In February 2020 we were thrilled to be visited by Sarah Denton, a teacher at the Lyceum School in East London. Sarah came to Mumbai during her half-term break, leading a workshop for choir-leaders, meeting each of the Songbound choirs, and helping to conduct the final concert.

Together, Sarah and Songbound children worked on a range of songs; from ‘Snap, snap, snap’ through to Louis Armstrong’s ‘Wonderful World’, as well as two Hindu songs from Bollywood Movies. Sarah is teaching the same songs to children of The Lyceum in England to then try and set up a cross-continental performance via YouTube!

“My experience with the Songbound groups was life-changing. The facilities of some of the schools were eye-opening. Some groups meet in empty concrete buildings – where children are at ‘school’ on building sites as their fathers are construction workers. Some children are in run-down buildings because they are the children of mothers who work in the red-light district. There aren’t the funds to send them to government schools.”

Sarah said she was particularly impressed by how polite Songbound students were, and how eager they were to learn!

“The concert at the end was a joyful celebration of how music can bring people together from all walks of life and how singing can bring happiness and fun above language, cultures and financial challenges.”