t really used to it. She was created to kill, after all. It was good watching everyone having fun and Kyrie leading the vocals while the kids danced, applauded and just set everything in utter chaos around them.

It really seemed like a family gathering.

“Hmmm. That is exactly what we don’t know how to deal with.” Vergil pointed out coldly, remaining with his arms crossed, casually sipping his iced tea Kyrie prepared specially for him. To say she had conquered the Dark Slayer’s heart wasn’t enough. “Family. Ours… Burned before we could learn anything else.”

Nero furrowed his eyebrows, carrying a hint of sadness in his aquamarine eyes. He rarely thought how all that grand legend of the children of Sparda had actually affected Dante and Vergil… He never thought his own father would know nothing of family, even more than Nero. He had always thought he was an unwanted child, not the child of a man who had lost so much and never knew he existed.

“Hmmm… I can think of a way to summon him. But you gotta help me, kiddo.” You looked back at Nero with fun in your eyes, making both Sparda’s kin watch you suspiciously.

“Well, ok…? What is it?” Of course, Nero was careful when the word ‘summon’ floated around, but there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to make Kyrie happy.

“Actually…” You mumbled while typing something on your cellphone. “I’ll also need you to help me, Verge.”

Vergil just raised one of his eyebrows, but in that department, he and Nero were very similar – there was nothing he wouldn’t do to make his son content.

As you finished typing, you kept your cellphone in your pocket, immediately feeling it vibrate with an incoming message after only a few seconds. You opened a huge smile, staring back at them.

“Can I count on you? Unconditionally?”

“Yeah.” Nero’s answer was deadpan; he didn’t even need time to think.

“Yes.” Vergil nodded slightly, ready to keep his word.

“Then follow me.”

They were ready to make a blood offering from the kinship of Sparda to summon Dante’s heart and make him fly over or just materialize in a pool of blood in the back of the party. Vergil held the Yamato with certainty, Nero held his head high.

Until you stopped by the karaoke and asked the girls for a song.

“Nero and  Vergil are singing with me.”

“WHAT?!” Of course, Nico and Patty suddenly appeared, holding the rogue kids and bowls of candies, eating the sweets themselves and scolding the kids for trying to steal it.

Vergil and Nero had only shock in their eyes as you handed them the microphones.

“You guys said you’d help unconditionally.” You had to remind them as they hesitated.

“Now that is something I would pay to see.” Trish had a devilish smile painted on her rosy lips, causing a laugh on Lady.

“Oh, the kids love when you sing, Nero…!” Kyrie had dreamy eyes and there was nothing the young Sparda could do against that.

Of course, the kids loved when he singed because he was a complete clown alongside Nico every time they had a karaoke party. But that seemed to make Kyrie happy.

“Yeah, I promised I’d do it. C’mon.” Nero grabbed the mic, making his father resign to their fate.

“I hope you know what you are doing…” Vergil muttered between his teeth as you started singing the first lines of the song.

Nero soon joined you, knowing it all by heart. After some notes, he was already feeling the music and, to be honest, it wasn’t much of a chore having to sing Africa with you. He couldn’t understand how that would help to make Dante materialize in the party, but even if you were just doing that for them to have fun, he wouldn’t complain – at least, he was having fun.

Vergil, in the other hand, took some time to ease into the song. It had been some time he didn’t listen to it, but he knew why you had chosen it… Dante seemed to adore that tune. His twin would sing that riff over and over at the Devil May Cry – almost driving Vergil crazy a couple of times. But, after so many years in Hell just hearing screams of pain and torture alongside laughs of pure sadistic pleasure, he could get used to his brother’s voice singing a beautiful song.

And when said riff came up, Vergil took the mic to his lips and sang alongside you.

Nero widened his eyes, smiling with surprise upon hearing his father’s voice singing. It was actually the first time the crew heard Vergil sing – and he wasn’t half bad, just like Dante; even if both would argue otherwise.

You and Nero danced around with the musical break, making Vergil giggle a bit with your antics.

“The wild dogs cry out in the night, as they grow restless longing for some solitary company…” And he didn’t even notice how you both let him sing alone for a while, noting how dark and beautiful Vergil’s voice was when he wanted to. Nero couldn’t stop his mind from thinking how it would have sounded if his father had sung him to sleep when he was just a kid.

