Helen will be performing as one of the backing vocalists for Darren Hayman’s musical adaptation of William Morris’ “Chants for Socialists”.
Date: Thursday 23rd April 2015 at 7.30pm
Venue: St Pancras Old Church, Pancras Rd, London, NW1 1UL
Tickets: £12 and are available from here.
Guess who’s collaborated with a Grammy Award winning songwriter?
Well, it could be…ME!
Earlier in the year, I was on a high from the Union Chapel Chants for Socialists gig; I wondered how I would top that experience when it took place so earlier on in the year. However, in November last year I was invited to take part in a very special project…
On 9th April Grammy Award winning songwriter and composer, Laura Sullivan released her long awaited 900 Voices project. Laura asked singers from around the world to help her create a unique song called We Are Love and I was lucky enough to be one of the collaborators on this project! As this is such an unusual project, I couldn’t wait to get involved!
You can see me in the video at 4 minutes and 34 seconds.
There’s currently a campaign to get the video on the Ellen DeGeneres Show; if this happens, it will be amazing! Although the likelihood of getting 938 singers into a TV studio is quite small! You can learn more about the 900 Voices project here. So sit back, listen and enjoy 938 singers from around the world.
Helen Sanderson-White, Rachel Cave and Stuart Donaldson plus guests will be hosting an evening of music to raise money for the music education charity, Soundabout. Come hear music from lots of different genres!
Date: Saturday 28th February 2015 – 7.30pm
Venue: Headington Baptist Church, 78 Old High St, Headington, Oxford OX3 9HW
Tickets: Admission to the concert is free however there will be a retiring collection towards Soundabout’s work.
Well this year st
arted off with a bang! My first gig of the year was with Darren Hayman singing the Chants for Socialists at Union Chapel in London. Despite the fact that it was FREEZING, the place was packed and Daylight Music reported their highest audience turn out ever! The whole event was amazing and the feedback has been wonderful! Definitely one to tick off the bucket list.
As you can see from the photo below, I was the shortest singer by far (and I’m very proud of that) and I think wearing a bright electric blue jumper may have been a mistake… cue the Smurf! Feel free to ridicule me about this, to be fair, my family already has; it was my daughter who noticed my fashion faux pas. It gets worse though, there are lots and lots of press photos of this event, so I will be immortalised forever as the singing Smurf…
The beginning of February saw us perform the Chants at the William Morris Society in Hammersmith. A much warmer gig this time and smaller too and actually in one of William Morris’ houses which was exciting. There was an intimate audience of about 40 people as opposed to 650 at Union Chapel. There was a Q and A session afterwards which contained some hilarious and some what mysterious questions about the project.
We were described as Leonard Cohen and the 5 Linda Rondstadts which let’s face it, is much better than being described as a singing Smurf. This photo was taken during our rehearsal hence why we’re all stood in our coats with cups of tea, however I think a mug could become the new performance accessory depending on it’s contents!
I’ve been very excited about the vinyl version of the album (which I sang on); I’m mainly excited about the COLOUR! You can find the album on Darren’s website.
So if I started the year with a bang, how on earth am I going to top it? I’ve know idea, but watch this space… In the words of Saint Yazz “The Only Way Is Up”.
Helen will be performing as part of the choir for Darren Hayman’s musical adaptation of William Morris’ “Chants for Socialists”.
Date: Sunday 7th February 2015 at 2.15pm
Venue: William Morris Society, Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London, W6 9TA
Tickets: members, £6; non-members, £8; students £4
Helen will be performing as part of the choir for Darren Hayman’s musical adaptation of William Morris’ “Chants for Socialists”.
Date: Sunday 24th January 2015 – 12-2pm
Venue: Union Chapel Hall, Compton Ave, London N1 2XD
Tickets: FREE (suggested donation £3.50)
Helen’s Sirens and Other Mysteries Tour
Helen will be performing at the Hall of Sound as part of the “Sirens and Other Mysteries” tour.
Date: Friday 28th November 2014 at 7.30pm
Venue: Pangbourne Village Hall, Berks, RG8 7AN
Tickets: £4 (Concessions £2) from here
Earlier this year Helen sang in the choir of the recording of Darren Hayman’s arrangements of William Morris’ Chants for Socialists. There are several performances taking place in London next year, check the events page for more details. You can find out more about the project below…
If you were to ask me how my life has been over the last decade, I would describe it as turbulent. Not much has turned out as I expected it to, some of these events have been good but many have also been painful and shocking. Back in 2012, I signed up to do another EP with Resound Media, I had lots of plans for the type of music that I wanted to produce; it was going to be another large scale pop album with lots of great catchy hooks. I set out to write some songs but every time I sat at the piano, nothing would appear. This is unlike me, there’s always a song or an idea on the horizon; I sing all the time to the extent that people usually tell me to shut up! It was becoming clear that this project was not going to be an easy write.
Between 2007 and 2013 my family went through a time of loss: my husband was made redundant four times in five years, I suffered from post natal depression after a traumatic birth experience, we had a miscarriage, the bank who provided our mortgage went bust and then ten of our friends and family died, most suddenly through illness, accident and one of them was murdered. It seemed to never end. Looking back it was no wonder that I couldn’t write – there was too much pressure let alone time to heal. And what was I going to write about?
For days on end I would sit at the piano staring at the keys but nothing would materialise. The producer Andy Baker asked me to send through my material, I panicked as I knew there was nothing to send. It became a joke in my house: “have you written anything today?”, “NOPE!”. I thought that my songwriting career was over. After several months, I went for walk and decided to tackle the problem head on: as I mulled over the situation, I realised that I had to let go of the ideas I had for the EP and go with what was on my heart and accept where my I was at. It was revolutionary… From that moment I was able to write about the experiences that I had been through and be honest about the unexpected path that my life had taken. A very different EP emerged, it was raw, honest and also acoustic.
So why Sirens and Other Mysteries? I thought the last few years were a wilderness but looking back I realised that actually these experiences were designed to make me the person I’m supposed to be. The “Sirens” are things that lure us from our path and hold our attention for no good reason and the “Mysteries” are things that happen in life that seem to make no sense at the time but in reality God uses them to draw us closer to Him.
All I can say if you’re in the same situation of loss and change: hold on, things will eventually make sense…
Helen will be performing at OXJAM as part of the “Sirens and Other Mysteries” tour.
Date: Saturday 18th October 2014 at 6pm
Venue: Turl Street Kitchen, 16 Turl St, Oxford OX1 3DH
Tickets: http://www.oxjamoxford.co.uk/tickets/
Helen Sanderson White 