Who we are and what we sing.
Raised Voices choir has been singing on the streets of London and elsewhere since 1986. Our members share a belief in social justice and a love of singing. Some of our 20-25 members are active in a variety of groups and campaigns: climate action groups; feminist organisations; anti-racist groups; community campaigns; political parties; refugee groups; the peace movement; and so on. We come together to sing songs that reflect these concerns (but we are not affiliated to any political party).
Our songs come from a range of musical traditions, including those from other cultures and languages, and some are written by members of the choir. Anyone in the choir can suggest songs and we have a rich history to draw on.
Where we sing
Raised Voices at the Justice for Palestine demo, June 2021
We are essentially a street choir – we like to sing at demonstrations and rallies and sometimes we busk to raise money for a cause. We love the energy of singing for campaigns that we support and being with others who share our beliefs, and we hope to offer some entertainment to fellow demonstrators and passers-by as well! On demonstrations we encourage others to sing with us by giving out song-sheets and leaflets explaining who we are.
We are in contact with like-minded choirs across London and the whole of the UK and sometimes join with them to make a bigger, stronger sound for major national demonstrations.
We also perform at political events and benefit concerts and usually come together with other choirs at the annual Street Choirs Festival.
You can find out more about the types of event we sing at on the Events page.
How we run the choir
We run the choir as a collective with shared decision-making, and some members take on responsibilities such as membership secretary, treasurer, song librarian, etc. Anyone in the choir can take on these roles but there is no obligation to do so. We encourage shadowing and job-sharing to help newer members to gain experience.
We have a paid musical leader, Jake, who teaches us songs and provides recordings to help us learn, as well as running our rehearsals and conducting us.
Members say...
Raised Voices at National Demo for Palestine, May 2021
"Raised Voices is more than a choir—it's a community of like-minded people."
"There's nothing like singing for politics to make activism fun."
"[I joined] partly because I wanted a channel for my politics. I was getting very frustrated cursing television sets and not actually doing anything."
"Before [joining] Raised Voices, I would go on demos out of a sense of outrage [..] and needing to express my dissent. But I didn't have a particular bunch of people to go with and I was longing to sing."
Find frequently asked questions and their answers on our Contact page and/or read our Useful Information for people thinking of joining us.