SING A RING AROUND LONDON – THE B.O.S.N.I.A. WALK
AUGUST 15TH AND 16TH 2009
In November 2008 our musical director, Sarah Jewell, travelled to Sarajevo to meet and sing with the extraordinary inter faith choir Pontanima. Formed in 1996 after five years under siege and hundreds of thousands of deaths, Pontanima decided to do the unthinkable - create a choir whose members were made up of a every kind of faith represented in the city; Muslims, Jews, Orthodox and Catholic Christians and those who professed no spiritual allegiance, except to music. Now this internationally acclaimed award-winning choir sing sing a mixed repertoire, together, in each others sacred spaces. Here in the UK we sense divisions deepening and want to explore the role our music making can play in challenging falsehoods and promoting dialogue. Songlines, whose primary focus is cultural rather than spiritual, can bring a new kind of multiculturalism to Pontanima, reaching a potentially more varied audience and so an exciting collaborative project began to take shape between the two choirs -we acknowledge that we have so much to learn from each other. The musical directors have visited each other twice to teach, to teach, share and plan the project that culminates in Pontanima’s first visit to London in July 2010. For this phase a huge amount of public subsidy will be required. In the meantime Songlines will raise their own money through savings, sponsored events, workshops, performances, boot sales, cake bakes, busking to take ourselves to Bosnia this September to work with Pontanima, give free joint performances in Sarajevo, Mostar and Trebinje and hold workshops in special schools and community centres. We have no funding so we are paying for our own flights but we need help with transport, accommodation, guide, administration and translation services.
Our most ambitious undertaking will be to walk the Capital Ring, a 75 mile ring around London, singing in relay to raise money and awareness. We have 15 sections and 23 walkers so far dedicated to giving their whole weekend to the event, beginning at 6am Saturday 15th culminating in a wild and wonderful al fresco performance at 8pm in Highgate on Sunday 16th ALL WELCOME.
We need your help in several ways
1. You could sponsor us; a little or a lot, to complete the 75 mile walk in 36 hrs
2. You could come to the performance at the end & put lots of money in the bucket
3. You could walk with us to raise money, laughter and companionship; for the casual walker it’s an amazing route through some of London’s loveliest places and for serious walkers, join the night walk or the brave souls attempting the whole thing!
4. You could refresh walkers with food, drink and cheers, as they pass by your area.
5. You could alert the press/ your local church /community etc to this unique event
and help spread the word around London.
A detailed map and times will be available shortly on this website, as well as a one-click donation facility if you’d like to help us that way.
We welcome your feedback, support and suggestions in any form and hope that you will be able to join us in some way in our most exciting endeavour ever.