Words by Smiley Team
Reverend Billy and his Church of Earthalujah aren’t like any ordinary choir. Dressed in every colour of the rainbow and waving their hands in the air, the singers are touring the UK throughout COP26 with an important message for us all.
“We tie the impulse to defend the Earth with the impulse to be loving," says Reverend Billy, who, although he wears a dog collar, isn’t actually an ordained preacher. "For we must live in cooperation and peace with our fellow humans as well as life of all of kinds."
He does, however, have a preacher’s way with words. “We believe that singing information has a trance-like impact that makes people more willing to communicate with one another in a personal way,” he continues. “Music like ours has been vital for all successful social movements; from the suffragettes to LGBTQ+ struggles, all of whom had their own music.”
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Already the troupe has passed through London, Norwich, Nottingham and Birmingham, singing in arts centres, museums and even an unsuspecting shopping mall in Nottingham’s city centre.
Along the way, Billy was particularly struck by the impact they had at the British Museum. “We addressed the columns at the front of the museum and sang about all the artefacts colonisers have stolen over the years. Because every object stolen by the British Empire ends up at the British Museum, the dumping ground of the booty,” he explains.
They also linked this history of exploitation to a more contemporary crime. He adds: “They’re not just stealing religious artefacts but also dumping CO2 into the air by accepting donations from massive oil companies like BP.”
To highlight this, they lined up in front of the museum and sang about the objects there alongside extreme weather events. “So you’d hear the name of a famous sculpture followed by the name of a famous wildfire, for example,” he explains, “and it was very touching to see how tourists reacted, learning for the first time what this museum is doing.”
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After travelling up the country, the choir will eventually arrive in Glasgow for the climate conference, where they hope to sing to a more positive tune about humanity’s capacity to love.
“We will persuade our listeners that they must pay greater attention to our Earth. Ultimately we believe that the Earth is conscious, that the superstorms and floods are the signs of evolution rebalancing things and we have to pay attention to these messages it’s trying to tell us.”
To respond to the Earth’s message, Billy says: “Love is the answer. It opens us to each other and the Earth in a language that we’ve forgotten. It’s that simple. Once we rediscover that, I believe love could save our lives and the planet.”
Get updates on the Church of Earthalujah by following them on social media with the hashtag #EarthRiotUK. Book for a concert or donate via revbilly.com.
