Emerging From The Silence
2020 The Road to Nowhere
"Got a feeling '21 is going to be a good year" sang The Who in 1969.
That's how I was feeling about '20 - more festival gigs than ever on the calendar, and a growing new enterprise of singing events - until we started to hear about C19.
Bit by bit all was swept away, and my own speciality - singing, both gigging with my Bluegrass mates, choir leading and teaching - was suddenly the very worst thing you could do.
We were all desperate for information on what might be possible or permitted, and I prepared online alternatives, but the physical impossibility of playing or singing in sync made that for many of us a rather lifeless enterprise, removing so much of what makes music vital and connecting.
I ran some sessions for community choirs where the accent is on socialising as much as the music itself, and a lot of these groups found this to be a lifeline for their community, but most of us felt bereft.
Of course, all our income had gone too, the majority of our earnings is over the Spring and Summer, and most of us freelancers fell through the gaps of government support measures, but being denied the oxygen of music and the uplifting inspiration that we feel from making music with each other was what hit our community hard.
A beautiful Spring saw the Summer events tumble like dominos, and while we were blessed with a season of glorious weather, it was like living in some utopian Truman Show which was fatally lacking live music. Many email hours were spent trying to recoup cancelled accommodation and travel costs, not knowing if "Carry over to next year" would be a serious option.
August Bank Holidays came and went, shorn of their usual celebrations. I had learned a lot about video making and editing, and was busy helping bring various festivals online, and there were some great concerts which would frankly have been great in the winter, but who wants spend the day in front of a screen watching what they're missing in the sunshine? Out of all the things that might have sustained us through such a period, it is a tragic irony that live music and particularly singing was the most forbidden. I played guitar at home while the flight cases gathered dust.
I saw my friends hunker down into a sort of day-to-day limbo, not being able to foresee when or how things might get better. Hopes might have been raised by the Cultural recovery Fund in October, but so often it seems that the people who decide these things don't understand the value of grass roots activities which would have benefitted from even small amounts, and it became clear that many festivals would not be re-appearing in 2021. Even larger, well-established ones like Towersey Festival which has run for 55 years and welcomes 10,000 people each August received not a penny.
I've enjoyed collaborating remotely with other musicians, and I can tell you that there are some great recordings in the can (normally our Winter work), waiting to be shared and promoted as soon as gigs start up again. My singing partner Sue Pomeroy of The Rye Sisters brilliantly set up a songwriters' group cheering us all, writing and sharing songs to deadlines.
Then - some green shoots:
An email arrived asking about our annual Spring workshops shook me from self imposed hibernation, and - Hallelujah! - news of vaccines, developed sooner than we had dared hope.
I realised that we have six full months to go until the end of May.
We shall all be a lot more used to coping with Covid, many of us will have been vaccinated, and our Summer music season will be venturing, groundhog - like to see if it's safe to come out and play.
I contacted everyone concerned and we Zoomed (which we didn't do last year) and agreed to go ahead. A switch had been flicked and images of 2019 came in to our mind. As the word spreads, the relief and delight are palpable.
Messages are now flooding in from singers desperate for much missed musical sustenance and genuinely joyous about the opening doors. Our future has been restored, and although our fingers are tightly crossed that all will progress well, a lot of musicians are beginning to feel a lot happier. And I know that we'll all enjoy supporting them live as soon as we get the chance.
Roger Jackson
Roger Jackson is a songwriter, producer, Bluegrass player, singer and folk choir leader.
He performs with his band BlueJay, leads The Fabulous Festival Choir and teaches at workshops up and down the country. With Sue Pomeroy of The Rye Sisters, he runs the annual singing event "Three Days in May
Fabulous Festival Choir
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