Local people who care passionately about Brixton’s music, history and culture wanted for a unique Music project.

Indigenous Australian musician Jessie Lloyd has been researching and reviving old mission songs through consultation with senior Indigenous songmen and songwomen since 2016. The huge success of her Mission Songs Project has led to an invitation to London from Border Crossings’ ORIGINS Festival, where she will apply her Indigenous methodology of working with communities in an international context, to a creative music context with elders and youth in the Black community around Brixton with Tony Cealy from 81 Acts of Exuberant Defiance.

Jessie’s grandfather Albie Geia was a leader in the 1957 Palm Island Strike, which, like the events in Brixton, was labelled a “riot”, leading to his imprisonment.

We will explore the commonalities of experience between Indigenous Australians and Black Britons, using music to commemorate a specific heritage and emphasise its place within global histories of racism and emerging processes of reconciliation.

Join Jessie to jam or listen – bring an instrument and enjoy!