By LIBERTY GADD

Gender queer cabaret diva Mama Alto took to Fitzroy’s Hares & Hyenas stage to do what she knows best – tackling prejudice.

Mama Alto is only one of many Melbourne musicians championing the acceptance of gender diversity in modern culture, carrying on the legacy of music legends such as Prince and David Bowie.

As a popular musician, Mama Alto is a cover artist celebrated for her renditions of bisexual jazz singer Billie Holiday’s soulful songs.

The Melbourne songstress cites Holiday, as well as other bisexual female musicians of colour including Nina Simone and Bessie Smith, as her idols.

Mama Alto has identified as queer since age 12, gender-queer since three years ago and “of colour since birth”. Diversity is integral to her performances.

“My aim is really to take whatever has been marginalised in the kind of hegemonic, cis[gender], hetero[sexual], patriarchal [and] white social dominant norms … and put that back in the centre of the culture,” Mama Alto said.

The cabaret diva has often been approached to take part in activism work, such as speaking and performing at the Melbourne Safe Schools rally. However, she believes music has the power to reach those who would not usually engage in a conversation about gender diversity rights.

“Even if the emotions and subjects are very intense, the audience knows that this is a social exchange that they are familiar with,” she said.

“[People] can listen to the music directly from their heart and from their soul and connect empathetically without that baggage of the oppressive social mores ... that’s the powerful part.”

Jazz enthusiasts attracted to Mama Alto’s performances are often surprised by the effect the countertenor’s music can have on them. She recalled the reaction of an older man who attended her Perth Fringe World Festival show.

“[The man] came up to me after the show … in tears and said that all of his life he has been very conservative … he has never understood why people have to flaunt things,” she said.

“Then seeing this show and hearing the songs particularly, he said, ‘I finally get it’.”

Mama Alto said performing the role of the diva onstage was not only therapeutic for audiences, but was liberating in a personal context.

“When the performing artist or musician realises suddenly that all behaviour is a performance and constructed along certain ideologies … we realise that we have a choice in everyday life … to also pursue that range of expression,” she said.

Another prominent Melbourne musician who holds the LGBTIQ+ community close to her heart is synth-pop musician InfraGhosts, also known as Laura Davis.

Davis identifies as a transgender woman and, like Mama Alto, is aware of the music industry's ability to be a step ahead when it comes to embracing and acknowledging minorities.

“Musicians have always been at the forefront of new cultural waves … rock and roll … black musicians bringing in blues and R&B and hip hop. Music has always been more progressive than a majority of the culture,” Davis said.

“For any minority to get more acceptance there has got to be more visibility, and I think music is a good medium for there to be visibility.”

While gender and sexuality are central to Mama Alto’s performances, Davis said she considered herself a musician first.

InfraGhosts is the culmination of Davis’s varied creative pursuits. Her sets are accompanied by streamed videos featuring her own nature-focused photography.

The tracks are written and produced by Davis, and when the synth-pop musician becomes distracted, she uses electro-etching to create InfraGhosts merchandise, including customised kitchen knives.

“I only came to the realisation of the trans aspect of my life recently,” she said.

“It’s only been six months … I have been a musician for maybe 12 years, so in a lot of ways, you know, I am a musician first.”

Davis said she had found a new fan base since identifying as a transgender woman.

“It is very strange the fact that I have come out as something – as a trans person – and … found that there’s this scene which is hugely more supportive,” she said.

“[Before], being sort of an effeminate man meant that I copped a lot of shit, but not identifying as queer or trans meant that I didn’t have much of a support base to go back to.”

Both are no strangers to Melbourne’s diverse music scene.

Both performed at MYRIAD, a talent showcase celebrating transgender and gender diverse artistic creativity as part of 2016's International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex discrimination and Transphobia, on May 20, 2016.

Davis was cheered by crowds at the Loop Project Space & Bar as she settled into her final song for the night, Moment of Trust. Proceeds from the night will go to support the SlutWalk Melbourne 2016 protest on September 3, which stands against “victim-blaming and slut-shaming”.

Mama Alto was the third act in Monash University Student Theatre’s (MUST) inaugural MUST Cabaret Festival opening night.

The diva delighted the audience with sassy banter and her interpretation of American songwriter Harold Arlen’s Blues in the Night, accompanied by musical director Miss Chief (Tiffani Walton) on piano, was a hit.

Mama Alto said she hoped music fans mourning the loss of Bowie and Prince would continue to support increased levels of racial and gender diversity into mainstream culture.

“What is important now… is to make sure you pour as much care and attention … [into] accepting and supporting the queer and gender diverse people who are still alive, who are here now, who need you,” she said.

“The future might be queer and brown and trans and feminine. It might not be dominated by the politics and social agendas of white, conservative, heterosexual rich men.

Home page image of Mama Alto from mamaalto.com. She performs with Miss Chief tomorrow night (August 19) at the Porcelain Tea Parlour in Elgin St Carlton.