Singers and musicians in the union journal "The Performer" during the First World War

John Mullen (1, 2)

1 ERIAC - Équipe de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Aires Culturelles
2 UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie

“The Performer” was the union journal of the Variety Artistes Federation, which was set up in 1906. The VAF represented many different types of performers, but singers and musical performers were an important proportion: no doubt a third of the members were singers. The singers and musicians in the VAF generally travelled from town to town following their bookings, a lifestyle which distinguished them from the majority of musicians, who were employed in house orchestras of music halls or cinemas. My paper using the union journal from the war years and in particular its cartoons aims at analyzing union activity in these years. What ideas were prioritized : patriotism, mutual help, union discipline, respectability, strikes, workers’ solidarity ?

Keywords: First World War; Britain; trade unionism; music Hall; popular music

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; History; Humanities and Social Sciences; Musicology and performing arts

John Mullen. Singers and musicians in the union journal "The Performer" during the First World War. Working in Music: The Musicians’ Union, musical labour and employment, Jan 2016, Glasgow, United Kingdom. ⟨hal-02468717⟩