People Like You

Street Voices is a band with a difference. The group members are people living in homeless hostels and other members of the street community in Cambridge. The group provides an opportunity for people of any level of experience to bring their musical talents or just have a go, creating a lively musical mix that comes straight from the heart.

Being part of Street Voices is a way for members of the street community to have a voice and share their thoughts on humanity and the world we live in. Audiences are repeatedly touched by their songs old and new, performed from the heart and with attitude.

Poet Smithy is on the right

Street Voices is an open group. Some of the core members have been part of the project since the start. Experience levels range from ex-pro to enthusiastic beginner. What they all have in common is a love of music.

Street Voices’ sound includes guitar, harmonica, tin whistle, and a variety of percussion, plus a range of vocal styles from folk to punk and back, taking in blues and rock on the way. Audience participation is often a feature - you have been warned!

The group began as an idea formulated by hostel project workers and voice coach Kay Barrett in response to requests for voice teaching by hostel residents. In May 2007 start-up funding for a performance group was obtained from the Cambridge City Council ’Kick-Start’ fund. Since then Street Voices has been meeting on Friday mornings at Akeman Street Community Centre in Cambridge and performing gigs on a regular basis.

Street Voices is currently supported by the English Churches Housing Group (ECHG) Missing Links project, but the budget is always tight, and the group welcomes donations of time, expertise or money from other sources.

You can listen to Street Voices singing Silent Night - with a poem about being homeless at Christmas, written and performed by Smithy - click on the link below for a carol with a difference!