we can all make music

People singing together recorded on film

Amandla - A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002)
The first film to specifically consider the music that sustained and galvanized black South Africans for more than 40 years.
From Wikipedia:
In the film, prominent South African musicians, playwrights, poets and activists recall the struggle against Apartheid from the 1940s to the 1990s, and the important role that music played in that struggle. The documentary uses a mixture of interviews, musical performances and historical film footage. Among the famous South Africans who take part are Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, Hugh Masakela and Vusi Mahlasela.
YouTube trailer

THE AMASONG CHORUS: Singing Out (2004)
Documentary made for Independent Lens, a PBS(US) TV series. From their website:
When lesbian music student Kristina Boerger moved to a small Illinois college town, she didn't find a ready-made community. So she decided to create one with what she loved best: choral singing. Within a few years, what had initially been a ragtag group of volunteer vocalists had become an award-winning recording ensemble. Showing the choir's evolution into a nationally recognized performance group, (this film) documents how the spirit and dedication of one person can help transform a community

As It Is In Heaven (2004)
Swedish feature film. A successful international conductor suddenly interrupts his career and returns alone to his childhood village in Norrland, in the far north of Sweden. He is asked to come and listen to the fragment of a church choir, which practises every Thursday in the parish hall. Just come along and give a little bit of good advice. He can't say no, and from that moment, nothing in the village is the same again. The choir develops and grows. He makes both friends and enemies. And he finds love.
Available on dvd.

Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp (2006)
Documentary about the Sacred Harp tradition, kept alive by amateur shape-note singers in the rural South of the United States.
The film has a dedicated website.

The Believers (2006)
What happens when transgender people form a gospel choir in order to stand up and make their voices heard The Believers is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, gender, and religion. Built around the world's first transgender gospel choir, the film portrays the choir's dilemma - how to reconcile their gender identity with the widespread belief that changing one's gender goes against the word of God.

Choir of Hard Knocks (2007)
From the ABC website:
From the hit TV Show, best selling CD and inspirational story now comes entire series of The Choir of Hard Knocks on DVD!
Take one musical director, and a group of homeless and disadvantaged people... get them together once a week, and let them sing. The result is Choir of Hard Knocks - an inspirational series. This uplifting series follows the journey of Jonathon Welch's Choir of Hard Knocks. Jonathon, a former Opera Australia tenor, brings together those who have no voice in society, and gets them to sing.
In just six months they'll stage the performance of a lifetime at the Melbourne Town Hall. Jonathon hopes the choir will give a sense of purpose to disordered lives, providing these new choristers with the opportunity to give back to society. But most of all he hopes they will have fun!

The Choir (2006)
A three-part observational television documentary, screened on the BBC, follows a choir of 30 school kids from Northolt High School, Middlesex, as they battle - in just nine months - to compete in The World Choir Games in China.

Les Choristes (2004)
From Wikipedia:
French feature film about a passionate music teacher who arrives at a correctional boarding school for boys and transforms their lives through music

Damn Right I'm A Cowboy (2003)
An 80 minute documentary, filmed in suburban Adelaide, South Australia over a three year period. It depicts the far-reaching personal and societal spin-offs that can be achieved by a shared focus, as in this case, something as deceptively simple as a weekly community singing event.
'Damn Right I'm a Cowboy' takes you to the front veranda of SA Community Radio 93.7's radio's Hillbilly Hoot Radio Show, where Hooters develop new voices, friendships and musical diversity in an environment that happily sheds daylight personas, where 'never is heard a discouraging word' and where embarrassment is the only outlaw.Hillbilly Hoot broadcasts live to air from the front veranda of Adelaide's Community Radio Station 3D, located at 48 Nelson Street, Stepney. For five years, each Monday night between the hours of 8-9pm, a rowdy bunch of up to 25 Hooters perform to the radio audience and a live audience who gather in the front yard.
It was produced in Adelaide by the 'New Team': Rob de Kok (Director), Terry Bradford (Producer) and David Banbury (Editor).

Favela Rising (2005)
Born out of desire to counteract the violent drug industry and police oppression, Grupo Cultural AfroReggae - GCAR (AfroReggae Cultural Group) was formed in January 1993, initially around AfroReggae Noticias (AfroReggae News) - a newspaper designed to add value and disseminate black culture. The newspaper primarily targeted young people interested in reggae, soul, and hip-hop, among other musical genres. The group soon thereafter opened its first Nucleo Comunitario de Cultura ('Culture Community Center') in the Vigario Geral favela (a slum area) in 1993. In a short period of time, this center was offering its first workshops - dance, percussion, garbage recycling, soccer and capoeira - the foundations for new social projects. GCAR knew exactly what it was seeking with its programs: to offer a cultural and artistic education for adolescents living in slums. By affording local youth more chances of strengthening their citizenship, GCAR hoped to provide a viable path away from entanglement in the prevalent drug trade

On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps To Freedom (2000)
Tells the story of a man and his passion to create a new kind of music. Joseph Shabalala, the leader of the South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, started with nothing but a dream and rose to become one of the most innovative and well-known musicians in the world.

