There can be few acts that bring you closer to a stranger than singing a song they have written.

Music In Detention helps people in immigration detention express themselves through music, and for Refugee Week 2018 they are inviting you to learn a song written in detention, so the voices of detainees can be heard far and wide.

There are four original songs to choose from, all of them written by detainees about refugee experiences, during workshops by Music in Detention.

Whether it’s with your community choir, your school or at your workplace, and whether your performance is big or small, your Simple Act of solidarity will be heard.

You might like to perform the song in a concert, and if you do you might decide to dedicate it to those in detention who don’t have the freedom to be singing with you.

Maybe you’d like to make a recording or music video, or have another creative idea we haven’t thought of yet…

 

The songs

Four songs, suitable for singers of different ages, are available along with lyrics, scores and/ or chords. Visit the Music In Detention website for the songs and resources.

 

More inspiration

If you’re looking for inspiration, it doesn’t get much better than the Lips Choir, who did this performance of Rihanna’s ‘Stay’ after hearing a recording of it sung by women in Yarl’s Wood detention centre:

 

 

See (hear) also Horsell Community Choir’s brilliant version of Jamaican folk song ‘Long Time Girl’, also inspired by a Music in Detention recording done in Yarl’s Wood:

 

 

Share!

Once your song is ready to share, let us know!

■     Add your performance to the Refugee Week online calendar
■     If you’re happy to, upload a video or audio recording to social media using #SimpleActs (and tagging @MIDdetention on Twitter)

There are 20 Simple Acts to celebrate 20 years of Refugee Week. For more information and the full list, visit the Simple Acts page.