20/04/2026
...And here is the transcript....Thanks Christine🙏🏾
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens – Song
Every two weeks, the local Tuneless Choir meets at the Tea House Theatre in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. In the 18th century, Londoners would stroll through these lantern-lit gardens for pleasure. Today, people sing here purely for pleasure. Hitting the right note is beside the point. The Tuneless Choir is for people who love to sing, even though they can’t. On an evening in mid-March, around two dozen members have turned up. Many women, and a few scattered men.
OT Talibah:
Ok, are you ready?
On the small stage of the tea house, choir leader Talibah Rivers-Graham stands ready. The slender woman, who has Jamaican roots, has wrapped a green cotton cloth around her hair. On her feet: chunky boots with a snakeskin look. Choose volume and enthusiasm over quality! she calls out, getting singers of all ages in the mood.
OT Talibah:
Go for volume and gusto over quality every time.
They begin with vocal and articulation warm-ups.
OT humming
OT lip trills
And then the rallying cry of the Tuneless Choir: Sing like no one’s listening!
OT:
Sing like no one’s listening!
Half a mile north of the Tea House Theatre lies the old working-class district of Lambeth. The musical hit Lambeth Walk is part of the repertoire Talibah has put together for the evening.
OT Talibah singing Lambeth Walk
It’s very easy and it goes like this: Any evening, anytime (laughter)
If only it were as easy as it is for the powerful-voiced choir leader! It isn’t – but that doesn’t matter. The Tuneless Choir joins in enthusiastically all the same.
OT choir singing Lambeth Walk
Alana and Friends: Lambeth Walk
Talibah is a singing teacher. But in the Tuneless Choir, teaching has no place.
OT Talibah: joyful, not perfect
It’s so joyful because we simply sing for fun. Perfection doesn’t matter at all. It’s about the energy.
For the members of the Tuneless Choir, that’s a huge relief. It takes away the pressure to perform. And the shame. Because being told that you can’t hit a single note can feel deeply humiliating.
OT Talibah: shame, because the voice expresses who we are
Your voice is an essential part of who you are. I’ve experienced my voice being criticised – it really brings you down. It’s like someone is attacking something deep inside you.
At the Tuneless Choir in Vauxhall, they know this feeling all too well. And they all find it liberating to sing their hearts out anyway.
OT Carmen: at school at seven
I was seven or eight. And the teacher said: You’re disturbing the others. Don’t sing anymore – just mime.
OT Catriona: I can’t sing, but I like singing
I can’t sing, but I like singing.
OT Kate: Nobody cares
No one here asks whether you can sing or not. And that’s what makes it so liberating.
Do you learn to sing in the Tuneless Choir?
OT Annabelle: acceptance
No. It’s simply about accepting where I am.
OT Kate: We come to let go
We don’t come to get better. We come to let go.
OT choir: Jailhouse Rock
OT Shay-Marie: confidence booster
It feels like you’ve found your people, your community. It builds confidence. I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
Katrin, originally from Braunschweig – now based in North London – is also here.
OT Katrin: absolute lightness
You feel free. When you sing, you are fully present – you can’t drift off in your thoughts. It carries you along. A sense of complete lightness.
OT Angie: relief
It gives me a break from everything else going on in my life. Because when you’re singing and dancing, you’re completely absorbed in it. That’s such a relief.
OT Kate: it makes you happier
You come here and then you leave again. And afterwards, you simply feel happier.
OT choir: Sway
OT Talibah: It’s cheaper than therapy
One of my choir members, she said: it’s cheaper than therapy. I like that quote.
OT Michael Bublé: Sway
