In collaboration with the City of London, Nonclassical presents 66 Days – a digital multimedia project marking 400 years since the Mayflower sailed to America. We spoke with Dan Samsa about his collaboration, creative process and how his piece will explore the themes of journeys, migration and cultural identities.
About the artists
Dan Samsa
South East London composer, performer, producer and DJ Dan Samsa is particularly fascinated with connecting his classical music experience with his deep connection to London’s diverse music scene. As a DJ, he’s performed at leading UK nightclubs and has supported international acts, including DJ Yoda and The Scratch Perverts. He is currently curating the London360 festival where he’ll be debuting his second album, featuring a 360 sound system, brass ensembles, vocalists, drums, piano and drum machine.
Alison D'Souza
Alison completed her undergraduate degree at the Royal College of Music in 2009 and then her MA at the Royal Academy of Music in 2011 studying under Martin Outram. Since graduating Alison has been juggling an exciting schedule of freelance opportunities and musical projects as an orchestral and chamber music player. Touring to India with Anglo Indian music productions for a new Bollywood film release and again on an orchestra tour for a private Indian wedding in Udaipur. She won a place on 'Chipping Campden Academy Festival orchestra' and in the same year performed with the British Heritage orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall. Alison sailed the Med several times with different cruise lines as part of ‘Graffiti Classics’ company (a high energy live performance and dance comedy show). Alison has also played several times with Multi-Story orchestra who perform and rehearse in Peckham car park as well as touring local primary schools to introduce and captivate young audiences to classical music. In 2019 Alison travelled to Dublin to play with RTE Symphony Orchestra. She plays in various opera productions out of London including Winslow and Bampton Opera festival. Alison has played with Welsh National Opera where she was on trial and also performs and tours with all the ballet orchestras including Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and English National Ballet. She regularly plays for the Nutcracker season at the Coliseum and is in and out of the Royal Opera House and Sadlers Wells with London and San Francisco ballet companies. She also played with West-African Jazz style ‘Engines orchestra’ playing alongside jazz guitar soloist Femi Temowo and his band; recent performances have been at Ronnie Scott’s. Alison regularly performs with her band ‘The Little Unsaid’ recent winners of the Steve Reid Innovation Award for boundary-pushing new music creators at many big music festivals including Glastonbury, Wilderness, Secret Garden Party and Larmer Tree. The band has recently been signed to Reveal Records following tours to Holland and Germany for the second time at the end of 2016. The band regularly tour around the UK and have just released a new album called ‘Atomise.’ Most recently Alison has enjoyed performing with various orchestras and ensembles at top venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Somerset House and also regular ‘candlelight’ concerts at St Martin in the Field’s. She has also been involved in recording sessions and performances with London Contemporary Orchestra for the Hollywood blockbuster film ‘Assassin’s Creed’ and both latest Alien film and latest Matrix film at Air and Abbey Road Studios. Alison also performed in the premiere of Phantom Thread at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this year with the LCO and toured around the UK with live performances of ‘There Will be Blood.’ Last Autumn Alison played as part of a small LCO chamber ensemble on a collaborative project with spoken word artist and activist ‘Moor Mother’ touring to Europe with their final performance in London.
What ideas are you hoping to explore in this project? How does it relate back to the themes of journeys, migration and cultural identities?
Deeper consideration into the themes of migration have led me to focus my attention on how this accelerating global movement and flow of people is deeply embedded into the makeup of my own community. Deptford is a vibrant mix of races and cultures where there is a bustling market on the high street where I’ve lived for the past nine years. Within metres of my front door there are numerous food outlets including greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers, takeaways, supermarkets and food stalls selling and preparing food from all over the globe, making this a hot spot for races and cultures, mixing and colliding alongside each other.
Even in the global and multicultural melting pot of London, due to historical steering of ethnic groups, discrimination and distrust of ethnic minorities and most recently the rapid gentrification of inner city areas, racial segregation is still a common aspect of society, but where foods are bought and sold cultures merge and interact. Food brings people together and is a way of connecting people from all walks of life. In a city where a multitude of different foods often feels limitless, it is easy to forget how fragile our food supply chains can be. Nothing highlighted this fragility better than when the reality of the Coronavirus pandemic set in. The haunting news footage of long queues for groceries and empty supermarket shelves from our neighbouring European countries soon became our own reality when the rumours of a nationwide lockdown became an imminent truth. Suddenly, crowds of people flocked to Deptford high street en masse to stockpile food as tremors of panic gripped our imagination.
What elements will you be using, and how do you envisage your project coming together?
Further expanding the 360° sound recording and editing techniques developed in my recent compositional works, I aim to present this gathering and mixing of the community like never before. Applying techniques for both 360° audio and video simultaneously for the first time, I’ll create an audio-visual piece that highlights the regular, explosive pulsation of diversity and colour on the high street. Taking inspiration from the 66-day voyage in 1620 of the Mayflower ship taking Pilgrim settlers to America, I'll create a number of recordings from each hour of the 24-hour day and create a time loop of 66 days. I’ll collaborate closely with the instrumentalist – Alison – who will be positioned at a different location on the high street for each recording, perhaps exploring themes and melodies from traditional American folk songs related to food, land and thanksgiving, such as This Land Was Made For You and Me. The final piece will consist of a 360° audio-visual piece that can be experienced as a multichannel sound installation, online facebook/youtube 360° video or stereo playback. For the City of London online festival, viewers will be able to use headphones and rotate the video on their smartphones, sonically and visually exploring the 360° space.
How will you be working with your collaborator? Will their input affect your writing?
We have already discussed and developed the musical ideas together at length. Alison will be performing the musical material for the sessions on her viola, and she'll be featuring in the video on the high street too.
Watch the works created by our Associate Composers with collaborators for the 66 Days project.