Freedom in Song

In March 2022 a group of courageous singers gathered together united by artist and creative facilitator Liz Ikamba who worked to bring words to life through song. Adapting song round ‘A Million Nightingales’ which was originally composed by American-Jewish composer Linda Hirschhorn and adapted from the writings of Palestinian poet and writer Mahmoud Darwish, the group developed a piece that speaks to individual, creative and cultural freedom and expression.

Following a four-part narrative that reflects on the crucial role this plays in human relationship with the natural environment, the piece begins and duly ends ‘in the forest’, and incorporates both field-recorded and human-generated woodland sounds.

With workshops and meetings before the recording session, Liz and the singers, many who are not professional, developed sounds and melodies that is both poignant and mesmerising at the same time. 

Together with Jim Pinchen overseeing the recording sessions the singers had their voices heard so that Jim can create a composition that reaches to the heart of what it is to connect together.