History: These songs of freedom. Stories of Rebellion and Change in Britain and Around the World NEW

This course is for anyone with an interest in how millions of ordinary and largely unknown people have united to face up to injustice, unfairness and inequality in the past. No musical talent is needed but an interest in how the past shapes the present and can influence the future and, indeed, our own values and goals, certainly would help. From the music, we will explore a wide range of issues and events, organisations and leaders, from British history and from around the world.

For the first session students will need an open mind and a desire to learn

Additional Costs: N/A

The course aims:

We live in an age of uncertainty on many issues and, not for the first time in history, people demand change – something must be done. Our ancestors faced their own challenges and many of their struggles have been kept alive through songs and music. Those struggles were often hard fought, opposed by the established orders of the monarchy, landowners, the church and others. Many of them failed, many people lost their land, liberty and life itself, but change has come. The music is just a small part of that legacy that offers a way to remember and reflect on how people struggled for their freedom in the UK and around the world. The songs keep these incredibly important stories alive.

The Course will cover:

The Peasants’ Revolt

• The Civil War: The Diggers and the Levellers
• The US and French Revolutions: Tom Paine
• Anti-Slavery Campaign: Amazing Grace and other hymns
• Napoleonic Wars: Mutiny
• The Industrial Revolution: The Luddites and Captain Swing
• The Struggle for Democracy: Chartism and Women’s Suffrage
• Civil Rights in the USA, South Africa and Britain
• Songs of Freedom: Bob Marley, Reggae and the Caribbean
• Songs of Loss: Emigration, imprisonment and death
• Songs of Hope: Resistance and resilience in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Americas, Australia and Africa
• War: to fight or not to fight, to suffer the consequences, to honour those who died…

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