Joe Namy
Radio Underground
[An angelic harp]
[A note held like a breath]
Ekow: You're listening to the sound of the underground.
…radio Underground.
[A distant whistle rises]
[Melodic flute slips through, Bach's Air on a G String plays under]
Presenter: Coming up next, the weather report.
This is the Weather Underground for Waterloo.
[A shimmer of light]
[Soft synths]
Weather presenter: The weather today is windy
…with pockets of 150 year old air gliding in from the depths.
[A rush of wind, a tunnel taking a breath]
[A train whistles]
[An exhalation, a rush of air breathes into the flute melody]
[Flute turns over and over itself before fluttering to a stop]
[A trill, sharp and exciting, is blown into the wind]
[Gentle, low melodies embrace you]
Presenter: And now. Deep breath.
[Air rushes into lungs]
[Music rises from below]
[Sharp notes shimmer and dissolve into light]
[Nai Barghouti begins to sing]
Relaxation Presenter: And now relax.
[The light disappears]
[A theremin's soft sigh dives down into the depths]
Ekow: And now…
[A beat breaks]
…it's the tube quiz and I'm your host, Ekow. Our first question: day tube or night tube?
[A warm bass beat]
Nathanael: I love the underground at night. Those sneaky tubes that are late night tubes I love.
[flute haunts the beat]
I love the late night tube. I detest the early morning at 7am going to work, but the late night tube. There's something about the last train, and everyone's just a bit jollier...
[A rhythm like a racing heart, thuds insistently]
..I've made friends on the last train home because I got last train home, and I just end up sitting opposite.. and I've like met 2 or 3 people who I've kept in touch with.
[The beat stops]
My name is Nathanael and I am the Director of Colour Factory in Hackney Wick. We are a nightclub. We mostly do events for minority communities, for LGBTQ+AI communities and people of colour.
[flute flutters, a butterfly in mid air]
Everything from wrestling to jazz nights to techno. One of the things that we pride ourselves on is the ability to create a space where people do feel incredibly included and the safest possible space where people can really express their identity.
[A rush of air]
And, you know, sometimes the door opens and a little bit of that slips out into the real world and I think it helps the real world also become more inclusive.
[A melodic breath of flute rises upwards]
Miss Alexis: You're listening to the sound of the underground
[a warm, bass beat begins to play]
This is Jubi(lee) style… bringing you the hottest looks on the platform.
[The music breaks into a run, a racing heartbeat]
The train doors have opened and [Gasps, applause] oh my, our first model has just minded the gap.
[Music and applause thunders]
[The crunch of bass eating the track]
Miss Immaculate. I love your look. Tell us what you're wearing?
[The sweep of a harp brushes the music away]
Child: Thanks Miss Alexis, my princess dress is from the playground and my keffiyeh is from home.
[Fingers move tenderly across the strings of an oud]
[The gliding of fingers weaves into an exhalation]
[A breath across flute]
Ekow: You're listening to the Radio Underground. Up next….
[A melody, tender and low]
Wissam: For me, like music, I describe it as like the eyes, how I see the world, It's not my soul, it's my eyes.
[A bass oud note strikes time as the melody ripples upwards]
[The melody gathers pace, dancing with itself]
[Occasional slow exhalations move beneath the melody]
[The movement slows to an insistent rhythm]
[flute breathes low and steady into the space]
[A flute melody floats high in the air, a kite caught in the wind]
[Short, sharp melodic breaths]
Saied: My name is Saied Silbak, I'm a Palestinian composer, oud player, singer.
Wissam: And I'm Wissam Boustany, I'm a flute player and conductor, I compose a little bit, and I'm a trustee..
[The melody dissolves into slow held breaths]
…and music advisor for PalMusic UK, which is a UK based charity that supports the Edward Said Conservatory of Music in Palestine.
[Musical breath moves in and out, waves undulating beneath the sound]
I like to think that we are giving children that are learning music, the tools not just to learn their instrument, but to negotiate what is a very, very tough life these days with what music has to teach us as human beings.
[Breath through the body of the flute]
Saied: And then all of a sudden, you remember, sometimes just letting a moment of rest, a moment of peace, letting the note decay naturally, and everyone sighs. There's so much power in that.
[A wavering, distant flute]
Ekow: Up next, the voice of your voyage.
[Melts into a warm, bass beat]
Miss Alexis: Hello.
[The harp ripples in the distance, an angelic rave]
How are you today? I'm your host, Alexis. Miss Alexis actually, I am talking to you in the blue jeans, white trainers and a lovely black cap on your head. Yes, please lift your eyes up for just a moment and open your ears. You never know you might enjoy what I'm about to tell you.
[The beat stops. The scene dissolves in a shimmer of celestial harps]
[Singing, dissolving, into the reverberations of a tunnel]
Summertime and the living is easy.
Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high
[The melody's distant echoes rustle like wind through reeds]
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good looking
So hush, little baby, don't you cry….
[The echoes of the melody melt into flute]
Presenter: You're listening to the sound of the Radio Underground, an audio artwork.
[A voice hums, low, like distant whale song]
Ekow: Next up…
[A beat breaks]
…today's topic, how has the tube influenced the music scene in London? Does the transport network affect music networks?
[A voice like the whistle of a train coming nearer]
[A flute melody, blown by the wind]
Lenny: South east London has been neglected in terms of transport links…
[Wind moves through an empty tunnel]
…that has bred a music scene which is very deeply rooted in the cultures and communities that have existed in south east London. And very deeply rooted in the politics of that area, like twinned with it, in a way.
[The melodies continue, dissolving into distance, humming and haunting the underground]
Sophie: My name is Sophie Farrell and I'm one of the co-founding Directors of Sister Midnight and we are working towards opening a community music venue down in Lewisham.
Lenny: And I'm Lenny one of the other co-founders of Sister Midnight..
[Gentle bass notes, the slow flow of a flute]
…really we're a community project and music is just kind of the tool.
Miss Alexis: And in the words of Soul II Soul, keep on moving and don't stop.
‘Radio Underground’ is a sound work by artist Joe Namy for Waterloo Underground commissioned by Art on the Underground and supported by Arts Council England.
‘Radio Underground’ has been developed in conversation with - Sister Midnight, a cooperative community radio station in south London; Colour Factory, a live music venue and nightclub in Hackney; and PalMusic UK, a music education charity supporting young Palestinian Musicians and celebrating Palestinian music. These groups are supported by the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme.
Credits
Voices:
Ekow Oliver, presenter and Transport for London employee
Val Woods, relaxation presenter
Isabella Cobb, weather presenter
Nai Barghouti, siren
Nathanael Williams, Colour Factory
Miss Alexis Bailey, style presenter, songstress and London Underground Customer Service Assistant
Wissam Boustany, PalMusic UK
Saied Silbek, PalMusic UK
George Mills, child protester
Clara Buffong, presenter
Lenny Watson, Sister Midnight
Sophie Farrel, Sister Midnight
Music:
Lenny Watson, theremin
Ruth Montgomery, flute
Wissam Boustany, flute
Saied Silbek, oud
Joe Namy, drums
Star Power Drummer, drums
With an excerpt from:
Nai Barghouti, Granada Calling (acapella)
Recorded and mixed at Somerset House Studios, Studio 53, Wysing Arts Centre, and BBS Community Radio.
Additional recordings by Other Cinemas. Special thanks to Audiovisability for accessibility consultation and thanks to Zain Dada, Suhel Nafar and Amal Khalaf.
Project Curator Louise Shelley
Producer Elizabeth Ferguson
Design and Digital Production by Hato