The Solidarity Choir was formed in 1987, when Oliver Tambo, then President of the African National Congress, came to Sydney on a speaking tour. Sydney-based anti-apartheid activists brought together ANC members and Australian supporters to learn the anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and other freedom songs to sing at a public meeting at Sydney Town Hall on 30 March. It was so much fun that the members decided to continue singing together. And so the choir was born!

The early membership was drawn from the ANC, the Mambologists - a left-wing Afro-Latin band - and the Gay Liberation Quire. Since 1987 the choir has had hundreds of members (with new ones joining almost every week), but there is a core of members whose involvement stretches back to the early days. We have also had several musical directors, but Miguel Heatwole has held that position since the early 1990s.

We now do around 20 gigs a year: at rallies, fund-raisers for a wide range of community groups and solidarity movements, and folk festivals. Every gig is special, but some of our performance highlights over the years have been:

• Our first performance in 1987, singing Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika for Oliver Tambo and the African National Congress
• Performing Miguel's original choral piece ‘No Wealth From War’ at a demonstration protesting against the AIDEX arms exhibition in Canberra in 1991
• Singing with four other choirs for Nelson Mandela's visit in 1992, at St Mary's Cathedral and on the steps of the Opera House in front of 10,000 people
• Singing for Bishop Desmond Tutu's visit in August 1993
• Performing at the 1994 and 1998 National Folk Festivals in Canberra - both on our own and with six other trade union choirs from around the country
• Singing at Petersham Town Hall in 1994 to celebrate the election of Nelson Mandela to the South African presidency
• Singing for an anti-gun rally in the Domain, Sydney, in 1996
• Performing at the opening of the 1997 ACTU Congress in Brisbane, as part of a massed choir of more than 100 voices from eight trade union and community choirs - premiering a new composition written for the event
• Singing at the Australians for Native Title (ANTAR) rally in support of the historic Wik decision, in the Domain, Sydney, in October 1997
• Four performances at the 1997/98 Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland
• Singing at the party for Mick Dodson, aboriginal activist and former Social Justice Commissioner, on his retirement from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission
• Closing (with the Sydney Trade Union choir) the mass rally in support of the Maritime Union of Australia at Sydney Lower Town Hall in February 1998, and singing at crack of dawn picket lines throughout the waterfront strike
• Supporting the Song Company at the Sydney premiere of the 'Quito' East Timor song cycle, Newtown Theatre, in August 1998
• An evening of choral music for International Women's Day, St Stephen's Church, in March 1999
• Premiering Miguel's arrangement of Grandola Vila Morena at the Portuguese National Day Festival, Portuguese Club, Sydenham, in June 1999
• Entertaining the participants at the National Social Policy Conference dinner, Water's Edge, Sydney in July 1999
• Opening a series of citizenship ceremonies for South Sydney Council, at Paddington Town Hall and Redfern Park
• The mass rally in support of East Timor, Hyde Park, Sydney, in September 1999
• Supporting Kavisha Mazella at the Three Weeds, Rozelle, in September 1999
• The inauguration of the Korean Tilers' branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Campsie, in November 1999
• Supporting Roy Bailey at the Three Weeds, Rozelle, in April 2000
• Singing for the mass rally in support of East Timor, Hyde Park, Sydney, in September 1999
• Singing at a midnight vigil in Sydney on the eve of the East Timorese independence referendum, September 2000
• Singing at the Walk for Reconciliation across Sydney Harbour Bridge in May 2000
• Touring the UK and Ireland in July 2001 -- including performances at the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival, the Social Policy Association conference dinner in Belfast City Hall and the Sidmouth International Folk Festival, plus other highlights too numerous to mention!
• Singing at the rally in support of asylum seekers and refugees, Villawood Detention Centre, September 2001

The history doesn't end here. It keeps on going - and so will we!