Counterpoints annual gathering at Hoxton Hall

Farid participated to the Counterpoints Arts annual event on 3 December 2025. This year, an elegant mix of short speeches, glocal women choir melodies, the presentation of the Palestine Comedy Club‘s show in Bush Theatre on 21 Dec… and excellent Jamaican food. But let’s focus here on their choir project.

Sounds Like Home is an international women’s choir in Hoxton, created and run by Ellen Muriel with Asha Wilson. The group commissioned by Counterpoints was started in January 2024 with migrant women living locally, by inviting them to sing a song that reminded them of the first place they called home.

Women of Turkish, Latin American, West African and South Asian heritage, women over 60, and individuals who identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community learned songs, using a Natural Voice approach to teaching focused on disarming anxiety and removing barriers through a playful and non-judgemental call & response technique.

Their repertoire includes ‘Bu Son Olsun’, a Turkish song by activist and exiled singer Cem Karaca, which a choir member fondly remembered from her childhood as her dad’s favourite, but also Irish, British, Zulu, Yoruba and Spanish songs with translation and pronunciation lead by the songs’ cultural holders. I particularly appreciated a sea shanty from Hastings sung collectively by the choir and the audience under Ellen’s lead.