A choir piece inspired by birds, migration and Bahraini poetic traditions was performed recently in a British city as part of a multilingual musical initiative to empower asylum-seekers in the UK.
The lyrics to the piece Songbirds were written by Bahraini poet Ali Al Jamri, in collaboration with members of the Bradford Friendship Choir, most of whom are refugees. The piece was commissioned by community choral project Voices Weaving.
The song was set to soulful tunes by composer and musical conductor Michael Betteridge, who is also the initiative’s co-director, as one of eight ‘co-created’ choir pieces produced within the past year.
The project selects a poet and pairs them with a community choir or a vocal collective, bringing them together to create a new, expressive song which narrates their stories and reflects their perspectives.
“While we were in the collaborative workshop, an Iraqi participant came up with a line that became the starting point for the poem,” Mr Al Jamri told the GDN.
“The sentence, ‘we used to imitate the sounds of birds’, struck me as being nearly perfect in capturing the spirit of the group.
“The bird carries a lot of metaphors, some of them are quite obvious: melody, singing, migration, but I didn’t want to make it too cliché, so I instead chose to focus on nostalgia in the poem.
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“I used my personal experience – the sense of nostalgia I feel when I’m away from Bahrain – to help inform the emotions evoked in the song.”
The Manchester-based high school teacher from Bani Jamra explained that the poem was inspired by classical Bahraini verse, in which birds are a common feature.
“A lot of the traditional Bahraini folk poets of old were farmers,” the 33-year-old said.
“They found their rhythm, which they invented to pass the time, from birdsong. Birdsong is influential in the development of Bahraini poetry, and I was able to express my background through that.”
Mr Al Jamri particularly identifies with the white-cheeked Bulbul, Bahrain’s national bird
Voices Weaving matched Mr Al Jamri up with the choral group from Bradford, most of whose members could not speak English – and the initiative required an artist who could work across both English and Arabic.
Mr Al Jamri worked with the choir over a number of creative writing sessions, where they discussed ideas they were invested in and wanted to explore.
The group of Arabic and Farsi speakers first began by making lists of interesting vocabulary, both English and their home language, about nostalgia, and suggested ideas and verses to add to the poem.
Mr Al Jamri added that it was challenging to work with the Farsi speakers, but that through Google Translate and body language, the groups were able to meet halfway and figure things out together.
“It was really fun, an incredible challenge, helped me develop my work, and create something that was honestly very joyful for everyone involved,” he said.
Songbirds being performed by the Bradford Friendship Choir as part of the Bradford UK City of Culture 2025
“The main objective of the Bradford Friendship Choir is to support asylum-seekers and refugees, and provide something to do in the late afternoon – a warm cup of tea, a little bit of food and a little bit of humanity.”
Composer Mr Betteridge, who is one of the leaders of the project, facilitated the workshops and came up with the music which the poem was sung to.
“It was a real delight to collaborate in this way,” Mr Betteridge told the GDN.
“As a composer I’ve worked with many languages before, but this was my first time working with Arabic and Farsi texts.”
The conductor added that he found it more difficult than working with European languages, but that the group, himself and Mr Al Jamri were able to make sense of the words and music together.
“I am very proud of the project as it allows choirs and singing groups from different backgrounds and experiences to come together to not just sing, but be part of a creative process, devising words, music and images that are true to their lived experience.”
Mr Betteridge stated that the collaboration provided an opportunity to celebrate linguistic variety, and that the 16 songs created as part of the initiative were a testament to the diversity of England.
In February, a short film created by Mr Al Jamri premiered as part of the British Textile Biennial. The poem-turned-movie, The Legend of the Looms, combines Bahraini poetic traditions, the still-surviving craft of weaving in Bani Jamra and British labour history.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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