When Covid-19 thwarted their plans to make a new show, RashDash looked to the music that has always been at the heart of their work and made an album instead.
Don’t Go Back To Sleep: The Lockdown Album is based on interviews with people across the globe. The album draws on musical influences from pop and punk to folk, and includes a track created in British Sign Language.
The Lockdown Album
The album features 18 participants from across 12 countries, including a mother in Milan, a professor in Britain, a student in China and a doctor in Sweden. RashDash have sampled these interviews and woven the text from transcripts into songs. The songs shine a light on the personal and political, the anxieties, realisations, and moments of joy when we find ourselves confined to our homes.
The contributors voices can be heard on the album. There’s a man in Mumbai, whose work usually takes him away from home but has spent 26 days with his 26 year old daughter for the first time during lockdown; a Swedish doctor in favour of his government’s no-lockdown stance; a young participant in the National Youth Theatre of Kenya who offers views from Nairobi’s Mathari slum; an anonymous woman in China who is surprised by our lack of co-operation with the rules in Britain; and a New Zealander, eagerly returning to normal social life as her country declares the all clear.
A pop, punk, folk, anthemic trip around the world and into the everyday human experience of 2020, the show asks ‘Where have we found joy in this time?’, ‘How have our relationships with our families and loved ones changed?’, ‘What do we dream of doing when we have freedom again?’, ‘How do we make the most of this opportunity and stop ourselves going back to sleep?’
Where to hear the album
The album is available to listen to from most major streaming services. The album is also due to receive its live debut this month in Manchester (if lockdown restrictions allow it), at HOME.
The award-winning trio RashDash are a company of performers, musicians and makers, comprising Abbi Greenland, Becky Wilkie and Helen Goalen.
If you’re looking for more events to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa, try these.
When: The album is available to listen to now. Live performances at HOME, from 21st October 2020
Where: Via streaming services and live at HOME in Manchester
£: The album is free to listen to, but donations most welcome. Tickets for the live event are £10
More info: www.rashdash.co.uk
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