Viva Brighton Issue #63 May 2018
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BITS AND BOBS<br />
CHARITY BOX #25: BEST FOOT MUSIC<br />
We started around 2008. I’d been<br />
noticing a lot of negative press<br />
towards refugees and migrants. I<br />
remember seeing a story on Channel<br />
4 News one day about a family that<br />
had been attacked – it was terrible –<br />
and there was a clip of this guy getting<br />
onto a bus with this accordion<br />
on his back. That gave me a thought: maybe we could<br />
do something positive to showcase the music and<br />
culture that people bring when they come here.<br />
We do recordings, gigs, and fundraising for musicians<br />
from refugee and migrant backgrounds.<br />
We work as a booking agent as well. At first, if I saw<br />
someone in the street with an instrument I would<br />
just go up and chat to them and tell them about<br />
what we do. There’s a great European Romany band<br />
called Gypsy Stars that I saw busking in <strong>Brighton</strong><br />
maybe eight years ago, and I went up to them and<br />
we had a beer and a chat.<br />
We’ve been doing gigs with<br />
them ever since.<br />
We were at Glyndebourne<br />
with a couple of Syrian<br />
musicians recently. There<br />
were all these different people<br />
– filmmakers and writers<br />
and opera singers – all collaborating together. We<br />
get a lot of generic emails from people asking for<br />
‘some refugees’ – it’s very dehumanising. But when<br />
we arrived at Glyndebourne it was like they weren’t<br />
refugees, they were just good musicians who had<br />
something interesting and valid to contribute.<br />
Rebecca Cunningham spoke to Phillip Minns<br />
Day & Night EP by Syrian musicians Jamal and Alaa is<br />
on sale now. Proceeds go to the Sussex Syrian Community<br />
Hardship Fund. Look out for Best Foot musicians<br />
at The Great Escape: info at bestfootmusic.net<br />
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