Paradise Road (1997)
When the Japanese over-run Singapore in 1942 many women and children end up in prison camp. Although of different ages, nationalities and backgrounds, a bond grows up as they face the lack of food and medicine and the brutal behaviour of their captors. They even start organizing a voice orchestra using remembered musical scores painstakingly written out again

The People's Chorus (2006)
Follows a unique choral event - a day in which 800 members of the public came together to rehearse and perform Thomas Tallis' 'Spem in Alium' in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, lead by conductor David Lawrence.

Rhythm of Resistance - Beats of the Heart (1979, 2007)
First seen in 1979 and now re-released by UK-based Digital Classics, Rhythm of Resistance remains an essential, powerful document of how necessary a role music played in sustaining the everyday lives of South Africa's black majority during the dark times of apartheid.

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2007)
Using new interviews, archival footage and home movies, Brown presents a social history through the life of one of this country's most compelling forces for change and, arguably, the most significant folk artist of our time.

Shut Up and Sing (2006)
Comedy feature about a group of guys who sang a cappella in college and reunite 15 years later to sing at a friend's wedding.

SING! healing, community, celebration (2000)
Features Shivon Robinsong, Laurel Murphy, and Gina Sala, with guest appearances by Rhiannon and Ann Mortifee. Produced by Bill Weaver of Across Borders Media.

The Singing Estate (2006)
From Wikipedia:
A four-part constructed documentary series. On the Blackbird Leys estate, in Oxford, conductor Ivor Setterfield auditioned 140 hopeful amateur singers, eventually picking 40 for 'Ivor's Choir' as they were then known. The aim was to teach these singers, many of whom did not read music, several well-known pieces for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall three months later.

Singing Fishermen of Ghana (1964)
This film documents work songs of a fishing community in Ghana, the West-African roots of the work-song tradition shown in the films 'Afro American Worksongs in a Texas Prison' and 'Gandy Dancers'. The film, by Toshi and Peter Seeger, shows the community singing as it pulls fish nets onto the shore and men on boats in heavy surf singing to pace their rowing. It was shot 40 miles northeast of Accra, Ghana, January 7th or 8th, 1964.

Singing Our Stories (1998)
A lively look at the lives and musical roots of Aboriginal women from across North America, includes performances by Walela, Ulali, Monk-Sanders Family Singers, Zuni Olla Maidens, 'Namgis Traditional Singers from the North Pacific Coast, and more.

The Singing Revolution (1991)
From Wikipedia:
Documentary film covering the independence struggle in Estonia. Night after night, from 1987, a cycle of singing mass demonstrations eventually collected 300,000 Estonians (more than one-fifth of the population) in Tallinn to sing national songs and hymns that had been strictly forbidden during the years of Soviet occupation, as rock musicians played. The Singing Revolution lasted over four years, with various protests and acts of defiance.
YouTube trailer

The Songs Are Free: Bernice Johnson Reagon and African-American Music
In this program, Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the musical group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and curator of the Community Life Division of the Smithsonian Institution, discusses with Bill Moyers how black music has shaped the African-American experience and identity. Live musical performances, educational workshops, and archival footage of Reagon and noted Civil Rights leaders are included.

Still Singing (2007)
Gets us tuned-up with a community quartet that performs music predominantly in the barbershop style and in a broad range of other a cappella styles. By Joseph Grimm & Nicole Haddock. Winner of the Best Graduate Documentary Film at the Visions Festival 2007 (School of Communications, American University. View quicktime trailer

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK: Raise Your Voice (2005)
PBS (US) American Masters Documentary on the group.
From acappella.com:
A riveting cinematic portrait of the world-renowned vocal group's 30th year, as it takes its breathtaking sound and political message to a changing America and struggles with a surprise decision by founder Reagon. Using gorgeous concert footage, rare archival stills, behind-the-scenes footage, and in-depth interviews with group members and Sweet Honey's loyal fans, this 90-minute documentary celebrates the power of song.

Too Close to Heaven: The History of Gospel Music (1997)
Deeply rooted in African rhythms, the first gospel music, as sung on southern plantations, expressed the collective sorrow of American slaves, and the history of their diaspora. Using narration and thrilling performance footage, these programs trace the 200-year history of gospel music from black churches, to the civil rights movement, to its influence on modern jazz, blues, and rock and roll. Its revolutionary sounds and joyful vocal styles are featured in several live performances by noted singers. Interviews with key figures provide insights into the cultural and artistic importance of this uniquely American art form. (3 parts, 51 minutes each)

Wade in the Water (2007)
28 minute documentary that tells the story of two journeys. One journey follows the members of South of the River Community Gospel Choir through the finals of the ABC Classic FM national choir competition in 2006. The other story is one of determination and hope as the choir's founder, Debi Candlish, reflects on her diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Why We Sing (2006)
The documentary's focal point is GALA Choruses' (Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses) 7th International Choral Festival. More than 5,000 singers and 160 choruses gathered to sing. Through song and interviews, the documentary delves into and personalizes many issues on the public's mind today: same-sex marriage, religious views on gay rights, and the emerging transgender rights movement, among others.

young@heart (2007)
Channel 4 (UK) documentary about young@heart, who, with an average age of 80, present songs from the likes of OutKast, Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads and Radiohead. They've won sensational reviews wherever they perform, all over the world

The Zimmers (2007)
Sensation of the British pop charts with their version of the Who's 'My Generation'.

we can all make music

People singing together recorded on film

making a sound world together