A Raybel Charters 'Culture Cargo' event for the Totally Thames Festival. Onboard Sailing Barge Raybel - St Katharine Docks
EVE ATKINSON
A multilingual (English, Italian, Arabic) spoken word artist and fervent lover of language, Eve will run a writing workshop that sources words from the many languages spoken along and introduced via the Thames estuary, using spoken word and poetry as a means of cultural exchange and collaboration. Blending the found languages of the participants in the room with proverbs and wisdom from many cultures and countries, (Cockney to Yoruba, Patois to Arabic) the resulting poems will resemble the melting pot of the city and the people whose lives are parallel to the river's.
SAM WATSON
Tamesis explores the ancient feminine archetype of the river as She appears reflected in our lived experiences of sovereignty and subjugation. Tamesis complicates these narratives by casting environmental extractivism as misogyny.Fey Hound splashes alongside this narrative of the goddess, conjuring Her waters with yearning epithets awash in timeless tides of melody. The Fey Hound heralds a mystical thinning of the veil upon the bough, combining haunting, ethereal vocals and the winding, hypnotic drones of the hurdy gurdy. (This piece will explore sensitive themes including femicide and sexual assault. Viewer discretion is advised and the space operates as 16+ plus.)
CIRENNE
Duo Caelia and Celeste perform original music for violin/viola and trumpet/electronics/found objects, taking an experimental approach that draws on klezmer, jazz, free improv, and chamber music. The result is rich and varied, journeying between worlds, spanning the evocative and atmospheric, dancing and rhythmic, sometimes brooding, and frequently funny. While the music is instrumental, compositions address real-life themes, from ecological change and the generational legacies of climate emergency, to crossing oceans during journeys of forced migration.