The Leeds a capella choir with an original repertoire
SING FREEDOM
A story with songs
of liberation
Other Performances
When Free Range perform Sing Freedom it always has a special meaning for the choir as it is a story based on the childhood memories of our Musical Director, Frances Bernstein.
When ANC activist Rusty Bernstein was arrested and tried alongside Nelson Mandela, the life of the family changed forever. Their ‘privileged’ white existence was replaced by flight and exile. ‘Sing Freedom’ is his daughter Frances’ story of her parent’s involvement in the struggle against apartheid.
It is accompanied by Free Range performing some of the emotive songs that helped to sustain the movement. As well as her own memories, the story draws on her father Rusty Bernstein’s memoirs (Memory Against Forgetting) and her mother Hilda Bernstein’s account of the Rivonia Trial and the family’s escape (The World That Was Ours).
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Sing Freedom grew out of talks Frances gave to primary schools to help children understand apartheid. It was first performed in 2012 at the Literary Festival of an international school in Paris. Since then it has been performed in London, Sheffield and Leeds and a number of times at HEART, Headingley, always to ‘sell out’ audience.
Follow this link to watch a video of the 2014 performance at the Ilkley Literature Festival.
Contact us if you are interested in having 'Sing Freedom' performed at your school or elsewhere.
Audience feedback
'absolutely brilliant' … 'songs were extremely beautiful, powerful and moving' ... ' a compelling and emotional story with some great music'