South Yorkshire Raises the Flag for Palestine
29th November 2024 – UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
After many weeks of campaigning, negotiation and advocacy all four South Yorkshire district councils raised the Palestinian flag on 29th November.
Tadhamon Singers sang to mark the occasion in Sheffield and Rotherham. The deeply moving ceremonies marked local support and respect for the Palestinian people who have suffered 76 years of oppression and occupation.
After many weeks of campaigning, negotiation and advocacy all four South Yorkshire district councils raised the Palestinian flag on 29th November.
Tadhamon Singers sang to mark the occasion in Sheffield and Rotherham. The deeply moving ceremonies marked local support and respect for the Palestinian people who have suffered 76 years of oppression and occupation.
♪ Raise the flag of Palestine, let it fly, freely in the sky ♪
Women’s Scholarship Fund AGM
19th November 2024
Sheffield Women’s Scholarship Fund, a local charity, is rather special to a number of Tadhamon singers who have been involved since its inception eighteen years ago so we were delighted to be invited to open the AGM with a special selection of their songs.
Ably led by Carolyn Leary and Leni Solinger. our set of of four songs was chosen to reflect the current situation in Palestine, especially the devastation that is happening because of the genocide in Gaza and the sorrow and anger that we feel. We opened with ‘Kuluna Ghaza’ (We are all Gaza) written by Janet Wood, our musical director. This is our love song to all the people who live there and are showing remarkable resilience despite being displaced multiple times and now living in the freezing depths of winter in tents that are rapidly being destroyed by the weather as well as the Israeli army.
‘We Will Not Be Silenced’, by Ali Burns and represents our anger at what is happening to the people of Palestine. Tadhamon Singers are determined to continue to tell the Palestinian story loud and clear without being intimidated by those who try to silence voices speaking up for Palestine.
‘Oh Palestine’, by American folk singer Seth Staton Watkins tells the history of the land of Palestine in the last 77 years and pledges support for the people of Palestine to be free.
‘I Stand With You’ again written by Janet Wood, is a beautiful song reflecting the horror of the ongoing oppression and violence experienced by Palestinians and expresses our solidarity with them.
The meeting was very well attended and included representatives of some of the groups who also raise money for the Fund from other areas of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The audience were very moved by our performance, some were reduced to tears and one person said to us afterwards that “Listening to you sing makes me feel stronger.”
We were followed by a very moving talk by Mona Al Farra, who shared her inspirational vision for continuing education for the women of Gaza in the most horrendous circumstances. She spoke of some of the students being supported by the Fund who had been killed during this last year and how all the universities and schools have been completely destroyed. Yet these young women will not be defeated and they are exploring ways that their education can be completed online and how the practical assessments needed for some of the degrees can be pursued. Sara Gowan, the long time secretary of the Fund, read some of the personal stories written by students in both Gaza and the West Bank telling of how difficult they found it being transferred to online teaching and not being able to meet with their fellow students. These also moved not only some of the listeners but also Sara to tears!
Shut Elbit Down
November 24
Tadhamon joined a coach-load of people from Sheffield to add our voices to the monthly protest outside the Israeli owned Elbit Systems UAV weapons factory in Shenstone. It is here that engines are made for the military drones that fly continually over the skies of Gaza, which are used for surveillance and attacks, and linked to documented war crimes. The Sheffield contingent included the XR Sheffield Five Rivers Rising samba band, whose compulsive rhythms added vigour to the lively protest of about 300 people. Once again the factory had been closed for the day in anticipation of the action.
Tadhamon sang at the factory gates, handing out song sheets and encouraging people to join in with us, and then sang again on the coach going home. In these increasingly dark times it feels so important to add the power of song to our protests as we fight to Shut Elbit Down.
♪ Elbit you’ve got blood on your hands
Elbit systems you can’t hide
We charge you with genocide ♪
South Yorkshire Pensions Protest
12th September 2024
The recent protest at the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (12th September) brought people from Barnsley, Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham together at the quarterly meeting at the Barnsley HQ to demand that they
Stop supporting the arms trade
Stop investing in companies arming Israel
End complicity with Israeli genocide and apartheid
Tadhamon members sang songs focussed on these demands and encouraged others to join in. This was a good example of a situation where we can really help make an impact. We brought energy and creativity to a relatively small protest – which was much more effective than if there had only been people chanting. It was great to learn that those attending the meeting could hear our message clearly, including the CEO of Border to Coast the investment company which handles the pensions funds.
