In partnership with the Jewish Community Centre for London, we have commissioned three artists to make an aural response to the Spitalfields and Shoreditch areas from the perspective of each of the three Abrahamic faiths. Representing the Muslim commmunity, Sonia Mehta and the Nasha Crew, for the Christian community, Sukhdev Sandhu and Scanner and for the Jewish community, Max Reinhardt with guest artists Kuljit Bhamra (tabla), Denis Fernando (piano), Sonia Slany (violin), Arun Ghosh (clarinet), The Mint Juleps and members from the London Bulgarian Choir led by Dessislava Stefanova. The pieces will involve sound, text and imagery, and each response will be unique.

Booking for this event is now closed, tickets will be available on the door.

Listen to and watch online excerpts of the commissions here.

Sighs, Wonders

Words and Voice: Sukhdev Sandhu
Additional Voices: Paul Turp, Rector at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch 
Sound Design: Scanner
Length: 10 mins

The invasion of the Visigoths. The onward march of the Griffin. The role of corporate capital in mangling the languages of ethics and intimacy that the church tries to speak. This experimental sound piece is a drift through the yearning spaces of the East End: its dreams and disappointments, its fierce refusals and affirmation. It is as if eavesdropping into a misty day and falling into a plaintive dream, where Sandhu's libretto resonates against the brittle dark textures and ambience of East London composed by Scanner.

Click here to listen to an excerpt of Sighs, Wonders

Swirling Passages of Time
A Sufi Journey into East London’s Asian Global Phenomena

Words and Voice: Sonia Mehta
Visuals and Sound: Nasha Experience (Zahid aka Ges-e and Shohid aka Osmani)
Length: 6 mins

Central to the theme of this commission is spirituality, including aspects of Sufism in which music and literature are widely incorporated. The presentation includes tracks produced by the Nasha Crew, featuring vocals and spoken word by Sonia Mehta. Visual images of the urban landscape, seen through the eyes of the Asian community, accompany the sounds, centring on youth culture, spirituality and a music community that has been prolific to the East End.

The Fifth Quarter
Max Reinhardt has created 3 soundscapes that exist on the streets of Spitalfields and Whitechapel during the festival. They recall that brief chapter in local history when the butchers were kosher, Brick Lane Jamme Masjid (Great Mosque) was Machzike Adass Independent Orthodox Synagogue and Yiddish was the lingua franca. You can locate and listen to them if you follow the clues below...

Once an old fish and chip shop but now a Thai restaurant that smells of Rosas.

Search for the sound of the Red Flag in the galleries here on the Whitechapel Road

Great Garden Synagogue may be gone but it’s still the Business, or at least the business centre.