Manchester Makes Freedom Ring
It was an honour to perform at one of the most moving and meaningful performances of my life at the Manchester Cathedral on 4th June 2024, which helped to raise over £4000 for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).
Jayson Gillham performs the Bach-Busoni Chaconne at Manchester Cathedral. Photo by Abhishek K. P.
The concert was presented by Make Freedom Ring, a collective of arts workers organising classical musical events to elevate Palestinian voices, draw attention to the crisis in Gaza, and raise urgently needed funds for respected charities working in Gaza and across Palestine.
Performers also included Wissam Boustany, Iyad Sughayer, Omran Zain, Kareem Samara, Walid Zaido, Rihab Chaieb, Camille Maalawy, Alexandra Whittingham, Lucy Farrimond, Jim Muirhead, Les Chisnall, and the Vulva Voce String Quartet.
Qais Attaallah. Photo by Abhishek K. P.
Central to the night’s proceedings was a sobering testimony from the young Palestinian actor from Gaza, Qais Attaallah, who is studying Genetics at the University of Manchester.
Qais described how 50 of his family members were killed, and seven severely injured by an Israeli bomb late last year.
‘Most of my mum’s side of the family fled to my aunt’s house, which was in the south of Gaza – as instructed by the Israeli army.
‘On the morning of 21st November 2023 their house was bombed by an Israeli bomb which flattened the whole house to the ground.
‘There were 57 people in the house: seven of them were rescued with severe injuries and 50 were killed.
‘These 50 people are my grandparents, my three uncles, two of my aunts, my cousins, and my cousins’ children and babies.’
Music ranged from Western classical, opera, jazz, musical theatre and contemporary to Arabic classical, traditional, popular and contemporary styles.
I opened the concert with a performance of the epic Bach-Busoni Chaconne. These are just some of my words before I sat down to play:
Jayson Gillham speaks to the audience at Manchester Cathedral. Photo by Abhishek K. P.
‘Music can do what words cannot say. It has the power to reach inside of us and penetrate the core of our being; to move us.
‘I spent much time choosing my repertoire for tonight. The scale of what we have witnessed over the last eight months is so great as to be unimaginable.
‘As Gary Lineker said - this is the worst thing we have ever seen in our lifetime.
‘I wanted to find something that reflected the magnitude of the moral and spiritual task before us.’
I also accompanied British-Egyptian mezzo-soprano Camille Maalawy in a Fairuz song ‘Aatini al-Nay Wa Ghanni’ (‘Bring me the flute and sing'), and British soprano Lucy Farrimond in a rendition of ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story.
Make Freedom Ring have presented concerts in Berlin, London, Manchester and their next concert will be in Munich on 30th July.
For more information please visit their website.
To support Palestinians in Gaza at this time, please consider donating directly to individual campaigns (e.g. gofundme), and/or to mutual aid funds organised by Palestinians on the ground in Gaza.
A good place to start is Operation Olive Branch, which has a process for verifying and collating campaigns.
Performers take a final bow. Photo: Abhishek K. P.