Among the black and red decor that graced the Trojan Grand Ballroom, the sudden crackling of an old record filled the room. “Prove it on me Blues” by Ma Rainey, known as the Mother of Blues, began to play, signalling the concert had begun.

Music dating back to the late 1920s and continuing through the 2020s reverberated throughout the Trojan Grand Ballroom on Friday evening, as the Performing Arts Committee presented its concert “Illuminate,” which focused on uncovering the history of queer women in music.

Following a student-made short film about queer women artists in the early 20th century, including Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday and Frances Faye, the first live performance of the night began.

Chanell Kimani, who performed Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” while dressed in a white gown with white flowers in her hair, paying homage to Holiday’s signature look, took the stage. Holiday, who was openly a bisexual woman, had several affairs with women throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

“Looking at some of these women and how much courage it took to stand on their own, even if it [was] just hints at their sexuality within performances, that would be absolutely terrifying if you’re Ma Rainey back in the ’20s and ’30s,” said Tess Silva, a sophomore majoring in music industry as well as the Creative Director of Illuminate.

Following Kimani, Lisa Yao, a freshman majoring in dramatic arts, sang Frances Faye’s “You’re Heavenly.” Faye, who was never one to repress her true self, often changed song lyrics to include double entendres or deeper hidden meanings.

After Kimani’s and Yao’s performances, a second student-made short film was presented, this time discussing artists from the ’60s to the ’80s, more specifically Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield and Tracy Chapman.

Agathe Rose Chagnon, a freshman majoring in dramatic arts, followed the short film by performing Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.”

“As a girl, I always feel like I’m told what to wear, how to present myself. I’m told, ‘Oh my God, you’re too masculine’ or ‘You’re too feminine,’ and I’m like, ‘I want to be like that today, and then tomorrow I’m gonna be like that,’” Chagnon said when asked about her connection to the original song’s meaning.

Gore, who sang about not being told how to act or how to dress, came out as a lesbian by the release of her final album in 2005, more than four decades after the original song was released.

“A lot of these artists that we highlighted weren’t artists that I never heard of, but actually the opposite: artists that I feel are very well known. But the thing that isn’t well known about these well-known artists is their sexuality,” said Mckinley Huffman, the producer of the concert and a sophomore majoring in music industry. “That was what we wanted to highlight the most.”

After Chagnon, Whitney Enenstein, a sophomore majoring in music industry, sang Dusty Springfield’s “Spooky.” Springfield, who was an icon of the 1960s, had to conceal her sexuality out of fear of losing her career, but a decade later, she would come out.

Kaia Mae, a sophomore studying music industry, wrapped up the 20th century section of the concert by singing Tracy Chapman’s 1988 hit “Baby Can I Hold You.” While Chapman has never publicly discussed her sexuality, she still serves as an icon and ally of queer women in music.

“It does feel like a lot of these artists have been very obscured,” Huffman said. “At the same time, we were shocked to see just how few queer female musicians we could find, particularly with some of the earlier decades.”

With the third and final student-made film, which focused on more contemporary artists such as Sleater-Kinney, Girl In A Coma, Lady Gaga and Destroy Boys serving as the bridge between the previous decades of music to the modern age, the evening led to more live performances — this time, with an emphasis on rock and roll.

Tvishi Mathur, a freshman majoring in legal studies, performed Sleater-Kinney’s 1997 hit “Dig Me Out,” a song that imitates the sounds of crashing, with the vocals being filled with rage. Despite not being a queer band, they are a band with queer members.

Citlali Arzabala, a freshman majoring in dramatic arts who followed Mathur, sang “Smart” from the early-2000s rock band Girl In A Coma. The song, which came out in 2011, feels distinctly like it was made in the 1980s, with its acoustic guitar sounds and somber vocals.

“They’re Latino as well. And so I’ve definitely felt connected … It felt really cool to see,” Arzabala said.

Following Arzabala’s punk-rock performance, Addison Wozniczka got up on stage to perform Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” a song that celebrates being unapologetically yourself and not being afraid to be who you were born to be, which was also released in 2011.

As the evening came to a close, the concert’s very own creative director, Silva, stepped up on stage to perform “Muzzle,” a 2021 song by the punk-rock band Destroy Boys. The band, which includes some members of the queer community, expresses their feelings in many of its songs and discusses the hardships that come with being queer.

“We’re at a time in the world right now that can feel like things are not going well, but looking at how much things have changed and how much people have overcome,” Huffmant said. “How women have persisted and fought for their own identities, and thinking about how people are going to continue to do that was really powerful for me.”