THE POWER OF THE LOCAL CHOIR: WORLD SONG AS A PATHWAY TO COMMUNITY

Why do local choirs matter? What draws us to sing songs from other cultures?

In this conversation, ethnomusicologist Caroline Bithell reflects on her research into the UK’s Natural Voice movement - a network of community choirs, singing workshops and camps, and an ever-growing international community of amateur singers.

What happens when ordinary voices sing together? Why have songs from non-Western and folk traditions become so central to these practices?

Drawing on research with singers and traditions in places such as Georgia (Caucasus) and beyond, this conversation explores singing as a social and emotional interaction as much as a musical one. It opens new perspectives on participation, the democratisation of voice, the power of harmony, and how singing together builds community and intercultural understanding.

Dr. Caroline Bithell is Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on traditional singing, polyphony, and community music-making, with particular attention to Corsica and Georgia. She is the author of Transported by Song: Corsican Voices from Oral Tradition to World Stage (2007) and A Different Voice, A Different Song: Reclaiming Community through the Natural Voice and World Song (2014). 

She has recently completed the manuscript for a new book on traditional music and dance in Georgia, with support from the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy,  and is actively involved in community choirs and international singing workshops and camps.