Description

Christmas is a time for being together with family or friends. Its a time for reaching out to those in need and it can be a time to remember those who are no longer with us. At the heart of those moments, music is there to help us make sense of it all.
Early this year I set out to reflect the true soundtrack to Christmas in Britain. I visited community halls, schools, workplaces and peoples homes, recording the sounds I heard and weaving them into this album. Its full of personal moments: from my first-ever publicly performed teenage composition to a song written last year in
response to the ongoing refugee crisis and a song recorded in the shed at the bottom of my garden.
You will know many of the songs but they have been reimagined for my choir Voices and this extraordinary line-up of British musicians both professional and amateur. From Glasgow to Cornwall, Cardiff to Belfast I found a tapestry of musical delights with bell ringers, brass bands, community choirs, childrens voices and some of my musical friends as soloists. I wish you a very happy Christmas and all the joy that music can bring. – Gareth Malone