With XANA, Majd Alsaif, Richard Bramwell and James Esson.

There are a myriad of forces at work that prevent, enable and force movement. Borders prevent freedom of movement between states. Police and private security regulate movement through social space. Social housing tenants are forcibly relocated as areas are gentrified. Such issues disproportionately affect black people. Yet being made to move is not always a negative phenomenon; and a number of black musicians and artists have explored the role that music can play in creating times and spaces of collective empowerment to subvert, resist and overcome these power structures.

Through live performance and discussion, this event will explore the relationships between blackness, music, and the (in)ability to move. What is the relationship between grime and social housing? What does it mean when songs can cross borders but people can’t? How might music work within, against, and beyond a world in which free movement is denied to so many?

A panel conversation will feature all participants and the audience. XANA will also perform Movement in Minus a sonic loop exploration into the frequencies of pirate radio and how it is used to instil longevity within Black and POC communities.

XANA is a live loop musician, sound designer, composer and poet - often working collaboratively with other artists, researchers, theatre practitioners and filmmakers. In particular Xana is passionate about working with young people, devising creative workshops, encouraging the engagement of others with music, and broadcast technology. They are an organiser of Afrotech Festival; a recipient of Spitalfields Music Open Call funding award; and an artist in residence at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, where they devise workshops for young people. Xana’s interests include archives as places of active memory and future building; sound in architecture; data and its impact on local communities and stories around transhumanism. 

JAMES ESSON is a Lecturer in Human Geography at Loughborough University. His research is broadly located within the field of development geography, and contributes to debates in geography and the wider social sciences by examining development processes in relation to three areas: 1) Unconventional approaches to development 2) International Migration 3) Urban Dynamics. He is Co-Chair of Loughborough University’s BME Staff Network and heads the RGS-IBF RACE Working Group’s Learning and Teaching subcommittee. 

RICHARD BRAMWELL is a Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University. His current research explores the performance of alternative identities through rap; examining the role that hip hop and grime play in a variety of institutional contexts. These include prisons, youth centres, and an arts charity. He is interested in the impact that rap has had on organisations wholly or partially funded by local or national government; the role that the state plays in fostering Britain's rap cultures through these organisations; and how young people perform their identities and represent their communities through rap. 

MAJD ALSAIF is a BSc Media, Culture and Society student at Loughborough University. She is on the committee of Loughborough University’s Ethnic Minorities Network, has been involved with a number of musical events in Loughborough, and is interested in issues around race, gender and social justice.