Lavender Light Gospel Choir Reflection

“UN DU AKERST” is a song rooted in resistance, infused with the drive, rhythm, and ancestral pulse of the Black Gospel tradition. Its intensity creates space for Lavender Light to channel collective rage and resilience as Black and Brown queer people across generations.

Our choir reflects the full spectrum of LGBTQIA+ identities, with members holding varied immigration statuses and lived experiences. When we sing, “We deserve a living wage,” we are speaking from deeply intersectional truths of race, gender identity and expression, sexuality, age, class, and more. These lyrics are not abstract; they name our realities.

The song holds both testimony and vision. It captures the urgency of this moment amid rising violence and national hostility toward our communities while grounding us in ancestral strength. When we declare, “We’ll fight until we all are free,” we echo a promise carried in our DNA: a commitment to collective liberation that refuses to be silenced

Lorin:

Thanks to Frank for his new setting of this old workers anthem - I think Zhitlovky would approve. And it’s a blast to sing, especially with La Manga and Lavender Light!

Lisa:

My biggest takeaway from my time in the theater world is that if you are very present on stage, then regardless of how many times you perform the same scene, the surprises are still surprising. Whenever I hear “we deserve a living wage, let the bosses feel our rage” I am surprised by the raw emotion of it which is made so by the dramatic shift in musical content. It is a brilliant moment on the album.

Frank: This is a head-banging Yiddish protest anthem, with great text (“We’ll fight until we all are free”).Following Emma Goldman’s dictum: “If you can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.”