Call for singers to join Songs of Exile: a fundraising concert of Hispanic and Palestinian music to raise money for Syrian refugees

Vox Holloway, our North London community choir that has raised over £50,000 for charities around the world since its inception in 2009, will begin rehearsing Songs of Exile on Tuesday, 17 September for a concert to be given on Sunday, 1 December at St. Luke’s Church, Holloway, Islington. Profits from the concert will go toward helping Syrian refugees.

We invite interested singers to join us, and all others to mark the concert date in their diaries. There are no auditions and you don’t have to be able to read music: everyone is welcome to join. We will be singing mostly in English. There will be a few short sections in Arabic, Spanish or Catalan but all quite easy to learn, and transcriptions and recordings will be provided.

Songs of Exile will feature a new composition, Cry Palestine, written and performed by Palestinian musician Reem Kelani, British composer Harvey Brough, and British playwright Justin Butcher, who is also Vox Holloway’s founder and artistic director. Cry Palestine will feature songs from Kelani’s CD Sprinting Gazelle: Palestinian Songs from the Motherland and the Diaspora, and will combine traditional Palestinian songs with new musical settings of poems, telling the Palestinian story through a celebration of its culture.

Alongside Cry Palestine, Catalan musician Clara Sanabras will perform a new choral setting of songs from her latest album, Scattered Flight: Songs of Spanish Exile. The songs explore impressions of Spanish exile through the ages in the form of traditional songs and poems, new arrangements of ancient Judeo-Spanish ballads, and new songs in English, Catalan and Spanish.

You are welcome to attend our first rehearsal, on Tuesday, 17 September to try us out and see if you’d like to join for the term. This first meeting is an open event for people to come along and be introduced to the music and the people involved, do some singing, and have a drink to meet the other choir members. Details below.

What: Songs of Exile: a two-hour concert featuring Palestinian singer/composer Reem Kelani and Catalan singer/composer Clara Sanabras. Sanabras will perform selections from her new album, Scattered Flight: Songs of Spanish Exile, set for soloist and choir by composer Harvey Brough. Kelani will perform a new composition for soloist and choir, commissioned by Vox Holloway and featuring songs from her album Sprinting Gazelle.

• Who: Vox Holloway, a no-audition community choir with a fundraising element. Vox Holloway is open to all: there are no auditions and members are not required to have previous experience of choral singing, belong to any particular faith or live in any particular postcode.
• Why: We are raising funds for the aid of Syrian refugees.
• Where: Rehearsals take place at St. Luke’s Church, Hillmarton Road, Islington, London N7 9RE
• When: First rehearsal is Tuesday, 17 September, 2013, starting at 7:15. Rehearsals thereafter are every Tuesday evening, 7:30 – 9:30.
• How much: Singers are asked to make a voluntary donation of £30 to pay rehearsal costs. Singers also pay for their music, which is supplied at rehearsal and should be about £15. Singers who cannot afford either fee can pay whatever they can afford.

Questions? Contact Vox Holloway using the form on the right.

Special offer: Clara Sanabras will be launching her new EP, Scattered Flight: Songs of Spanish Exile, on 20 September at Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG. If you’d like to hear many of the songs that we will perform with her, please let us know at the first rehearsal, or email us. If there is a group of six or more who would like to attend, we can offer a 20% discount on the advertised price. Hurry, hurry…