Beautiful and Strong
What's music got to do with it?
The international trade in human beings is a scandal and a source of shame in a supposedly civilised world. In the UK modern day slavery is growing, some estimate by more than 10% a year. It affects men and women. Boys and men are trafficked for labour and for the indoor marijuana farms. Girls and women are trafficked for domestic servitude or for the sex industry. They are being bought by people in the UK, people who live amongst us.
When they escape from, or are rescued from, these traumatising experiences the realities of life in the UK can still look bleak. Flashbacks, fear of being recaptured, isolation, depression, mistrust of others and reluctance to imagine a better future are all common and are all-consuming.
At Pan Intercultural Arts we use the arts to bring imagination, reflection and joy back into people's lives, and our Amies Freedom Choirs, partly funded by Youth Music are a vital part of this movement of Arts for Social Change.
Young women who have been trafficked into the UK can join our choirs in London and Kent for a year and then move on to our Alumnae Choir, with more performances and no end date.
I have just been talking to a participant who told me....
"Singing is my safe space. Singing is where I make friends" and went on to say how, when she joined the group, she was timid, alone, friendless but the Amies Freedom Choir has given her strength and confidence, not just in those sessions but in the whole of her life. She loves songs of freedom, and the choir sings plenty of those from all over the world but one song has become the anthem. It started from a simple song taught by one of the participants with simple repetitive (non English) words, but was soon taken up and changed by the participants who forged the words into "We are Amies, Beautiful and Strong"
You can hear it hear on the link and I hope one day you will see them singing it. It is transformative.
There is lots of great academic and medical research into the benefits of singing, from the cardiovascular effects to the stimulation of serotonin and oxytocin production which alleviate stress and stimulate boding. But the greatest evidence I have seen is when the Amies Freedom Choir, after months of learning and singing, of socialising and creating, took to the stage as part of a remarkable performance at The Old Bailey. This group of diverse women , recovering from deep trauma, entered and owned the high level platform where white male judges have sat for generations and lifted the roof with songs from around the world in a space more associated with complex legal English. In doing so they challenged so many norms, moved so many hearts and proved to themselves that they are part of, and can give back to, this new society in which they find themselves.
They were beautiful.
They were strong.
What's music got to do with it?
Everything!
