The Voice Party, as a political movement conceptualised as a participatory opera. Standing in the UK election of  2019, The Voice Party challenged conventional political structures by advocating for the central role of music in daily life and proposing the governance of society based on the laws of pure sound and music.  The Voice Party manifestos central point is to create and not consume, therefore attempting to get to the root of the problem of overconsumption, the rape of Gaia, the insatiable and insane human desire for more-more-more, and the lack of social cohesion encouraged by mainstream politics in the attempt to divide in order to rule. 

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Drawing inspiration from the Deleuzian notion of 'Assemblage,' which emphasises fluidity and connectivity, a future is envisioned, where musical performance seamlessly intertwines with and shapes the fabric of society, rather than existing as a separate entity part form it. The Voice Party also explores strategies for achieving this vision, considering how participatory musical principles can be integrated into political frameworks.

The Voice Party aims to broaden the discourse on the intersection of arts and politics, prompting a reevaluation of traditional political engagement methods inviting communities to envision the potential outcomes that arise from placing music at the centre of political decision-making, utilising the transformative power of participatory opera in redefining political participation and fostering a re-evaluation of democratic systems.

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So how can political and musical structures be combined to produce an operatic form that doesn’t rely on representation and that goes beyond pure improvisation? The voice Party - ELECTION SPECIAL is another experiment into the quest to uncover operatic forms that are participatory and organic, but also repeatable. As an audience experience, it is possible to encounter it in several different ways, in real time as a participant, or by watching the piece in its non-narrative opera/film version filmed on mobile phone and GoPro cameras, as it unravelled during the election campaign in the UK of December 2019.

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The opera is in 2 acts.Act 1 - Election Campaign Act 2 - Election Night. I was experimenting also with the linguistic reductionism employed by election campaigns of all the parties, messages like ‘Get Brexit Done’ ‘ For the many, not the few’. My phrases were ‘Vote Voice’ ‘The Voice Party, the only party that promises nothing at all’, ‘ Fed up with the blah blah blah, vote voice for some la la la’, ‘Create don’t consume’.

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Flyers and posters were printed one side with the slogan and the other side with manuscript on it where the electorate were invited to write down their own creative response to the election. They were encouraged to write a song, poem, recipe or to draw something and post it to the Voice Party headquarters that was the Belgrade Cafe in Stoke Newington.

The Voice Party is a political party, an opera and a musical/artistic action with its own party manifesto that aims to overhaul the structure of society taking every aspect of political endeavour and reorganise them along musical principles.

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1. The Voice Party is the only party you cannot join,it joins you.

2. The Voice Party aims to put music at the centre of UK politics by using musical forms as templates for social               structures, and by the mandatory

implication of musical activity in all institutions and businesses. Any organisation caught not implementing this, will be heavily fined via the VOXCOIN* system.

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3. Fiscal policy: The Voice Party is not capitalist, hyper-capitalist or anti-capitalist, rather it is acapitalist. It has a specific afiscal policy and economic system and would put in place its own anti-currency, the VOXCOIN*. (see VOXCOIN* - the opera)

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4. Housing policy. Everyone should have one. All architectural structures would have included as priority in their planning, the acoustics of any new project. A building that has a wonderful acoustic as its primary objective will enhance the health and well-being of the population.

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5. Education policy: Music is obviously mandatory, all lessons of all subjects must be vocalised in song, history must be taught via musical history of all cultures, science must be taught through the prism of music.

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6. Healthpolicy:Everyone gets treatment when they need it.

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The Voice Party ‘joined to it’, a front bench cabinet of advisers. To be invited, these people must be musicians of some discipline. In addition to
This The Voice Party insists, if it were to be in power that all politicians of all parties would go through a stringent ‘blind’ audition to be allowed to serve and must also be proficient in at least 2 languages (in addition to their mother tongue). They have to have lived in another country for at least 3 years.

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Front bench cabinet at the time of election December 12th 2019

Party Leader : Lore Lixenberg
Minister of Fluids and Fluidity (Home secretary) : Bill Banks Jones
Minister of VOXCOIN* : Natalie Raybould
Minster of Vintage Clothing (environment) : Heloise Werner
Minister of Knowledge and Mental pleasures : Martina Schwarz
Minister of Flirtatiousness and charm (Home Secretary): Elise Lorraine
Minister of Wheels, air, earth and water(Transport) : Joost de Kraamer
Minister of gatherings, parties, weddings, funerals ,end of the world soirees : Richard Thomas

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Further operas arising from The Voice Party will explore different aspects of political endeavour as musical structure and vice versa.

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‘The Voice Party - The Election Special’ is presented as a film intended to be listened to over headphones as an installation in a gallery. There are two concurrent soundtracks attached to the film, the natural ambience of the situations as they unfolded and a through composed, superimposed soundtrack created from electronically manipulated ‘found sounds’ from the campaign, looped operatic extracts and also speeches from historical election camapigns. The quality of some of the audio and visuals is low and this is intended.

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The Voice Party is currently in preparation for the next UK election which will be in 2024/25. Growing from being on only one UK constituency of Stoke Newington and Hackney North to candidates also in Cornwall and York. Please feel free to drop me a line if you are interested in Voice Party activities.

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