Songstreets offers an interactive journey through the streets and culture of Brixton, accessed via Aswarm XR’s mobile app - Led by the knowledge of Black Brixtonites, we journey into the heart and fire of what empowers this unique place, exploring how songs can spark pathways into the hidden stories & cultural memories embedded in our streets.
these songs sort of preserve a time that 100 yrs in the future, we may be very disconnected to. »Jessie Lloyd
It began when Border Crossings ORIGINS Festival commissioned us to respond to the work of Indigenous Australian musician Jessie Lloyd, who they had commissioned to undertake a residency in Brixton, working with the local community to discover songs and stories from the 75 years that have passed since the Windrush brought the first post-war migrants to London from the Caribbean.
• Its Free and easy to use
• A gentle stroll of 45mins -1hr, with seated breaks (2km).
• Journey can be paused & reaccessed at any point
• Compatible with i-Phone 9 or Android OS 10 and above.
• Designed for headphones.
Step 1: DOWNLOAD The ASWARM XR App.
Step 2: GO TO START by the 2 Big Trees just 30 yards to the right, on exiting Brixton Tube Station.
Step 3: OPEN ASWARM XR App + then open SONGSTREETS from Menu.
CLICK HERE FOR LAUNCH EVENT INFO
THE LAUNCH EVENT STARTS: 14.30 @ WINDRUSH SQ, BRIXTON, LONDON, SW2 1JQ
A whole host of incredibly talented people contributed to Songstreets in many ways: some composed new songs, some offered their own renditions of songs they felt were relevant to contribute, some added choral layers to group numbers and others contributed spoken stories or thoughts and reflections that left ripples.. all left footprints that resonated in these streets and it is to them we owe this piece.
They include:
(* = The voices who sang: Brixton Market, Brown Girl, Rivers of Babylon, Three Little Birds, Windrush/Irex Sails away.)
Ambient Contributions & Community Sessions:
Studio recording sessions @ Raw Materials (Brixton):
BORDER CROSSINGS’ ORIGINS FESTIVAL CELEBRATES THE WORLD’S FIRST NATIONS IN AN EXPLOSION OF ART, PERFORMANCE AND DEBATE.
ORIGINS creates a unique opportunity to engage with Indigenous artists and activists at the cutting edge of cultural resistance, environmentalism and spiritual tradition. Working with some of the most significant cultural institutions in London, ORIGINS brings the world's Indigenous artists and cultures to the heart of the capital.
Border Crossings came to us back in 2020, as part of the 81Acts movement (commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Brixton Uprisings of 1981) and the UK/Australia season 21/22, with the question how could we use our unique skill - for connecting people, place and technology into interactive public art works- to respond and compose to Jessies Lloyds research within Brixton's community. - We then promptly entered the Covid era.. We're really delighted to say we've since built a really good collaborative working relationship, together making sure the seeds of Jessie Lloyd's residency in Brixton have grown and blossomed into something we're really proud of: Songstreets - An art project that is both rooted in the Black and Caribbean community of Brixton and that has tendrils that reach deep down under responding to Jessies perspective too.
Jessie Lloyd is an award-winning Indigenous Australian singer, social historian and cultural practitioner of Indigenous song, who revives the music of Indigenous Elders in Australia. As with Jessie's MISSION SONGS PROJECT, in Brixton she embarked on a musical journey with the local community, to research and reveal the forgotten stories and unexplored corners of recent history. Her process ranged from collaborating with the community to compose new songs, to recording existing songs that the community felt served to trigger and carry stories, to writing her own inspired by these encounters.
Leon is a Creative Technologist whose joined forces with us to build the platform Aswarm XR.
Also a former resident of Brixton, just off the Railton Rd, this journey and Black experience has a personal resonance for him.
Leon's breadth of experience developing innovative projects across AR, VR and Mixed Reality as well as Interactive technology via his company Gesture Ltd, made him a natural collaborative partner .
Drawing on over 20 yrs of experience in both the corporate and Arts sector, Gesture offers an end-to-end design & development service.
Experienced in conducting R&D for organisations such as American Express, The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Honeywell, Hitachi, UBS, EE and Tideway. Gesture has also produced interactive content for London Fashion Week, the Venice Biennale and the Science Museum.