Mohammed from Rotherham – “Thank you for singing. It really had an impact on the people inside and I really liked the Bella Ciao rendition.”
Bella Ciao – South Yorkshire Pensions – WE DEMAND DIVESTMENT NOW
small park Big Run – 23rd June 2024
On 23rd June, Tadhamon sang at the Small Park Big Run, an annual fundraising event and celebration of Palestinian culture and resilience held in Meersbrook Park, Sheffield, supporting women’s education and children’s health and play in Palestine. Spanning twenty-four hours from noon Saturday to noon on Sunday, participants are invited to run or walk laps of the park for as long as they are able.
The organisers described the event this year as “an inspiring mix of celebration and anger; joy and sadness” on the theme of Land and Food, with 551 registered runners, talks, a solidarity supper, lantern procession, and a Palestinian breakfast. Tadhamon was one of 12 choirs and bands playing around the route to encourage the runners.
Parallel runs are usually organised by our friends in Gaza and the West Bank. We didn’t expect that there would be a run in Gaza this year and were really moved and inspired to receive photos and videos of children running through the rubble carrying their flags. Such amazing spirit!
For the closing ceremony, a live link to Gaza wasn’t possible this year, but we were able to link with Ramallah in the West Bank. After a speech of solidarity by the Deputy Lord Mayor, we joined a massed choir of hundreds for a rendering of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, singing with all our hearts and sending our love and solidarity across the miles in this darkest of years.
Street Choirs Festival
7th – 9th June 2024
From 7th to 9th June the 40th Annual Street Choirs Festival filled Sheffield with music. Tadhamon was one of 45 choirs from around the country, with over 1,000 singers participating in this joyful event. Hosted this year by three local choirs, Sheffield Socialist Choir, Carfield Community Choir and Out Aloud, the theme for the weekend was ‘one song, one dance, one world, one chance’. The words were taken from a song written by Cynthia Cockburn, political activist, academic, writer and member of the London choir Raised Voices for the first climate demo in 2005.
Tadhamon Performance: “We Stand With You”
at Christchurch, Pitsmoor, Sheffield
24th February 2024
More than 150 people turned out on a cold February evening to attend our latest performance of ‘We Stand With You’. The audience listened intently as we gave some of the latest news of people we met on our visit to the West Bank. We updated our audience on the campaigns we had attended during 2023 such as protests against Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit and highlighting the involvement of Barclays Bank who financially support companies like Elbit.
Locally there has been a surge of activity in visiting shops and supermarkets and asking them not to stock Israeli dates grown on Palestinian land in the Jordan valley and also CocaCola which is produced in a factory in one of the oldest and largest colonies/settlements in the West Bank. We sang songs which we had sung at all of these protests and events.
Five of the songs we sang this evening had been written by Janet Wood, our amazing Choir Director. There was a special moment towards the end of the performance as we were singing the penultimate song, ‘I Stand With You’, when the audience themselves stood up, en masse, in solidarity. We sing this song from our hearts to the hearts of Palestinians everywhere but currently we are thinking so much of all the people in Gaza whose bodies are succumbing to the diseases which have begun circulating, emaciated from hunger and with nowhere to shelter. Singing it is always a challenge but this was so unexpected that we almost stopped singing. By the time we had sung our final song, ‘Kuluna Ghaza’ (We are all Gaza) we were wiping away a tear or two.
Following the performance everyone tucked in to the delicious Palestinian food cooked by Musheir El Farra, Chair of Sheffield PSC and from Khan Younis in Gaza. Thanks to the generosity of our audience more than £2500 was raised to send to the Emergency Relief Fund being administered by Sheffield PSC and run by volunteers on the ground around Khan Younis.
Singing for Palestine Workshop
Saturday 3rd February 2024
On 3rd February, fifty enthusiastic singers gathered in Sheffield, to learn songs of solidarity for Palestine, in a workshop hosted jointly by Tadhamon Singers and Sheffield Socialist Choir. The workshop was led by our musical director, Janet Wood, and included a range of songs for street protests and boycott actions, written by a number of activist song-writers from around the country. Two new songs written by Janet, hot off the press, for the Coca Cola boycott, had their world premier.
