Student’s Iranian choir shares The Voice of Peace
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT
Masters student’s unites her compatriots in song and in her studies
A HUDDERSFIELD student’s postgraduate project began with the creation of an all-Iranian Choir. Now, almost two years later, they sang at a special performance at the University of Huddersfield, hosted by the Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Communities.
Nasrin Mousavi is a mature student studying the MSc in Risk, Disaster and Environmental Management at the University’s Business School. As part of her Masters dissertation, supervised by Dr Julia Meaton, Nasrin will be looking at the impact of the choir on the resilience of the adults and children involved.
Called The Voice of Peace, Nasrin originally brought the choir together in May 2014. The aim was to use people’s love of music as a common denominator to spread a message of peace and tolerance across geographical and cultural boundaries. The group, all local to Huddersfield, has grown to consist of ten adults and eight children.
◄ Pictured left, children of the choir with Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman.
“In the beginning, we took turns to host choir practice at each other’s house,” Nasrin said. “But as the choir grew, the group became too big for anyone to host and so I asked the Huddersfield MP, Mr Barry Sheerman, if he could help.”
The group has since been practising at the Yorkshire Children’s Centre in Huddersfield, through links forged with the help of Mr Sheerman. Unfortunately, the premises are no longer able to accommodate the choir and the group is launching an appeal for a new local venue, where the group can come together and practice for three hours a week.
If rehearsal rooms can be found, the next twelve months promise to be a busy time for the choir. Alongside members of an Iranian choir from London, plans have been put in place to form the first ever UK branch of Corale de Bahar in 2017 – a framework of the Bahar Association, the largest group of choral Iranians outside of Iran.
The Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Children’s Centre, Mr Simon Cale, and local MP Barry Sheerman offered their support to the group and attended the performance at the University.
There was a collection of traditional Persian songs sung by the adults followed by a performance of contemporary English pop songs by the children. Hot drinks and Iranian sweets were also served.
- More information can be obtained from the Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Communities at csrc@hud.ac.uk.