“I know that I must do what’s right!” Soon, Nero joined Vergil and both were singing while looking at each other, barely noticing you allowed them to sing without you for a moment as well. That was a rare moment, but it was an opportunity you couldn’t let them lose. “As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti! I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become…”

Vergil stopped singing for a while as you joined the riff once more, dueting with Nero in an arrangement of different tones of voices. The Dark Slayer could finally see why his twin loved that song so much – some lyrics felt like watching his own reflection in the running waters of a quiet river.

As the solo hit, Nero took the task of playing his famous air guitar, making the kids scream around as if he was a rockstar. With you on air keyboards, Vergil stared you both for a while before starting, almost unmoving, to play his own air drums.

“Yeah! That’s how you do it, ol’ man!” Nero laughed while playing as if he had a real guitar in his hands. You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing at how much Vergil seemed to blush, get weird, freeze and continue air playing – all at the same time.

Taking a deep breath, you took your mic back to your lips. It was the moment of truth. Dante wouldn’t fail you – you had unweavering faith in your Crimson Slayer.

“Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you!”

You could swear your voice could be heard in Heaven and Hell alike. With the stomps of the drums, though, the entrance door opened abruptly: Dante entered in strides, wearing Faust, having a ton of firework-like things exploding all around him in the shape of hearts. So many hearts.

Needless to say, all the attention turned to the Crimson Slayer, as he pointed back at you.

“It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you!” He sang with all the might of his demonic and human lungs.

Chaos ensued. The kids went crazy with the fireworks. Nico and Nero broke down laughing. Lady and Trish rolled their eyes – even if they had fun smiles on their lips. Kyrie’s heart seemed to bloom inside her chest. Patty was torn between complaining how cheesy Dante was and clapping – she ended up clapping while complaining and laughing at his antics. Vergil, once again, had that look of “every part of my personality is fighting inside me with thousands of thoughts and reactions, so my reaction is exactly none” – although he was happy to see his brother, as always when Dante arrived.

“There’s nothin’ that a hundred man or more could ever do!” Strutting as if he was in a catwalk, Dante approached you, with his convinced smile plastered on his lips.

“I bless the rains down in Africa!” As you sang together, he finally approached and spun you around, putting you on the ground only to grab his brother and nephew to keep on singing on the karaoke.

It was all lost, though. As Dante arrived, the party seemed to have finally begun – even if it already was fun. Vergil gave in and continued singing calmly next to his brother – who sang as if he was auditioning for The Voice.

“Gonna take some time to do the things we never had!” As the last line arrived, Dante embraced all of you to sing together in a hug – and even if Vergil seemed unwilling and Nero was a little uncomfortable at first, you all sang happily, with all your hearts… As a family would.

“Hey there, lil’ angel! Sorry it took me some time, got caught up on a job.” Dante finally addressed Kyrie as the song ended. She just clapped and cheered. “Happy birthday, Kyrie.”

“Oh, Dante! You didn’t have to…!” It was the first thing she said as he took an embellished hairpin out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was delicate and truly fit for an angel – you were all impressed he hadn’t broke it on the way there.

“It’s just a lil’ somethin’, couldn’t let your birthday go blank, could I?” He winked at her, already holding your hand so you could talk. “And kid, sorry I couldn’t make it earlier.”

“Hey, you’re here, right? That’s what matters!” Nero smiled back at his uncle, stepping by Kyrie to help her put the hairpin on.

As you approached the table with the apple punch Kyrie prepared earlier, Dante took you in your arms, kissing your forehead as you giggled.

“Ya know, that ‘Nero and Verge are singing Toto on the karaoke with me, be here soon or you’re gonna miss the party of a lifetime, cowboy’ message you sent me earlier was very effective, babe.” Dante had fun in his voice, giggling alongside you as his sky-blue eyes searched yours and you were safe and sound in his arms. You could hear Kyrie and Nico singing in the distance.

“Oh, I had to do something to bring you here. With the entrance of a lifetime too!” With that, he laughed out loud, one of your hands pointing towards Faust. “Guess some devil arms are useful for lots of things.”

“Huh, how do you think I got here? Cavaliere had a lot of work too!” With that, he winked at you, leaving another kiss on your forehead. “I’m glad you sent me the message, babe. I wouldn’t want to miss this for anything.”

“Hmmm, by the way, did you get paid this time…?”

“Yeah.” Dante shrugged, moving you alongside him, starting to dance unconsciously. “The lady wanted to give me money for my troubles, but I said the fancy hairpin she was wearin’ would do. Couldn’t let Kyrie go without a birthday gift, right?”

A bright smile colored your lips as your heart bloomed in gold. You didn’t know what you expected, really. If you didn’t know him better, you’d say he took the job because he forgot his family obligations, for not being used to it – but you were talking about Dante. You had no doubt he took it only to buy something nice to Kyrie; trading his money for something he was positive she would like.