After the workshop we marched down the road with our flags and banners and joined a noisy demonstration outside Waitrose, who are notorious for stocking Israeli dates and other Israeli produce. Many of the singers slipped inside the shop, and put a number of the songs we had just learned to good use, regaling customers and staff with the importance of buying Palestinian. It has to be said that some of the staff didn’t seem totally entertained and our way round the shop was blocked.
“I loved the whole event, and especially all the cars hooting support as we walked down the road.”
After emerging and doing some more singing with the demo outside, we marched round to Aldi where we repeated the process both inside and outside the store. Janet’s new song, CokeBuster, based on the Ghostbusters song, went down a storm and many customers and staff were smiling.
♫ “We want to express our gratitude and appreciation of the event organised on Saturday. We loved it! Thank you! 4 singers from Nottingham Clarion Choir”.”
We feel that singing adds so much energy, emotion and humour to our actions, and we would be delighted to share the songs with any other groups who would like to use them. Get in touch via our contact form
Supporting the Justice Now Camp outside Sheffield Town Hall
January 2024
Boycott Action – 16th December 2023
Amos Trust Event – Sheffield 5th December 2023
The Amos Trust visited Sheffield on a national Christmas tour to raise support and funds for the West Bank and Gaza. Here are videos of our performance with grateful thanks to Graham Wroe
We were honoured to be invited to be the opening act of the Leeds Palestine Film Festival (https://leedspff.org.uk/) on 18th November.
This inspiring annual festival, which was formally opened this year by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, has a varied programme of events which aims to shine a light on the hidden stories of Palestinians, ‘providing context which can help to illuminate the root causes of the present violence, and develop responses grounded in understanding and care for other.’
Our afternoon singing workshop was attended by 45 enthusiastic singers, learning songs from our expanding repertoire.
The evening performance was our first since the terrible carnage and destruction in the region began, and was the premiere of our updated set, written from our hearts, with new songs from Janet to reflect our feelings about what is happening in Gaza, the West Bank and across the region. It was emotional for us, and we felt so much connection with our audience who clearly felt very moved by our performance .
Here are some of their responses:
“I want to thank you, but thank you doesn’t quite cut it how I feel. I was feeling hopeless, what could I do? I’m going to sign up to join Palestine Solidarity Campaign.”
“Thank you for taking the trouble to learn the Arabic words in your songs. That means so much, and for creating a safe space for me as an Arab woman”
“Thank you all again for your beautiful harmony and the beauty of your activism through song. I am deeply moved and grateful to you for all that you do.”
“The workshop and performance were wonderfully well received, and I think really did meet an important need, giving collective expression to what people feel at this time.” Frances Bernstein, festival co-director.
Chesterfield – Fund-raising dinner for Gaza
On 7th October, Tadhamon attended a fundraising dinner for Gaza organised by Chesterfield PSC.
We sang eight songs including “Baktub” much to the delight of a group of Syrian families in the audience – a lot of flag waving, clapping and ‘la la la ing.’ We also provided song sheets so that the audience could join in with some of the songs. There was a vigorous bout of “Irmi Imsic”(Throw Catch)with the Syrian children who had far more energy than we did.
For our last song we performed “Justice for Palestine” and several of the children joined us on stage to wave their flags. Afterwards, many people told us how much they had enjoyed the singing and thanked us for our support.All in all, a very enjoyable evening.
Oh – and the food was wonderful too!
Nablus – Sheffield Live Stream
“a fabulous display and sharing of cultures“
Friday 22nd September saw an ambitious joint venture between PalFest Sheffield and SEEDS Association for Development and Culture in Nablus. Despite being invaded the night before, our Nablus friends presented some of their outstanding young musicians, alternating with our Sheffield venue sharing a varied programme celebrating musical culture across the two cities. Working collaboratively, the concert was live-streamed in both venues and to a wider global audience. The purpose was to fund-raise for the development of a co-working space for Nablus young people. In Sheffield, we were pleased to share the stage with the One World Choir, Club Shefficana, Safa, a young Bengali singer and musician, and Mahammed Zankawi, a brilliant Kuwaiti violinist. Interspersed with the music were many messages of solidarity including the voices of young people in Nablus. The concert ended with a rousing singalong to ‘Justice for Palestine’ led by Janet and Tadhamon.
