Choirs

CHOIR PROFILES

Choir members!! Click here for your briefing paper from Keith Lander

Political and Community Choirs at the Raise Your Banners Festival, Bradford, 2007 (subject to alteration).

Achord Bradford (www.achord.org.uk)

We sing songs largely from the genre of World Music, with a wonderful variety of contemporary and traditional songs from countries far and near, eg Africa and the Balkans. This variety is united by common themes, of peace, justice, and harmony with nature.

We perform at a wide variety of mostly local events including folk clubs, charity events, parties and funerals! We perform annually at the National Street Music Festival. We support fundraising events and Peace Festivals and past performances have included:- Raise Your Banners (Sheffield), Peace and Craft Fair (Saltaire), Bradford Centenary Square (anti war gathering). The Priestley Centre(Bradford Festival of Peace).

BIASAN Choir

It is hoped that this choir may be able to make it to the Festival. It is newly formed and is made up of some of the people who attend the regular weekly BIASAN club. BIASAN (Bradford Immigration and Asylum Seekers Support Network) is a voluntary organisation which provides support, befriending and signposting to asylum seekers and refugees. This choir has come out of the activities of the BIASAN club. Dave Robinson of Achord and Voicemale is the MD for the choir.

Body of Sound, Sheffield    

We sing songs that uplift and inspire us. We have sung at Water Aid, at Sheffield’s Peace and Green Fairs, against climate change, in support of destitute asylum seekers and had a collection at our recent 10th birthday celebrations for the Centre Against People Trafficking.   

Bolton Clarion Choir and Kadenza Women’s Choir

The Clarion Choir is part of Bolton Socialist Centre and sings songs from socialist and community traditions. Kadenza women’s choir sings similar songs but also sings songs from and about women’s lives.

Bradford Voices (www.bradfordvoices.org.uk)

Established since 1996 we sing songs unaccompanied from around the world and through the ages. Our repertoire has included songs of celebration, peace and freedom, spirituals and music from the shape note tradition.

We perform occasionally at local community events and at festivals including Raise Your Banners and The National Street Music Festival, which Bradford Voices hosted for the second time in 2005.

Originally set up with Kate Howard as musical director, this was followed by a short period with former Leeds People’s Choir MD, Lesley Lear, and occasional sessions with Janet Wood and now with Frances Bernstein alongside a mentoring scheme for choir members. Frances says: ' I think my love of harmony singing came from being brought up in South Africa in an ANC family, and being influenced by the vibrant black struggle songs.'

Bradford Women Singers (www.myspace.com/bradfordwomensingers)

A 7-piece, female a cappella group based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. We are a specifically political (feminist/red/green) group and only sing songs that have meaning for us, picking them up from all sorts of interesting people and places. We are

a collective, with no leader and don't use written music- we mostly

arrange the songs ourselves, getting help from our friends when we get

stuck. 



Calder Valley Voices, Hebden Bridge (www.caldervalleyvoices.org.uk)

We are a co-operatively run community choir, based in Hebden Bridge, West
Yorkshire. We welcome anyone and we sing together for enjoyment and inspiration. Our songs come from many different countries and singing traditions, including pop, Christian spirituals, Bulgarian folksong and shapenote harmony. When we hosted the National Street Choirs festival in 2002, we commemorated a local socialist rally addressed by Caroline Martyn in 1896, with a specially commissioned song, ‘Vision of Jerusalem’.  We recently performed a programme of songs to commemorate the abolition of slavery, including the South African ANC song ‘Umkhonto Uwe Sizwe’ and songs from the Southern USA Civil Rights movement, such as ‘Harriet Tubman’. Kate Howard founded the choir and ran it for about 10 years. Our present Musical Director is Helen Lyle.

!Corista!, Hebden Bridge/Todmorden

We're a small choir who have been singing together since the start of the year, aiming to explore some of the radical but less familiar corners of the community choir repertoire.  We're made up of past and present members of Calder Valley Voices and of Burnley Clarion Choir.

East Lancs Clarion Community Choir (expanded)

This choir is a slightly expanded version of the East Lancs Clarion Community Choir. It includes politically interested individuals from two other community choirs.  The East Lancs Clarion Community Choir has a long history of singing together about peace, justice, international co-operation, liberation, ending poverty and inequality, and dealing with topical issues.  We recently performed at the Manchester Street Choirs Festival, focussing on the issue of ending the slave trade and human trafficking.

Gay Abandon, Leeds (www.gayabandon.org.uk)

We are an exclusively lesbian, gay & bisexual choir and we stand for gay equality and liberation. 

We sing a lot of songs which represent what it means to be gay: songs celebrating love, difference, struggle.

Often lyrics or music written by gay writers/composers or songs sung by gay singers/icons/bands, etc. In 2006 we toured locally with a programme of songs interspersed with the spoken word telling a story of lesbian & gay persecution and struggle.  We would be likely to use some of this material at this festival.

