Links

Music Resources

The Natural Voice Network is the teaching network that I belong to. Here you will be able to find teachers, groups and workshops offered with a similar ethos to me in other parts of Scotland and the UK.

Rise Up and Sing is the website hosted by Annie Patterson and Peter Blood, who edited the seminal ‘Rise Up Singing’ group songbook. They are in the process of

Tobar An Dualchais is the digital archive of the School of Scottish Studies. There are songs and stories and voices of experiences long past. It is Awesome!

The Alan Lomax Archive has been recently digitised and is an AMAZING resource. Prepare to lose hours down a rabbit hole of wonderful voices…

Smithsonian Folkways holds the archive of the Folkways label, who recorded all sorts of unusual traditional and folk musics in the twentieth century, well worth scrolling through.

Mudcat is a huge folk and traditional song database, lyrics and notation as well as really interesting forum discussion between folk music geeks.

Lullabies

Mama Lisa’s World hosts a huge resource of children’s songs from around the world.

Lullaby Project curated by Opera North. Over 50 lullabies shared by different performers.

Lullabies from Around the World is a set of 42 animations showing the stories of lullabies from around the world.

Radical Song Resources

Anti War Songs is a collection of pacifist and antimilitarist songs from all over the world and of any time, based on free contributions by readers and collaborators.

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!

Protest In Harmony have an extensive catalogue of radical songs (with sung parts, notation and lyrics for most of them) on our website.

Greenham Women’s Songbook (a short one!) courtesy of the Guardian, with some archive recordings here.

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song documentary (full film on youtube)

Bernice Johnson Reagon ‘the songs are free’ 5 minute clip from documentary discussing music, protest and holding space.

Sweet Honey In The Rock sing ‘Ella’s Song’ named for Ella Baker, civil rights organizer and great empowerer of others.

Joan Baez: Rebel Icon (short MTV documentary)

Woody Guthrie Song lyrics and information.

Henry’s Songbook includes plenty of European and American Radical songs amongst the folk songs.

Peace, Social and Environmental Activism

Peace News is the newspaper for the UK grassroots peace and justice movement. I write a radical music column for them.

Faslane Peace Camp maintains permanent opposition to the Weapons of Mass Destruction near the base. They welcome short and long term visitors as well as supplies!

Trident Ploughshares is a campaign to disarm the UK Trident nuclear weapons system in a nonviolent, open, peaceful and fully accountable manner.

Scottish CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and London based CND UK campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons. iCan is the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons.

CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade) work to end the international arms trade. There are local groups meeting in many places throughout the UK.

WILPF (The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) is the oldest women’s peace organisation in the world, founded during WW1. WILPF UK are active feminist peace women, and we have a branch in Scotland.

Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse.

The UK Student Climate Network is a group of mostly under 18s taking to the streets to protest the government’s lack of action on the Climate Crisis. International Student strike resources can be found at Fridays For Future.

Artists for Palestine All artists and choirs are welcome to add their name to the pledge: “We support the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality. In response to the call from Palestinian artists and cultural workers for a cultural boycott of Israel, we pledge to accept neither professional invitations to Israel, nor funding, from any institutions linked to its government until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”

BDS Movement and Who Profits help to identify Israeli companies that profit from the Occupation of Palestine.

ICAHD (The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition) is a nonviolent, direct-action group dedicated to ending the Israeli Occupation and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

EAPPI runs a voluntary international human rights observer programme in Palestine and Israel. Their eyewitness accounts are very reliable. Some of my articles from my time as and EAPPI can be found here.

Freemuse defends the right to artistic freedom worldwide. They advocate and take action to free artists, change repressive laws and fight censorship. Music Freedom Day seeks to highlight the plight of artists worldwide whilst celebrating the human right to musical expression.

The South Sinai Foundation are a small grassroots charity run by friends of mine. What they do makes a difference. Please support them if you can.

Random Things of Interest (mostly music…)

Bobby McFerrin ‘plays’ the audience.

Evelyn Glennie on listening.

Pete Seeger and Jean Ritchie playing ‘Jennie Jenkins’

Elizabeth Cotton on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe playing in Manchester, England, 1964

Buffy Sainte–Marie rocks the mouth bow on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest.