Singing for Our Lives

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; the Campaign Choirs Writing Collective is a part of that network.

The book intends to inspire the reader to engage with this world: to find out more, to join a choir in their community, to enlist their local street choir to support campaigns for social change and, more generally, to mobilize artistic creativity in progressive social movements.

It is an introduction to street choirs and their history, exploring origins in and connections with other social movements, for example the Workers Education Association, the Clarion movement, Big Flame and the Social Forum movement. The book identifies the political nodes where choir histories intersect, notably Greenham Common, the Miners' Strike, anti-apartheid and Palestinian struggles. The title of the book is taken from a song by the respected American musician and activist Holly Near, and is popular in the repertoire of many street choirs. Exploring the role of street choirs in political culture, Singing For Our Lives introduces this neglected world to a wider public, including activists and academics.

Signing for Our Lives also elaborates the personal stories and experiences of people who participate in street choirs, and the unique social practices created within them. The book tells the important, if often overlooked story, of how making music can contribute to non-violent, just and sustainable social transitions.

The Campaign Choirs Writing Collective are Kelvin Mason, Jenny Patient and Lotte Reimer. Kelvin Mason is a writer and researcher with a background in social movement activism and academia, particularly participatory action research (PAR). Jenny Patient is an environmental campaigner with Sheffield Climate Alliance, engaged in action research on the future of energy-intensive industries in Yorkshire and the Humber. Her background is in teaching, community development and project management, and she loves to sing in the streets and on actions and is currently working on a Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield, UK. Lotte Reimer is an activist, singer, engineer and an environmental management consultant with a keen interest in promoting song as a political tool. She is a prime mover in the Campaign Choirs Network, a Natural Voice Practitioner, choir leader and member of the Natural Voice Network. Gavin Brown is Professor of Political Geography & Sexualities at the University of Leicester and Campaign Choirs Writing Collective academic adviser and editor. He has researched a range of LGBTQ social movements and has recently written a book about young people's involvement in anti-apartheid solidarity activism in London in the 1980s.

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