Toby Mallinson, Green Councillor for Hillsborough and National Education Union Sheffield Joint Secretary said;
“The event was inspirational … It highlighted the deep cultural heritage of the Palestinian people despite the efforts of the Israeli Government, army and settlers to erase it through their system of Apartheid and oppression.”
A fabulous £3000 raised so far .… For anyone who would like to make a donation, please follow this link.
Singing in the Garden
Tadhamon Singers sang at the annual fundraising garden party organised by Nottingham PSC on the 30th July. It was a very successful afternoon. People really enjoyed our singing. We were able to talk about solidarity actions at Elbit and JCB. There was great interest in inviting our choir to do our full presentation in Nottingham in the near future.
Angie, one of the organisers, said “Thank you so much for coming and for the wonderful choir performance. We raised around £900 which is great.”
Tadhamon sings with Bradford Voices
On 10th July, Bradford Voices community choir hosted Tadhamon for a performance in St Peter’s Church, Shipley, where we sang to an audience of over 60 people. We did our full performance set and were delighted to sing two songs, ‘Bella Ciao’ and ‘This is Home’ together with Bradford Voices, who wore Palestinian colours for the event.
We had time to chat with the audience after the performance over cups of tea and the delicious cakes made by the Bradford group. The response we got was overwhelmingly positive.
Karim, a young Egyptian man studying sustainability, smiled and sang along with the Arabic words in the performance. Afterwards he said “It was wonderful and you are all amazing – you told this in a way that didn’t overwhelm people, but didn’t stray from the truth. I have so much respect that you went there and saw this with your own eyes – it is so important. It was great that you sang in Arabic – so respectful. You are excellent advocates for Palestine”.
Other feedback comments were
“Thank you so much – it was so powerful to hear the stories of the people you met.”
“The songs and the slides fitted so well with your experiences – it made a whole picture.”
“ My window on Palestine was very small but now it’s bigger. Thank you.”
We are also hugely grateful for the generosity of the audience and Bradford Voices for their donations of over £1,000 to the Qayis Healing Centre for traumatised children in Gaza.
Our friends in Palestine asked us to go home and tell their story. Comments like those above, coming both from people who knew a lot about Palestine, and those who knew much less, really validated for us the importance of continuing to do just that by sharing our performance and experiences with new audiences.
Street Choirs Festival – Kendal
30th June – 2nd July
The Power of Song! Tadhamon was one of 36 choirs who spent the weekend together in Kendal this summer as part of the Annual Street Choirs Festival, more than 800 singers in total. Our street singing around the town centre on Saturday attracted many passers-by, including a Palestinian family visiting the town, related to Marwen Barghouti, a long term political prisoner, who enthusiastically joined in some of our Palestinian songs. The evening showcase concert on Saturday evening included our performance of ‘My Name is Palestine’ and ‘Dreams of Home’ which were very well-received.
Tadhamon hosted a workshop on Sunday morning which was well attended by choir members from all over the country who found it highly informative about the situation in Palestine.
Next year will be the 40th 😵 💫 Street Choirs festival and Tadhamon will help Sheffield Socialist Choir, Out Aloud and Carfield Community Choir hosting it in SHEFFIELD!
“You’ll Never Walk Alone”
This was the theme of this year’s Small Park Big Run. An annual event focused on running round a small park the size of Bethlehem for twenty four hours which took place on 17th and 18th June.
Tadhamon Singers were part of this event and joined with other Sheffield choirs and supporters of Palestine to be part a mass sing of a well known song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in support of the people of Palestine.
Some of us also joined the run and did one or a few laps of the park and we all had a busking slot to sing to the runners and cheer them on as they completed their laps.
The money raised at the event supports the Sheffield Women’s scholarship fund and the Qayis Healing Centre in Khan Younis, in Gaza. Small Park Big Run has links with runs in Palestine and the event finishes with a link up with Gaza.
We Stand With You Presentation
Tadhamon was hosted by Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign to share the full performance of our story of our trip around the West Bank. We opened the concert singing ‘This is Home’ jointly with Manchester Open Voice Choir. Our audience included local people from Palestine and Syria and we were excited to share many powerful conversations and connections afterwards – we also have an invitation to return to perform for the Syrian Community Council. We were successful in raising £560 for the Qayis Healing Centre.
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