For London Refugee Week, Bint Mbareh will be delivering  a communal vocalising  performance which will incorporate  members of the audience in a non-musical but poetic expression.

 A Voice Departs makes a choir of whoever is present. The choir does not sing, it recites, chants, yells, and uses the voice in non-musical ways that are obscured by the politeness and necessities of every day life. The process of turning from an audience into a choir only requires people to use their ears and voices and to be open to the invitations and offers being provided by Bint Mbareh – she might ask the group to split into groups and read different parts of a poem, she might ask certain members to enact the rhythm of the poem by clapping or otherwise, she might ask other members to become the echo of another group. The process of using their  voices together makes demystifies the shame and fear that lives in almost all of our voices.

Bint Mbareh is a sound artist focussed on the power of communal vocalising. Her research centres on  Palestinian folklore and its current potential for liberatory narratives, especially in the two fields of mourning/lamentation music and music used to summon rain and to praise water resources. Bint Mbareh works with Yamen Omer, a research collaborator.

Free event. Reserve your spot via Eventbrite here.

Image credit: Peter Adamik, Impuls Festival 2022.