Malala Yousafzai’s 2013 speech to the UN, in which she spoke powerfully about every girl’s right to an education, has been set to music.
BBC Radio 3 announced it commissioned the composer Kate Whitley to set to music the text, by the schoolgirl who survived a murder attempt by the Taliban, as part of programming for International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March.
The piece, called Speak Out, will be performed for the first time at the BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff by the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and broadcast on Radio 3.
Yousafzai became known across the world after her speech in New York,when she was only 16. The Pakistani schoolgirl began campaigning for girls’ education at the age of 11 and in 2012 she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban. Afterwards she was flown to the UK for treatment and now lives in Birmingham.
She said she was “honoured and excited that my speech inspired a composer to set it to music”. Yousafzai, who in 2014 became the youngest person to win the Nobel peace prize, added: “As the speech is a call to raise our voices, it makes me very happy that it will be sung by a large choir, that so many voices will rise to share the message of education for all.
“It is wonderful that the message and the music will reach many more people through the live broadcast.”
Whitley said she had taken four of Yousafzai’s statements and turned them into a verse about the power of words in the struggle against oppression.
The first is sung by a children’s choir alone: “Let us pick up our books and pens / Let us wage a glorious struggle / We can never all succeed when half of us are held back / One child, one pen, one teacher, one book can change our world.”
The piece ends with the repeated phrases: “Today is the day of every woman, every man, every boy and every girl”, and “Today is the day we speak out”.
Whitley said she felt lucky to be asked. “The theme for International Women’s Day 2017 is ‘Be Bold For Change’ – trying to find ways to make a more gender-inclusive world – which chimes exactly with what Malala’s text is about.”
Radio 3 is also marking the day by inviting six female composers to take over the schedules, with Alissa Firsova in charge of Breakfast, Sally Beamish on Essential Classics duty, Tansy Davies in charge of Afternoon on 3, Errollyn Wallen curating In Tune, Annette Peacock on Late Junction and Kerry Andrew sharing her Late Junction Mixtape.
Choral Evensong, meanwhile, will feature the first live broadcast from Truro Cathedral’s recently formed girl choristers.
The programmes were announced by Radio 3 controller Alan Davey in a speech to the Association of British Orchestras conference in Bournemouth.
Among the things being debated this week is a new report which revealed that Britain’s orchestras are reaching more people, but with less money. The figures showed a 7% increase in concerts and performances, and reaching 900,000 children and young people – a 35% increase on previous figures. It came against a 5% drop in total income.
The association’s director, Mark Pemberton, warned that orchestras could not continue doing more for less.
“The government has this year implemented orchestra tax relief and this will offset some of the cuts in public funding imposed since 2010 – but it is far from enough. We need national and, most crucially, local government to restore funding closer to pre-austerity levels to enable our members to continue delivering great music to the widest possible audience.”
