The Campaign Choirs Network is a loose affiliation of like-minded choirs across the UK sharing a belief in a better world for all and dedicated to taking action by singing about it!
Use the tabs above to find out more about:
- the origins and aims of the Network
- other member choirs
- events, demonstrations and rallies
- stirring and moving songs, both traditional and new
- useful links to other organisations and groups
This is the site for campaigning choirs to come to share events, music and ideas – please join us!
Latest News
CCN quarterly meeting (24th November 2024)
Nottingham Clarion Choir are hosting the next CCN quarterly meeting on Sunday 24th November at 7.30 pm. It will be a hybrid Zoom meeting from Nottingham Clarion Choir’s rehearsal venue and the choir will sing a potential song for Bradford SCF, Famba Naye, which Bronwyn, the choir’s MD will then teach.
The meeting agenda and the words and music for Famba Naye can be found on the CCN Meetings page. The Zoom invitation will be sent out soon.
Big Sing for Palestine (16th November 2024)
Wendy Lewis from Côr Cochion attended the Big Sing for Palestine in Cardiff recently. She writes about the event as follows: ‘Charlotte Church, Côr Cochion, Bristol Palestine Alliance choir, Bristol Red Notes, and the Songs of Freedom choir came together from all parts of Wales and England to raise our voices to send a message of peace to a packed audience . Charlotte’s ‘voice of an angel’ filled the beautiful Tabernacl with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
The guest speaker Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Christian Palestinian from Bethlehem, moved the audience to tears with his poignant, but optimistic, talk about the environmental impact of the war on Gaza and his biodiversity projects with children in the midst of war, for which the concert was fundraising.
Côr Cochion, campaigning in Cardiff for peace with justice in the region since their 1994 tour of Palestine and Israel, sang songs from Wales, from South Africa’s anti apartheid era and ‘We Shall Overcome’ from the campaign for civil rights, and the whole audience made the chapel ring to ‘Yma o Hyd’ and ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’.
All around the balcony hung banners with the message – ‘Vigil for Peace’, ‘Stop the Bombing’, ‘Let Gaza Live’ . We hope that message, sent loud and clear from the Tabernacl, reaches those in power.‘
March for Clean Water (3rd November 2024)
Singers from several choirs, including those from Raised Voices, Campaign Chorus and Hope and Anger Singers, joined forces at the March for Clean Water in London on Sunday 3rd November to raise the spirits of people marching from Albert Embankment to a rally in Parliament Square.
Rosemary Snelgar from Raised Voices said that: ‘Although the timing didn’t quite work, and the march arrived at our spot much more quickly than we’d estimated, we all enjoyed it, and people passing did too‘.
The video alongside shows the impromptu choir’s spirited rendition of The River.
Origins of Bella Ciao (October 2024)
Bella Ciao is a standard song in the repertoire of many CCN choirs with words suitably adapted for many different causes but always sung to the same, stirring tune. The Guardian newspaper carried an article recently (12th October) discussing the fascinating history of the song in the context of its recent rendition by left-wing Euro MPs in Strasbourg to greet the visit of the right-wing Hungarian PM, Victor Orban (follow the link below).
Campaign Choirs Network AGM (23rd September 2024)
Sea Green Singers hosted the CCN AGM on Monday 23rd September at 7.30pm. The minutes of this meeting are available on the CCN Meetings page.
Street Choirs Festival 2024 (7th – 9th June 2024)
The 2024 Street Choirs Festival took place in Sheffield recently with over 40 choirs from around the UK participating in busking around the city, performing in the Octagon Theatre and joining together in the Massed Sing.
Huge thanks are owed to Out Aloud, Sheffield Socialist Choir and Carfield Community Choir for organising the festival and to all the participating choirs.
The CCN held a meeting for all member choirs during the Festival, the minutes of which can be found here.
Below are a few photos from the event showing Sheffield Socialists and Liverpool Socialists busking and some Liverpool Socialists showing solidarity:
You can see videos of the five Massed Sing songs here.
Frank Friedmann
It is with great sadness that I post the news that Frank Friedmann, who will be known to many people in the CCN, has died after a short illness. Frank was a stalwart of the bass section of Red Leicester choir for many years and loved singing. He was very aware of the power of song to bring people together and to communicate important messages.
He took part enthusiastically in Red Leicester’s appearances at local rallies, marches and events and was a regular performer with the choir at the Street Choirs Festival.
It was Frank, in fact, who coined the name of the choir – Red Leicester – a tribute not only to his sense of humour but also to his firm belief that the choir’s name should leave no doubt about its credentials. He was, in many ways, the socialist conscience of the choir and often spoke about the need to be clear why we were singing certain songs; he was also not slow to point out if he felt a particular song veered too far from this ethos into mere sentimentality! Adey, a fellow bass, commented that Frank made ‘many astute observations that helped strengthen the political activism within the choir as well as influencing the values of what the choir is really about, and all that before mentioning the friendship he imparted.’
He was also influential in the early days of the Campaign Choirs Network and Lotte Reimer remembers that ‘Frank was at the founding meeting of the Campaign Choirs Network and he was instrumental in setting up the website. He was a real rock and a lovely human being. I am so sorry he is no longer with us and my thoughts go to his wife and family.’
Frank encompassed many strong beliefs – socialism, internationalism, environmentalism, humanism – but was above all else a great human being with a passion for life, a love of his fellows and a wonderful sense of humour. He will be greatly missed by many and, in particular, his wife Eleanor and his family. Our thoughts are with them at this sad time.
