Every year since 2010, the UK organisation Sing Up has organised a special day ‘to celebrate the power of song and spread a little singing’, with schools and singers from around the world joining the annual festival. The theme for Sing Up Day 2023 (Wednesday 28 June) is Global voice and the things that connect us – the earth, the sea, and the air we breathe.
For each Sing Up Day, the organisation commissions a new Sing Up Day anthem with resources and activity ideas to help teachers integrate the song into their lessons and the school day. Following an open call for the 2023 anthem, Sing Up has commissioned three songs from songwriters based in New Zealand, South Africa and Wales.
This year’s songs will be Blossom out by Tomuri Spicer, ‘a gentle, laid back, and summery celebration of the earth and our connection to the natural world around us’, featuring taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments) and snippets of haka (traditional chant in the Māori language) based on whakataukī (Māori proverbs), and Dreams across the ocean (Away, roll to sea) by Laura Bradshaw and Joseff Gnagbo, a fresh and modern take on a sea shanty following the journey of a raindrop to the ocean as a metaphor to explore how we are all connected by the bodies of water that cover our planet.
Get involved
All Sing Up Day materials are free to download. Head to Sing Up’s ‘Get involved’ page to join in and add your singing event to the Sing Up Day map. Sign up as a free Sing Up Friend and then download the Sing Up Day anthem.
