The Power of Music

July will witness the unique healing power of music and song when explored in collaboration with those most vulnerable in our society with two very special concerts in Newcastle and Salisbury cathedrals this July.

The Power of Music

An original song released for Refugee Week 2024 will be among those performed at a concert at Newcastle Cathedral highlighting the powerful voices and stories of those seeking sanctuary in the city.

Talented singer-songwriter Bushee’s uplifting track ‘Someday’ was written as part of a three-month series of ‘Stories of Sanctuary’ workshops held at the cathedral led by Citizen Songwriters’ Sam Slatcher.

Originally written in Burmese, Bushee translated ‘Someday’ into English, giving it a new life and connecting his personal journey to the broader experience of seeking sanctuary in the UK.

Bushee is one of eleven ambassadors for Refugee Week 2024. He comes from Myanmar (Burma) and, in pursuit of a career in medicine, he came to the UK for education. The 2021 military coup in Myanmar forced him to seek asylum in the UK.

Since then, he has actively worked alongside various organisations and community groups dedicated to supporting asylum seekers and refugees.

Bushee’s original song is available on Spotify and Apple Music ahead of the Cathedral performance on Thursday 18 July.

Bushee says:

“My song can represent anyone who’s apart from their loved ones… I’m very proud that my song was released for Refugee Week, and I’m so excited that I will get to perform it with the Stories of Sanctuary Choir, thanks to Citizen Songwriters and IMIX UK.”

The Newcastle concert is part of a North East and Yorkshire tour celebrating this year’s Refugee Week theme, ‘Our Home’.

The event will also feature singer-songwriter Sean Cooney from Teesside band The Young’uns. Sean recently collaborated with the Cathedral’s Recovery Church group members to write ‘See Me’ a song highlighting addiction, which will also be performed at the event.

The Newcastle workshops have been coordinated by Citizen Songwriters, who launched ‘Stories of Sanctuary’ at Durham Cathedral in 2018.

Bringing together diverse residents of the city, the project weaved together ancient stories of seeking sanctuary with stories of Syrian refugees recently settled in towns across County Durham.

The project’s music has toured across the UK, including Leicester, Sheffield, Southampton, and the Houses of Parliament, and new songwriting groups have been set up in County Durham and Sunderland. Each set of songs presents new narratives shaped by the group’s location and experiences.

The Revd Canon Peter Dobson of Newcastle Cathedral said:

“As a cathedral that seeks to be a place of Radical Welcome, a safe and brave space for people facing a range of different challenges day in and day out, this project is so exciting and help us, and others, better understand the importance of sanctuary in its many different forms.”

Newcastle Cathedral ‘Our Home’ concert: Thursday 18 July at 7:30pm. Tickets are available on a ‘Give as You Feel’ basis via TicketSource.

Evening Songs returns to Salisbury Cathedral

And following six months of creative workshops and planning, Evening Songs will return to Salisbury Cathedral on Tuesday 2 July for a very special Evensong service.

This ground-breaking project sees special needs students from Exeter House School in Salisbury and choristers from Salisbury Cathedral come together to devise new words and melodies for the traditional Evensong service, created from the young singers’ own experiences and suggestions.

Evening Songs was first created in 2016 and held again in 2019. This year the music and words have been created by students from Exeter House School, Exeter House Vocational Centre, co-farmers from Wilton-based Able Hands Together and choristers from Salisbury Cathedral.

They have been led by musicians Howard Moody, Lynsey Docherty, Mark Padmore and David Halls, who is also organist for the service.

La Folia is a Wiltshire-based music charity that brings together musicians, writers and performers to create new music, in ground-breaking collaborations and performances, under the leadership of Howard Moody. It began devising projects for making music with young people with special needs more than twenty years ago.

Able Hands Together is a community farm, based at Little Wishford Farm, near Salisbury, offering life-changing opportunities for young adults with learning disabilities, teaching skills to aid development and independence.

Howard Moody, Artistic Director of La Folia and creator of Evening Songs, said:

“Since workshops began at the start of this year, there have been many extraordinary experiences. In the very first session with a student at Exeter House, we spoke of what it would be like to walk into the Cathedral at the end of the day and hear music.

“In response, the student started singing his own words and that incredible melody is one of several that feature in the service. It is exciting to be running Evening Songs for the third time and we are looking forward to sharing the new music created by the young students and choristers.”

Evening Songs has had three creative stages. Early workshops at the start of the year were very intimate, with small groups of students or individuals, listening to what everyone had to offer and writing down the musical score. The second stage was to start rehearsing the music, still allowing for new ideas and for the students to find their own individual musical voices. Then, in April, students and Cathedral choristers came together to devise the central part of the service, finally being joined by the lay vicars in final preparations for the service.

Josh Hamblin, Assistant Head Teacher at Exeter House School, said:

“Exeter House has had the privilege of working with La Folia for over a decade and what we have learnt is that the work we do is more than a series of projects; it is a legacy. Evening Songs is beyond compare and I challenge anyone to sit dry-eyed throughout the entire evening. It is passion and joy in its rawest form.”

David Halls, Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral, said:

“Evening Songs spreads the good news about the healing and restorative power which making music together provides, and it is so appropriate that this special project culminates in an act of worship in the breathtaking space of Salisbury Cathedral. Once again it has been a privilege to se the results of what the Cathedral choristers and pupils from Exeter House have created together.”

Evening Songs takes place on Tuesday 2 July at 5.30pm in Salisbury Cathedral. Everyone is welcome to join the special service.