Street Choirs Festival is an annual event in which choirs in the UK meet and sing together. The festival is organised by volunteers and is hosted in a different location each year. The participating choirs learn a set of songs to sing together in an outdoor 'massed sing', followed by each choir busking at a variety of locations in the host town or city, usually outdoors. Most of the choirs sing a capella and many of the choirs sing political and campaign songs and songs of peace. In 2019, the festival gathered almost 1,100 singers in Manchester.
History The festival began in the 1984 as the National Street Band Festival, featuring music groups as well as choirs. The festival was renamed to the National Street Music Festival in 1991. In 1997, the event became choirs only, and in 2006, changed its name to the National Street Choirs Festival. To reflect the UK-wide nature of the festival, the name was changed to Street Choirs Festival in 2013. The 2013 festival also saw the birth of the Campaign Choirs Network, a group of choirs with a shared interest in political and social campaigning. A book, Singing for our Lives: Stories from the Street Choirs has been produced by a writing collective and contains stories about the festival and interviews with attendees about their motivations for and experiences of attending the festival and singing in their choir.
Festival format The festival typically runs over a weekend from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. The Friday night concert features invited musicians. Guest performers at the festival have included O'Hooley and Tidow (2014), Coope Boyes and Simpson (2017) and Barnstormer 1649 featuring Atilla the Stockbroker (2018). On Saturday morning, participating choirs rehearse together a set of 'massed sing' songs before performing the massed songs together as a massed choir, usually in a prominent outdoor location in the host town or city. The massed sing in Sheffield was on the steps of Sheffield City Hall, Brighton 2018 was on the seafront and Manchester 2020 was in Cathedral Gardens. In 2026, the festival was held in Scotland for the first time, hosted by three community choirs in Dumfries.
Busking forms an important feature of the festival. The participating choirs sing at designated locations in the host town or city on Saturday afternoon. A variety of workshops run on the Sunday morning, followed by a farewell picnic. It is a tradition to sing Billy Bragg's version of The Internationale either at the massed sing or at the farewell picnic.
Festival Hosts +YearHost city or TownHost Choir Name of the Festival1984SheffieldNational Street Band Festival1985 (May)NewcastleNational Street Band Festival1985 (November)ManchesterNational Street Band Festival1986BradfordNational Street Band Festival1987BristolNational Street Band Festival1988LiverpoolNational Street Band Festival1989LeicesterNational Street Band Festival1990NewcastleNational Street Band Festival1991London, HackneyBig Red Band and Raised VoicesNational Street Music Festival1992SheffieldSheffield Socialist ChoirNational Street Music Festival1993CardiffCôr CochionNational Street Music Festival1994LeedsLeeds People's ChoirNational Street Music Festival1995StroudNational Street Music Festival1996NottinghamNottingham Clarion ChoirNational Street Music Festival1997MorecambeNational Street Music Festival1998LeicesterRed LeicesterNational Street Music Festival1999BradfordNational Street Music Festival2000ManchesterNational Street Music Festival2001NottinghamNottingham Clarion ChoirNational Street Music Festival2002Hebden BridgeCalder Valley VoicesNational Street Music Festival2003BelperThe Rough TrufflesNational Street Music Festival2004LeedsLeeds People's ChoirNational Street Music Festival2005Saltaire/ShipleyBradford VoicesNational Street Music Festival2006GatesheadCaedmon Choir and Heaton VoicesNational Street Choirs Festival2007ManchesterManchester Community ChoirNational Street Choirs Festival2008BrightonHullabaloo Community QuireNational Street Choirs Festival2009WhitbyWhitby Community ChoirNational Street Choirs Festival2010SheffieldOut AloudNational Street Choirs Festival2011WhitbyWhitby Community ChoirNational Street Choirs Festival2012BuryBury Acapeelers Community ChoirNational Street Choirs Festival2013AberystwythCôr GobaithStreet Choirs Festival2014Hebden BridgeCalder Valley VoicesStreet Choirs Festival2015WhitbyWhitby Community ChoirNational Street Choirs Festival2016LeicesterRed LeicesterStreet Choirs Festival2017KendalLakeland VoicesStreet Choirs Festival2018BrightonHullabaloo Community QuireStreet Choirs Festival2019ManchesterManchester Community ChoirStreet Choirs Festival2020Pocklington (Cancelled)CancelledStreet Choirs Festival2021MiddlesbroughNo in person festival due to COVID19. Choirs invited to sing in their own locations.Street Choirs Festival2022WhitbyWhitby Community Choir and Northern ChorusStreet Choirs Festival2023KendalLakeland VoicesStreet Choirs Festival2024SheffieldCarfield Community Choir, Out Aloud and Sheffield Socialist ChoirStreet Choirs Festival2025BradfordBradford VoicesStreet Choirs Festival2026DumfriesCairn Chorus, SongWave and the CatStrand SingersStreet Choirs Festival2027WhitbyWhitby Community ChoirStreet Choirs Festival2028Brighton
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