Caroline Bithell

Sat 15 February 1.30pm - 3.30pm, The Queens Hall
£12

Caroline is professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Manchester and a member of the Natural Voice Practitioners’ Network. Her book A Different Voice, A Different Song: Reclaiming Community Through the Natural Voice and World Song explores the intersecting histories of the natural voice and community choir movements and the explosion of interest among amateur singers in singing songs from different cultures. Caroline’s workshops draw on her deep understanding of the function and meaning of music-making in different parts of the world, together with her long experience as a choir and workshop leader. She has a particular interest in oral traditions of multi-part singing and has spent many years studying singing styles and repertoires in Corsica and Georgia. The songs in her workshops will be taught by ear and will be spiced with stories from her travels.

SONGS FROM GEORGIA

This workshop will feature three-part songs from Georgia (Caucasus), offering a taste of the unexpectedly rich variety of regional singing styles that have been preserved in this extraordinary land that sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. You will also learn something of the importance of these songs in Georgia’s post-Soviet cultural renaissance and the part played by this ancient heritage in the lives of a new generation of singers in the 21st century. Caroline has spent many blissful summers travelling around the country studying with village singers as well as working with musicians in the capital, Tbilisi, where she spent a sabbatical in 2015. She looks forward to sharing her passion for all things Georgian!