“You’re wonderful, did you know that, cowboy?” You took Faust off his head, leaning in for a kiss. “A true heart of gold.”

Dante embraced you as you kissed him. It was going to take some time to do the things he never had the opportunity to do – but luckily, time was something Dante would always have for his family.

[x-heesy]

Gɪʀʟ ɪ ᴡᴀɴɴᴀ ᴇᴀᴛ ʏᴀ 🐺

Cʀᴀᴅʟᴇ ᴏғ Cᴀʙʟᴇ ʙʏ Lᴀʀᴋ

[mayra-quijotescx]

on that note, just finished watching through the Opéra National de Lyon 1997 production of Orphée aux Enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), which recounts the story of Orpheus and Eurydice... as interpreted by the mid-19th-century French equivalent of the Ember Island Players.

And it was mostly pretty enjoyable! except for the one appearance of a character who was almost certainly originally a blackface role, which might perhaps not have been so jarringly obvious were it not the only role given to a Black person in a cast that was otherwise blindingly white. Uuuuuuuuurgh.

I'm going to scan through the other full versions on youtube and hope there's a better handling, this is not the impression I want to share with my friend who asked me to get him into operas. I'd do some unspeakable things for a recording of the 2023 Volksopera Wien performance in which living legend Katia LeDoux stepped in to cover the lead tenor role (the shepherd who is actually Pluto) last-second while also performing as Venus, but I don't think it likely that that's anywhere in full.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

okay but in what world is pretty yende british

[myzacoza]

Tinywow AI – How Does It Stack Up?

With the plethora of AI tools available – each of them promising to make your life easier, richer and more fun we at MyPR have to say that we are still on the fence as to which one is our favourite. Of course if you show us one that is for free that is the one that we will try out first – blame it on a combination of Scottish, Jewish and Dutch blood! Currently we use the Opera Browser AI tool –…

[comradecowplant]

i've still been feeling bad about things not working out with the sad neighbor lady with the busted leg, even though SHE was the one who 180ed and pushed me away, but then i start thinking about all the shitty little -isms (mostly race) she said, some of which i confronted in the moment & some that i picked my battles over given the circumstances, and then i feel less bad :)

[jalonz0]

(John D. Alonzo)

[rausule]

Die politieke testament van Louis XIV

Na die dood van kardinaal Mazarin het Lodewyk XIV 'n reeks tekste laat saamstel en persoonlik hersien waarin hy sy opvatting van die absolutistiese politieke stelsel uitdruk en raad gegee het vir die regering van die land. Hierdie geskrifte was gerig aan sy oudste seun, wat toe nog 'n kind was en wat in 1711 sou sterf, sonder dat hy dus die moontlikheid gehad het om sy vader se opdragte in die praktyk uit te voer.

Mag gekonsentreer in die hande van die koning is 'n bron van geluk vir die mense.

Aan die ander kant, as 'n volksvergadering eers 'n bietjie mag verkry het, gee dit nooit moed op nie, inteendeel... dit probeer dit uitbrei, selfs in minagting van die soewerein se gesag.

Koningin Maria Theresa, vrou van die Sonkoning, en die "Dauphin" (kroonprins).

Niks verseker die rus en geluk van die provinsies soveel as die konsentrasie van gesag in die enigste persoon van die soewerein nie. Die orde van sake word verdraai deur aan die onderdane die taak toe te skryf om sake van die staat te beslis en aan die soewerein die taak om hul beraadslagings uit te voer. Slegs die hoof is verantwoordelik vir beraadslaging en oplossing, die ander lede van die liggaam voer uit wat die hoof besluit het.

'n Predikant is immers niks anders nie as 'n man van jou keuse, wat jy met die bevel van so 'n deel van die staatsake as wat jy wil assosieer en wat die hoofkrediet in jou sake geniet slegs omdat hy die eerste beklee. plaas in jou hart. As hy jou goedere en jou gesag toeëien, sal hy ten minste dankbaarheid en respek vir jou persoon behou, en maak nie saak hoe goed jy dit doen nie, hy kan nie vermy om in puin te val op die oomblik dat jy nie die krag het om hom te ondersteun nie.

"Dit is nie so met mag wat in 'n volksvergadering erken word nie; hoe meer jy dit toestaan, hoe meer eis dit; hoe meer jy dit respek en guns betoon, hoe meer minag dit jou; en wanneer dit daarin slaag om 'n toegewing te onttrek van jou af word dit onmoontlik om dit terug te neem sonder uiterste geweld .

