HIDDEN TALENTS, HIDDEN ASPIRATIONS ...HIDDEN HOMELESSNESS
We all have hidden secrets.
When one of Tang Hall’s participants let us in on hers, some of us giggled.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with The Bee Gees. Far from it. More than 120 million records sold proves that point.
Our musicians are better known for their more edgy tastes, however. So Eleanor’s confession that her hidden dream was to perform “Night Fever” surprised us all.
More surprising still, though, was the sudden support that came from our very own Music Director, Neil. Apparently, he’s a bit of a fan, too.
Seeing as he’s a Deftones, Charletans and Death Grips type, we didn’t believe him.
But you can’t keep a good disco diva down. With a flick of his imaginary, Seventies locks and a burst of attitude, he let his hidden Barry Gibb out.
In a crazy instant, the rehearsal room shimmered with his piercing falsetto and pithy lyrics. Neil became a tough guy, struttin’ his stuff, Stayin’ Alive.
“WELL, YOU CAN TELL BY THE WAY I USE MY WALK I’M A WOMAN’S MAN, NO TIME TO TALK!” He split the air - perfectly in tune and minor pain from the exertion.
The room throbbed with the heady rebellion of the Seventies - for those of us mature enough to remember them.
For a moment, we were speechless. Had that just happened?
Then, of course, we were rolling about laughing.
Who knew that Neil had such hidden heights?
The upshot of all that is that we decided to include a Bee Gees number at our Barbican gig in November, and as part of the preparations, have had a “Bee Gees” workshop, in which everybody flung themselves into Saturday Night Fever and had a blast from the past.
Fun aside, though, the iconic movie dealt with more than flashing lights and tight dancing trousers. Not much hidden there. The theme of financial woe, deprivation and hunger for a better life pervaded the whole storyline – something that many of our Tang Hall participants are all too familiar with.
Several of our talented musicians have experienced homelessness – and that’s not very surprising. In a poll of 2000 adults in the UK taken in 2013, 14% of them had been homeless at some time and 20% knew someone who had been (see www.homeless.org.uk).
But that’s not all.
People become homeless for various reasons, and many don’t appear in the official figures. About 62% of single homeless people are known as the “Hidden Homeless” and nearly half of them are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four. They often sofa-surf with friends or live in squats.
38% of them have a combination of complex needs and rely on services for accommodation and practical support. (data from Support for Single Homeless People in England: Annual Review 2015)
So while everybody had a great time with The Bee Gees masterpieces, dancing, puppeteering and playing their hearts out, we were grateful to be together – finding music’s irrepressible joy for a time.
If it does that much good for the human spirit, then okay: Neil is allowed to let his hidden Barry Gibb out whenever he feels like it.
