Download SONGSTREETS via AswarmXR’s mobile app (App store for iOS)(Google Play for Android), and go on an immersive audio walk through the streets and culture of Brixton. Encounter the characters, stories and songs that make Brixton resonate, in an intimate, moving and ultimately uplifting performance experience. Led by the knowledge of Black Brixtonites, we journey into the heart and fire of what empowers this unique place.
Once downloaded head to the starting point of the walk which is 30 yards to the right on exiting Brixton Tube station (Near Pret) 419 Brixton Road, Brixton, London, SW9 8HE / GPS coordinates: 51.463087, -0.114776).
Once there, open Aswarm XR app and click on “SONGSTREETS” from the menu. (Note: The App may take 1-5 mins to download & open).
The App will instruct you from there – Enjoy your journey!
Things to note:
Things to note:
SONGSTREETS is an immersive audio-walk that takes approximately 45mins-1hr to complete with seated breaks. It’s designed to be experienced with earphones.
About the project
During October 2022, Indigenous Australian musician Jessie Lloyd undertook a residency in Brixton, working with the community to discover songs and stories from the 75 years that have passed since the Windrush brought the first post-war migrants to London from the Caribbean. Applying the methodology she evolved to work with Indigenous Elders in her MISSION SONGS project, and collaborating with Brixton-born artist Tony Cealy, Jessie explored the commonalities of experience between Indigenous Australians and Black Britons, using music to commemorate local heritage, within global histories of racism and emerging processes of reconciliation. Jessie’s grandfather Albie Geia was a leader in the 1957 Palm Island Strike, which, like the events in Brixton in 1981, were labelled ‘riots’, leading to Albie’s imprisonment.
ORIGINS commissioned Brixton-based sound artist, Thor McIntyre-Burnie, and his public arts company Aswarm, to respond to Jessie’s residency; creating a site-specific, immersive experience that weaves the songs through the streets of Brixton and uncovers their extraordinary stories. The result is this immersive, interactive audio-walk, accessed through AswarmXR’s mobile app.
Starting near Brixton tube, you can take an hour’s walk through the streets, which become enlivened and theatrical through the music, voices and stories of local people. When you come out of the tube, turn right and start the app by the two large trees about 30 yards away!
A whole host of incredibly talented people contributed to Songstreets in many ways: some composed new songs, some offered their own renditions of songs they felt were relevant to contribute, some added choral layers to group numbers and others contributed spoken stories or thoughts and reflections that left ripples.. all left footprints that resonated in these streets and it is to them we owe this piece.
They include:
Article Bird Legs
*Audrey Eccleston
Beryl & Her dog Marley
Bionic – Sound System culture expert, whose tiny store on Atlantic Rd, represents one of the last bastions of Brixton’s Dub session sound – long may he hold his ground.
*Carlton Brodin – Also recorded: HIll & Gully ( Jamaican Folk Song) + Enjoy Yourself ( Prince Buster version)
Mervelee Advocacy 
