Collision & Conflict

By Olivia Furber and Ramzi Maqdisi

All Walls Must Fall transports listeners to 3 conflicted landscapes in which we hear the accounts of inhabitants whose lives have been divided by a wall. The walls in each of these cities are all in different stages of their existence; One of them stands, one of them has fallen and the other continues to grow.

Written by Olivia Furber and Ramzi Maqdisi Sound Design by Ross Flight Voiced by Nisreen Faour, Christopher Sherwood and Olivia Furber

By Ellen Moran

In Rubble, Ellen walks a psychological trail between village and city, exploring how it feels to move from one environment to the other. The cut stone of rural village buildings are seen in stark contrast to the rubble of cities covered in litter as aspects of modern counter-urbanisation are explored. The poet places herself within the swathe of migrants to the countryside who can work from home as a result of the pandemic but must be committed to using local services, supporting local businesses and playing an active part in the community.

Written and performed by Ellen Moran Contributors Malcolm Redman, Bush Nook Farmhouse

By Dan Fox

Recurve places the listener in the shoes of a Syrian horse archer stationed in this bleak outpost 3000 miles from his home in Aleppo. Carrying a traditional double curved, recurve bow made from wood, bone and sinew the archer would patrol the wall on horseback. Dan has combined Syrian rhythms, instruments, recorded sounds of bows, arrows and horses and played at a walking tempo enabling you to imagine yourself on horseback patrolling and hunting along the line of the wall. The work also reflects the continuing displacement of Syrians in the 21st century as a result of conflict and war.

Composition and original recordings by Dan Fox

By Jose Snook & Dean Dennis

Peregrination makes use of the songs and calls of selected migratory birds to reflect upon the historical presence and experience of the African people who lived and worked along Hadrian’s Wall. Human and avian journeys are interwoven via the interpretation of bird song using West African instrumentation. In the making of Peregrinations we also contemplate the collisions and conflicts which may arise upon encountering the familiar within unfamiliar lands, or the unexpected within familiar localities.

Composition & recording by Jose Snook & Dean Dennis

By :zoviet*france:

The hidden, often inaudible sounds around Walltown interwoven with lost sounds from the past and the wind singing through harp strings on top of the crags.

Recorded sounds in the order that you’ll hear them: Opening the gate out of Walltown car park to cross the Military Road to the walk down to Thirlwall Castle. Imagined rocket engine test firing at Spadeadam. Wire fence humming and rattling in the wind, Rabbit Heugh. The crackle of tiny bubbles from damp, expirating moss, Walltown Crags. Dead leaves on a young oak tree, Horsetail Ponds – the only leaves to have remained on the trees there, despite the winter storms, are on the young oaks. The outflow from Horsetail Ponds draining into the culvert. Wind harp twang followed by walking in a circle by Horsetail Ponds. A descent into sub-aqua subsonics: dropping a hydrophone into Horsetail Ponds followed by the subsonic cracking of ice and wind booming across the ice, Quarry Lake, recorded with a geophone. Wire fence humming and rattling in the wind, Rabbit Heugh (processed) and the crackling of electromagnetic activity in the ionosphere generating very low frequency radio waves captured at Walltown Crags – each click is a bolt of lightning somewhere within a 2000 mile radius. Wind harps, Walltown Crags. Steam train, recorded by Kit Haigh's dad, Peter Haigh Throughout: occasional water boatman stridulation from Horsetail Ponds.

Composition and original recordings by :zoviet*france:

By Bridie Jackson & Jude Irwin

Walls within Walls is a piece in 3 movements, each featuring short snippets lovingly edited from over ten hours of fascinating and insightful recorded conversations with local residents conducted during lockdown over Zoom by Bridie Jackson and local writer, Jude Irwin.

The listener is invited to consider the complex daily reality of life on the wall and the challenges this presents, including climate change, the impact of both farming and tourism on the environment and ownership of the landscape.

There is an inherent duality to these conversations, but ultimately residents are in agreement that there is no place they would rather be.

Vocals/ Piano/Recording, etc - Bridie Jackson Viola/Mixing/Recording - Nick Pierce Community engagement and additional writing - Jude Irwin

Contributors Stephen Middleton Neil Park Ian Brown Dave Walker Gary Pickles, Northumberland National Park Linda Rawlinson Gill Cowell Lyn Murray Dan Dowling Andrew Birley, Vindolanda Trust

By Emma Newrick

The Memory of Water is narrated by the spirit of the Tipalt Burn, a witness to all the stories unfolding alongside the burn from the Romans to the Reivers. The theme of conflict over ownership has been a constant throughout history in this part of the country. I am interested in the concept of ‘who does the land belong to' and alongside that, ‘is it the people who give the land its identity, or the other way around?’ This is something that is still relevant to our community today, in particular when it comes to our sometimes uneasy relationships with those we share our countryside with.

Written and performed by Emma Newrick

By Iona Lane

Tipalt Burn follows a conversation between the burn and Hadrian's Wall over the course of hundreds of years. At the time of the wall being built it stood out from the landscape, unlike the burn that has been flowing for many years. As time passed and the Roman Empire fell, the stone was repurposed into homes and farm buildings. The wall became overgrown and is an integral part of the landscape, just like the Tipalt Burn.

Iona Lane - songwriting, vocals, guitar Sol Edwards - production, vocals

By Lindsay Hannon & David Silk

Come, Let me tell ye… is a modern day Border ballad and spoken story in the style of traditional oral storytelling, hearkening back to the unique native song form of the Border lands of Northumberland and Cumbria. The folk narrative centres on the ruins of Thirlwall Castle, family home of Percival Thirlwall. Legend has it one of that family brought back a great treasure from a far-off land (a solid gold table, no less!) but bought with it an evil being to guard over it. When Thirlwalls’ castle was finally burned by his enemies, this treasure, and its guardian, were sunk beneath a well in the grounds, and there they remain, awaiting anyone brave or foolish enough to go looking for them.

Song written and performed by Lindsay Hannon Story written and performed by David Silk Additional dialogue by Sir Robert Carey Additional sound effects by Zapsplat