In memory of Frank, Eleanor asks that donations be made to the Morning Star and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Lancaster branch).
Martin Pennington (CCN website administrator, ex-Red Leicester, and friend of Frank).
Melodic Minds and Rhythm Sticks
An ex-member of Red Leicester choir, Nathaniel Ford-Francis, is currently conducting research for his PhD at Leeds University. He is investigating the experiences of disabled musicians (including singers) and he would like to make contact with any singers with disabilities within the CCN willing to take part.
If you are interested in participating in this research (entitled Melodic Minds and Rhythm Sticks), please contact him directly on his email at ss17nff@leeds.ac.uk. You will find further information about the research below:
Song in support of Gaza ceasefire
The Disquiet Rascals have been busy again and written a song in support of the call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Refaat Alareer was a Palestinian writer, academic and activist who was killed in Gaza in December 2023.
Kelvin Mason writes: ‘We have arranged the poem “If I must die” by Refaat Alareer as a song and made a video to accompany it. This is our small contribution to the global campaign for a ceasefire in Gaza. We have a choral arrangement of this achingly beautiful song.’
Boff Whalley’s Guardian article (23rd March 2024)
Boff Whalley (from Leeds Commoners Choir) has written a splendid article for the Guardian (23rd March 2024) bemoaning the way in which populist politicians often commandeer songs from the left for their own ends but, whisper it quietly, this is merely because they have no decent songs of their own!
You can read his article here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/22/my-band-hit-tubthumping-is-the-latest-working-class-anthem-to-be-co-opted-by-populist-politicians
Call for singers!
CCN has been contacted by Aislinn Dunne who is part of a local group organising events for Medical Aid for Palestine. She says ‘We will be collecting in Wanstead High Street on Saturday 23rd March and hosting a family fun day at Christchurch Hall on April 28th. Some singers would be wonderful support. Would your group be interested?‘
Please contact Aislinn at aislinndunne@hotmail.com if you are interested.
A Message To You, Rishi! (February 2024)
Tamsin Hunkin from Hope Sings Eternal in Lincolnshire gathered an impromptu choir of local people to sing a defiant song with a clear message for our PM. The recording is in support of the efforts of SOS Biscathorpe to persuade the government not to permit oil drilling in the beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds. You can see the tuneful results of their efforts in the video below.
Tamsin says, ‘The choir were totally amazing, so much enthusiasm and gusto! It was heart warmingly positive. Have a listen and do consider sharing it if you feel able to do so! ‘
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTZVkjqBVY
Songs of Freedom for Palestine (24th February 2024)
This event is the culmination of Charlotte Church’s plan for a mega-choir to sing in support of the struggle for freedom in Palestine. Wendy Lewis from Côr Cochion writes: ‘We will have 4 workshops in Cardiff in preparation: on Tuesday 6th February in the Bangladesh Centre, Machen Place, Riverside, Cardiff; and on Fridays 9th, 16th and 23rd February in St Andrews URC, Pen-Y-Lan Rd, Cardiff CF24 3PB (off Wellfield Rd).
Due to restrictions in capacity, tickets are available from Ticketsource on a first come first served basis (not at door as there is a limit of 100 singers and 300 audience at the moment for the Hall).’
The Fête of Britain (22nd – 25th February 2024)
This is a four-day celebration of collaboration and imagination in the face of the great challenges of our time, taking place in central Manchester at Factory International and featuring plays, workshops, people’s assemblies, talks and performances. You can find out further details here.
In addition, Leeds Commoners Choir will be performing at the event and has invited choirs and singers to be part of ‘a large choir of singers from around the north to put into song the ideas underpinning the festival‘. PLEASE NOTE THAT, DUE TO THE LIMITED CAPACITY OF THE REHEARSAL ROOM, THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED.
Campaign Choirs out on the streets (December 2023)
A couple of Campaign Choirs were out on the streets at the weekend, braving the cold and wintry weather singing to raise money for good causes. Well done to all involved!
In Oxford, Sea Green Singers were busking in aid of Medical Aid for Palestine, an organisation which provides medical and health programmes to Palestinians, and raised just over £260. Clearly, their services are much-needed just now.
Meanwhile in Leicester, Red Leicester Choir was also out raising £185 for Women’s Aid, an organisation providing accommodation and support services for all victims of domestic abuse and violence.
Gaza conflict – a response through song (October 2023)
Penny Stone has written a song in response to the terrible events unfolding in Gaza. Her song is called ‘The Children Are Always Ours (Not In My Name)’ and Protest in Harmony recently sang it at a vigil. Penny takes her inspiration from the words of James Baldwin who wrote that ‘The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality‘. This is a powerful indictment of the actions of both parties to the present conflict.
You can view her version of the song through the link below and, by scrolling back to the start of the video, you can learn how to sing it.
Right to work call for refugees
Penny Stone and the Maryhill Integration Network’s ‘MIN Voices’ group have written and recorded a song – The Right To Work (Lift The Ban) – calling on refugees to be given the right to work. As Penny says, ‘I know more than a few people who have been waiting on the UK asylum process cogs to slowly turn for more than 10 years, and they have not been allowed to work for all of this time. It’s absolutely nuts.’. We all agree with that because, as the song says, ‘The right to work is the right to freedom‘.