Recently I contributed a track to the Radio Continental Drift compilation A Radio-Bridge across the Zambezi. The compilation consists of remixes by artists and radio-makers from around the world, in response to audio/radio pieces from both sides of the Zambezi river. The BaTonga people of the area lost their land when the Zambezi Valley was flooded to construct the Kariba dam and lake in a colonial, World Bank financed project at the end of the 1950s. The Tonga people had to undergo the traumatic experience of forceful removal and resettlement, while the benefits of Kariba bypass most of the rural communities to this day. “After 60 years of struggle, the Valley Tonga people have a story to tell about cultural survival, creative resilience and determination for self-help and self-organisation.”

All proceeds from the online sales will benefit the radio-makers in training in Sinazongwe (Zambia) and Binga (Zimbabwe). For more information and adventurous music and sonic art, please see the link below:

A Radio​-​Bridge across the Zambezi on Bandcamp

My piece, Absent River, features a story and voice by Lucia Munenge. I was drawn to her story about the challenges for women to provide fresh water in Binga, to the importance of her message globally, and to the cadence of her voice musically. I wanted to create a minimal, water-like musical accompaniment around her story and treat her voice as a musical instrument on its own, a crucial part of the emerging soundscape.