My name is Rebekah Ubuntu. I am a multi-media performance artist, musician and recent graduate of the British Institute of Modern Music London. I have just completed two conceptual EPs slated for release in 2019/2020. I feel honoured to be Guest Editor for the August edition of Sound and Music’s blog ‘The Sampler’. Thank you for having me!

For me survival is the core of my creative practice. As a Black non-binary gender non-conforming queer person I make work that centers, visibilises and normalises who I am. When it came time to choose my interviewees I asked five contemporaries from within the queer and *QTIBPOC arts scene to participate and they kindly agreed. I wanted to explore with each of my siblings how their identities influenced their sound and music practices.

I hope you enjoy!

*You will find a helpful glossary of terms relevant to these interviews in a digital publication entitled ‘Women and Non-Binary Identities’ created by the educational platform Shades of Noir which is linked to at the bottom of each interview.

 

I interviewed the following practitioners

Ayesha Tan Jones aka YaYa Bones

Lorraine James

Daniel Brathwaite Shirley

Hannah Catherine Jones aka Foxy Moron

Jaca Freer

For accompanying interview audio see here

 

The questions I explored with these artists were:

  1. In one sentence tell me who you are
  2. How would you describe the sound and music you make?
  3. How does your music express (or not express) your identity?
  4. How does your identity inform (or not) your creative process? Feel free to comment on the kinds of software / instruments / approaches / research you use.
  5. I am compiling a ten-track playlist and would love to feature a work of yours and one artist / sound practitioner / band you would recommend.
  6. What question would you love to answer that I haven’t asked here?

 

URLs

Hannah Catherine Jones aka Foxy Moron

http://foxymoron.co.uk/

Ayesha Tan Jones aka YaYa Bones

http://www.ayeshatanjones.com/

Lorraine James

https://lorainejames.bandcamp.com/

Daniel Brathwaite Shirley

https://danielbs2211.wixsite.com/daniel

Jaca Freer

http://freerideas.org/

 

*Terminology Glossary (created by Shades of Noir)

https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/women___non_binary_identities/8