Hy wat konings aan mense gegee het, wou hê dat hulle gerespekteer moes word as sy plaasvervangers, en net vir homself behou om hulle gedrag te ondersoek; sy wil is dat wie ook al 'n onderdaan gebore is, sonder twyfel gehoorsaam.

(in Memoirs. Die instruksies van die Sonkoning by die Dauphin, Bompiani, Milaan 1977)

Skrywer Louis XIV Opera Memoirs

Datum 1666-1667

Memoir bron tipe

Om die mense toe te laat om staatsake te hanteer, is teen die natuurlike orde van dinge.

Delegering van mag aan 'n predikant hou nie 'n gevaar in vir die koninklike gesag nie, aangesien hy slegs die belange van die koning kan dien, sy fortuin is streng afhanklik van dié van die soewerein en sy gesag is in elke oomblik herroepbaar.

Slegs God kan die regering van die koning oordeel en dit is deur sy wil dat 'n mens óf koning óf onderdaan gebore word.

>

Laboratorium

OM TE VERSTAAN

1 Wat is, volgens Lodewyk XIV, die voordele wat spruit uit 'n gesentraliseerde en absolute regering vir die onderdane?

2 Watter metafoor gebruik Lodewyk XIV om die behoefte aan die bevel van die koninkryk te motiveer om net aan een te behoort?

3 Wat is, vir die Sonkoning, die grense van 'n volksvergadering?

[o-the-mts]

Song of the Week: "Abathembu" by uKhoiKhoi 

Song of the Week: “Abathembu” by uKhoiKhoi 

uKhoiKhoi – “Abathembu” uKhoiKhoi are the duo from Johannesburg, South Africa of musician & composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist & performing artist Anelisa Stuurman. They mix traditional indigenous music and operatic expressions with electronic beats and live looping for a unique Afro-Futuristic sound. Songs of the Week for 2023 January “Happiness” by THICK “Abathembu” by uKhoiKhoi

[metamatar]

So the real crime of fascism was the application to white people of colonial procedures "which until then had been reserved exclusively for the Arabs of Algeria, the 'c***s' of India, and the 'n***s' of Africa." (p. 36) Here we must situate Cesaire within a larger context of radical black intellectuals who had come to the same conclusions before the publication of Discourse.

As Cedric Robinson argues, a group of radical black intellectuals,including W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R James, George Padmore, and Oliver Cox, understood fascism not as some aberration from the march of progress, an unexpected right-wing turn, but a logical development of Western Civilization itself. They viewed fascism as a blood relative of slavery and imperialism, global systems rooted not only in capitalist political economy but racist ideologies that were already in place at the dawn of modernity. As early as 1936, Ralph Bunche, then a radical political science professor at Howard University, suggested that imperialism birth to fascism. "The doctrine of Fascism" wrote Bunche, "with its extreme jingoism, its exaggerated exaltation of the state and its comic-opera glorification of race, has given a new and greater impetus to the policy of world imperialism which had conquered and subjected to systematic and ruthless exploitation virtually all of the darker populations of the earth." Du Bois made some of the clearest statements to this effect: "I knew that Hitler and Mussolini were fighting communism, and using race prejudice to make some white people rich and all colored people poor. But it was not until later that I realized that the colonialism of Great Britain and France had exactly the same object and methods as the fascists and the Nazis were trying clearly to use." Later, in The World and Africa (1947), he writes: "There was no Nazi atrocity-concentration camps, wholesale maiming and murder, defilement of women or ghastly blasphemy of childhood which Christian civilization or Europe had not long been practicing against colored folk in all parts of the world in the name of and for the defense of a Superior Race born to rule the world. The very idea that there was a superior race lay at the heart of the matter, and this is why elements of Discourse also drew on Negritude's impulse to recover the history of Africa's accomplish ments. Takirng his cue from Leo Frobenius's injunction that the "idea of the barbaric Negro is a European invention," Cesaire sets out to prove that the colonial mission to "civilize" the primitive is just a smoke screen. If anything, colonialism results in the massive destruction of whole societies-societies that not only function at a high level of sophistication and complexity, but that might offer the West valuable lessons about how we might live together and remake the modern world.

