I Was Listening To A Pogrom

Many thanks to Michael Rosen for generously allowing me to use his poem “I was listening to a pogrom…” for this piece! Written in response to the suggestion of a registry of foreign workers. A protest song with a fair bit of sarcasm, reminiscent of Tom Lehrer. Creative Commons license as part of #choirsagainstracism. If you’d like to make a donation to charity for the use of this piece, please click here.

Difficulty level: fairly tricky for the pianist, maybe grade 5-6. Sung part is not very tricky, could easily be learnt by ear, goes from low B to high E, can be sung in a low or high octave. Spoken part requires some knowledge of rhythm but could be learnt by ear.

This was performed as part of “Occupy The Pianos” on 18th October 2020 in St John’s Smith Square, London, by Rolf Hind and Loré Lixenberg – click here for concert details and a concert programme. Recording now available – click here to watch and listen! “I Was Listening…” starts at about 13 minutes in.

Download the score in PDF format (6 pages)
MIDI file for rehearsal