Leeds Peoples’ Choir

Formed in 1990 we aim to be inclusive, co-operative and welcoming. We also aim to promote and celebrate diversity and democracy, to challenge injustice and oppression, to demand a better world for all and to express the joys of living and singing. We have sung at most of the Raise Your Banners festivals in the
past.

Making Waves Choir, Newcastle

We are newly formed--coastal choir at Cullercoats--a beautiful bay near Newcastle. We are all political activists or have been, from many different political backgrounds and groups, who enjoy singing together. We want to use our singing to promote our political and community ideas and sang at this year’s mayday celebrations in Newcastle. Our repertoire includes traditional folk and political songs, adaptations of others, as well as original political songs, composed by members of the group.

Manchester Community Choir (www.manchestercommunitychoir.org.uk)

We sing songs of freedom, peace and justice as well as songs which reflect life with it's joys and sorrows.

We are a community choir with no religious or party political affiliation, open to adults – no need to read music or have an audition

Nottingham Clarion Choir

We have been going strong since 1988 - nearly 20 years of singing songs in support of socialist ideas, for peace and justice, against war and occupation, supporting local campaigns - for asylum seekers and refugees, for the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and CND and for Trade Unions.   Our brilliant arranger/conductor Bronwyn has been with us from the beginning. 

Raised Voices

Raised Voices is a London-based political street choir of women and men.  We are committed to peace and justice.  We sing a continually developing repertoire of songs written by choir members and others of left, environmental, anti-war, feminist, internationalist, anti-racist and other political songs, including songs from around the world.

Examples of our songs - African Songs (Ajia, Zikolisa, Senzenina, Unzima); environmental songs (Life on Earth, Not Leaving on a Jet Plane, Dirty Aid); international songs (Di Tsufkuft, Plegaria); anti-racist (Rosa Parks); anti-war (Not in My Name, Who do they think they are?, Foolish Notion, etc

Red Leicester 

We sing songs that give voice to struggles for liberation, equality and justice, in defence of the environment, and for a better world. We have sung at every Raise Your Banners Festival since 1997 and every year at the Street Music Festival since 1996.

Sheffield Socialist Choir (www.socialistchoir.org.uk)

We have been singing in support of various political movements and campaigns since 1988. These include Anti-Apartheid, the 1991 campaign against pit closures in South Yorkshire, the Stop the Gulf War campaigns in 1992 and in 2002-3. We inaugurated RYB in 1995 here in Sheffield and ran follow-up festivals in 1997, 1999 and 2001. We started it to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill, Wobbly activist and songwriter. We thought it was important to give a show case for the best in political song both nationally and internationally. More recently, our choir travelled to Cuba in 2003 to participate in the Havana International Festival of Music and organised a second visit by a Yorkshire coalition in 2005. Currently we are running a project called “Songs for a Change” involving the commissioning of new songs to be given their world premiere by us. Composers include Theo Simon of “Seize the Day”, Peggy Seeger, Chumbawumba and Zap Mama.

Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir, Brockley, London

(www.strawberrythieveschoir.org.uk)

We sing at political events - demos, meetings, May Day.  We only sing political songs. We have attended every Raise Your Banners since the choir was formed in 1996. 

Velvet Fist, London (www.listen.to/velvetfist)

Velvet Fist is a feminist and socialist group. We have come together through political activity to find our voice in music. We sing of struggle, liberation, peace and equality with our own style of warmth and humour.   We have participated in RYB events in the past and one year we were a supporting act for Holly Near (1999?).  We have a CV (not completely up to date) on our website which gives lists of gigs etc. 

Voca Loca, Belfast

Voca Loca has been meeting regularly for over 10 years, brought together by a love of singing and good craic. Over the years we have supported issues close to our hearts, including different Amnesty International campaigns, Anti War movement, cross-community events and environmental campaigns. We sing songs from a variety of traditions and countries, increasingly including those of celtic origin, and sometimes arranged by members of the group.Our ‘open to all’ approach leads to a fluid membership where women come, go and return, but the hard core just can’t give it up.

We would like to see Ireland represented in the mix of choirs, especially as it could prove to be an historic year for peace in the North. We came to RYB festival in Sheffield in 2001, and would love to come again. Also Kate (one of our members) was a member of the inaugural team that put on the first RYB!

Voicemale, Bradford (www.voicemalebradford.com)

Voicemale aims to leave its audiences with a wide range of musical messages about the world we live in: justice and peace, freedom and human rights, joy and celebration, friendship and community, health and well-being, care and the environment, love and romance to name just a few.

Through our song we aim to do our bit to bring a little peace in the world, between different people and places, cultures, faiths and races.

Either together or in other groups we’ve performed at National Street Music and Raise Your Banner Festivals since1988, fundraising and charitable events, folk clubs and local festivals, indoors and on the streets! Between us we’ve sung and performed in other harmony singing groups including Bradford Voices, Achord and instrumental groups such as Codarajo, Red Herrings Street Band, Leeds/Bradford Samba Band.  Dave leads the BIASAN choir, and Keith has co-ordinated the choirs together for this RYB.