Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender stars have never been so numerous as during this 56th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival which ends on Saturday. If some do not hide it, without claiming it, others want to seize this opportunity to serve as models.
The 56th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival offers many queer artists on the bill. Among them, the American lesbian icon Ashnikko or the singer Self Esteem, openly bisexual. Others speak of love for women in their lyrics without claiming it specifically, but as part of their identity.
This is the case of the singer and composer Marie-Pierra Kakoma, of Lous & The Yakuza, for whom love is a question of individuals: “You can live wonderful love stories with women without necessarily having sexual relationship. And that’s what happened to me many times in my life, to love women deeply and never really define it. Rather, society will define it. Love for me is an individual matter.
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Affirm your uniqueness
For the young Belgian Pierre de Maere, talking about his love for boys in his songs is also not a way of claiming to belong to the LGBTQI+ community. It is simply to affirm its uniqueness and authenticity.
“I locked myself up until I was 17-18 because I was afraid of what people were going to think about it. (…) Nobody bothered me about it, I was the only one to limit me and put up barriers for me. Maybe that’s why today there is this quest for freedom and this desire to tell the whole world ‘feel free!'”
The singer did not feel discriminated against because of his homosexuality. “I don’t have to fight a fight or claim my sexual identity, that would be hypocritical. I’ll leave that to the people who have experienced it in a more dramatic way, who have had the opportunity to really experience what it is. is to be rejected because of it”, he delivers with sincerity.
>> To read also: The pop elegance of Belgian singer Pierre de Maere at Montreux Jazz
Homophobic environment
Any other picture from the side of the English musician Olly Alexander, who grew up near Manchester in a homophobic environment. Claiming his homosexuality and making it a source of pride, being a queer model who dares to be visible, it’s his way of helping young people who don’t dare to come out: “I’m very happy to do it because I I love being gay, I love being queer and I’m lucky to have a platform and a voice that people will listen to just because I have a platform.”
The world is changing, music scenes are more inclusive, but Olly Alexander remains lucid. He reminds us that progress is not linear and that the LGBTQI+ community is still often the target of attacks, in laws and in the media.
TV subject: Cecilia Mendoza
Adaptation web: mh