Look, there's a new section on the website – see the list of pages above now includes 'Study', which is exactly that: an academic study of Commoners Choir, its inception and its links to the radical history of singing and walking. It's written by Lisa Taylor (Leeds Beckett University) and is published in Leisure Studies, a collection of academic papers.
It's called
Real change comes from below: walking and singing about places that matter; the formation of Commoners Choir
...and is a detailed look at how this bunch of ne'er-do-wells came together almost three years ago to sing 'Get off your arse!' and walk up some big hills, all in the grand tradition of William Morris, the Clarion Clubs, and countless other determined folk.
C h o i r a l S c r a t c h
7" vinyl EP
Six singalong Protest Songs Released to greet Trump's visit to the UK –
Available now: See SHOP for details
Announcing a special 'True North' event at HYDE PARK PICTURE HOUSE in Leeds, Sunday January 27th at 2pm. This will be a screening of the 'True North' documentary (which went down a storm at Leeds International Film Festival) accompanied by performances from Commoners Choir, SHE Choir (Manchester) and hopefully Stockton's wonderful Infant Hercules choir. The afternoon will culminate in a joint performance by all three choirs of 'True North'. Unfortunately this may be a never-to-be-repeated performance. So grab your family members and grab some tickets for this special event.
See here for more information and for tickets.
Photograph by Sara Barnard
• SEE THE GIG PAGE FOR DETAILs of all sorts of gigs, events & happenings.
We are a strange yet open and inclusive choir that meets in leeds. We come from all over the place, and try to act more like a band or a gang than a choir. we sing our own songs, about the world immediately around us, about inequality, hope, and tory politicians. we have an album available for purchase here on our shop page. for more information about us, about who we are and what we do, look around the website and visit our facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/commonerschoir/
if you're interested in joining the choir, drop us a line via the contact button above.
album available now!
21 tracks of protest, anger, humour and hope –
Commoners Choir's debut album now in the shops.
also available to order direct from our online shop.
a short trailer for our album
we are putting out a series of 'singalong protest' songs designed for marches, demonstrations and protests. Something tuneful to blot out the usual megaphonic chants. Hopefully each song will be accompanied by a film, and we'll try to post up a new song every month from july 2017 for as long as we have energy and time. see the films and hear the songs on the protest page.
happy to say that the commoners choir tour of libraries was a real success (in whatever way you want to measure it). There's a write-up of it here.
(ABOVE) A SHORT FILM by phil moody OF COMMONERS CHOIR'S tour of northern english libraries.
(above) 'mechanical movable type' • a short film of commoners choir's event at leeds central library, november 2016.
'boris johnson' BY COMMONERS CHOIR, february 2016 • FILMING AND EDITING BY PHIL MOODY • SONG WRITTEN BY BOFF WHALLEY, PERFORMED BY COMMONERS CHOIR
'three boats' by commoners choir, october 2015.
song written by boff whalley, performed by commoners choir –animation by josh sutton.
FOR AN ACCOUNT OF THE castleford boat trip, ALONG WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND A SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM OF THE DAY, SEE REHEARSAL/PERFORMANCE.