Robin DG Kelley's A Poetics of Anti Colonialism, published as introduction to a new edition of Aime Cesaire's Discourse on Anti Colonialism

[blackexcellence]

#BlackHistory365 Art Round-Up ⬇️

Elsa Soares via @rodrigoincolors

"This is Elsa Soares. She's one of the biggest names in Brazilian music and considered a matriarch of Brazilian black artistry. BBC named her the voice of the millenium and she was one of the most important and loudest voice against racism, LGBTQIA+ and women rights, among other social causes. She's died yesterday at age 91. This is a very simple, but sincere tribute to her. May you rest in power!

Please, listen to her music and search more about this great woman."

2. Portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta by Hannah Uzor via @fyblackwomenart

Portrait of   Sarah Forbes Bonetta by  Hannah Uzor

Sarah Forbes Bonetta  was an Egbado princess of the Yoruba people in West Africa who was orphaned during a war with the nearby Kingdom of Dahomey and later became the slave of King Ghezo of Dahomey. In a remarkable twist of events, she was liberated from slavery by Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the British Royal Navy and became a goddaughter to Queen Victoria. She was married to Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, a wealthy Lagos philanthropist.

3. Marian Anderson by @novva

I’ve always wanted to do a series on black classical singers for BHM, so here’s a sketch I squeezed in this week—a tribute to the great Marian Anderson!

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993) was an African-American opera singer and contralto. In 1939, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Washington, D.C, then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to perform an open-air concert on the Lincoln Memorial steps on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. She was able to deliver a critically acclaimed performance before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people, and a radio audience in the millions.

Read more about her accomplishments here, and donate to the National Marian Anderson Museum here.

Remember: tag your history & trailblazers art with #BlackExcellence365 for a chance to be featured!

And keep your eyes out for next month's theme... 👀

[nerdykeppie]

Launching Tuesday - Historically Queer, our next enamel pin collection!

We Have Always Been Here.

Ten pins - two pairs, five single pins, and the La Maupin mega pin (she needed extra room for her headdress) - each with multiple unlockable colorways.

We launch Tuesday, 9/12, at 3PM Eastern, noon Pacific. Follow us on Kickstarter to be notified when we launch -- or just to help out! The visibility to Kickstarter from having followers on our campaign helps a lot. :D

Featured in this campaign:

Enheduanna, oldest named author. Incorporating trans themes into writing thousands of years old.

David & Jonathan, king & prince whose love surpassed the love of women.

Sappho, Lesbian poet. She should need no other introduction.

La Maupin, also known as Julie d'Aubigny. The original disaster bisexual. Opera singer, swordswoman. May have burned down a convent.

Publick Universal Friend, American religious figure. Going by gender-neutral pronouns since the year the Declaration of Independence was written.

Anne Lister & Ann Walker, the Gentleman Jack & her wife. Acknowledged as the first same-gender marriage in modern Britain.

Dr. James Barry, British surgeon. A transgender man, Dr. Barry performed the first C-section done by a European in Africa in which both mother & child survived. He is also credited with vastly improving conditions for wounded soldiers in the British military.

Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American genius. Listing Tesla's inventions would take a series of posts. Liked pigeons better than people.

If you don't see your favorite historical figure, don't fret! We've planned multiple sets of Historically Queer figures. We can't use them all up at once. :) Help ensure we can make future sets by helping us create this one!

Frequently Asked Questions under the cut.

Hey, what flag is that on Sappho?

That's the Sapphic flag, created by @tepkunset. NerdyKeppie's owner, Spider, is a butch lesbian who uses that flag for their art.

Hey - what about [historical figure]? How could you forget [historical figure]? This is erasure!

We didn't forget, we promise - this is the first of several installments of this project. After the absolute stress of the last Kickstarter when we had 300+ different SKUs by the end of the project, we decided to take a more focused approach to Historically Queer. We attempted to provide a good cross-section of identities, and will continue to expand in future projects. Spider has a huge folder on his computer full of planned pins and reference images.  

But historically...

Yes, we know that it isn't totally proper to use today's terms to discuss people who lived a long time ago. But also, how else do we talk about our community history in a way that's understood, and celebrate our shared queerness, other than to use the words and iconography which are understandable to us now? We celebrate our shared history with the words and understandings most accessible to all of us, and we hope that by providing not just the pins but a few elementary facts about these historical figures, we'll encourage people to read more about them in their original context.

[travelmanposts]

36-levels, Shangri-La, Sydney, Australia: Shangri-La Sydney is a 5 Star Hotel in Sydney offers 565 luxurious rooms and suites spread over 36 levels, offering panoramic views of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House, with the largest windows of any harborside hotel.. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is a subsidiary of Kerry Properties, the company has over 100 luxury hotels and resorts with over 40,000 rooms in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and Oceania. Wikipedia