“Sing towards love.” This sentiment forms the heart of Rohan Ayinde and Tayo Rapoport’s newly commissioned film ‘ęmí: freedomsong’. Made in collaboration with curator Zarina Rossheart, this moving work debuts at 1-54 London where visitors will be immersed in a multi-sensory installation in defiance of the genocide in Gaza and other oppressions around the world.

The duo has been inspired by the Yoruba concept of ‘ęmí’ (the breath that animates life) as well as by bell hook’s ‘All About Love’ and Camille Sapara Barton’s ‘Tending Grief’ to build on the past and present of revolutionary song. A sonic ritual led by Barton and anaiis alongside vocalists Tawiah, douniah, Bint Mbareh, Amina Gichinga and Roxanne Tataei forms a grounding of liberating emotions upon which movement work by Yewande YoYo Odunubi – shot on the market streets of Brixton – is layered with powerful contributions from Helen Cammock, Asmaa Jama, Jasleen Kaur, Eve Stainton and Alberta Whittle. Meanwhile archival and contemporary footage take us from the mouths of Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and Nina Simone to the lived experiences within Gaza and the roars of the Windrush. Piece by piece, these vibrations build and beckon into a rallying cry for radical imagining.

Here we speak to Rossheart, Ayinde and Rapoport about this vital work.

Nataal: The film stems from the 2023 All About Love project by BuildHollywood, a touring billboards show curated by Zarina. Please tell us more.

Zarina: Yes that was the first thread, a project inspired by bell hooks’ book, which has taken us on an incredible journey to making this film. Over the past two years, we’ve observed everyone being violently silenced when it comes to speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. We all feel devastated. So, when I was asked what I wanted for this commission, it was to give artists a platform to actually speak. I also knew I wanted the artists who had already been part of All About Love to contribute – Helen, Asmaa, Jasleen, Eve and Alberta – and then I invited Rohan and Tayo to bring their meaning to the work.

Rohan: This moment we’re living in is unique in many ways but the desire to fight for freedom is a dialogue that has gone on for a very long time. So, our response to the brief was to bring together a range of voices that connect artists from Gaza with these histories of domination and colonisation and the legacy of liberation struggles. That’s why it was important to connect all of these individual voices into a collective chorus.

Tayo: We were reading ‘Tending Grief’ when the commission came in and were interested in the ways we can go beyond grief to love. So, Camille Sapara Barton became a kind of embodiment facilitator for a two-day workshop with the six vocalists – anaiis, Tawiah, douniah, Bint, Amina and Roxanne. They’re all incredible artists who we love and who understand the power of the voice to allow us to process emotions. So, at the centre of this film is s sonic journey that can touch people and bring them to their heart centres. We’re saying that if we as artists, as human beings, aren’t able to stand up and speak about these unbearable injustices, then what happens to our hearts, you know? And let’s create space for the viewer and listener to add their voices to that chorus as well.

Nataal: What can you tell us about the archive and contemporary footage you’ve intermixed with these voices.

Tayo: Nina Simone was just so outspoken and vivid and expressive so she’s a huge point of reference for the emotional range of the film. Bob Marley was a revolutionary who always spoke toward love and the specific excerpt is taken from the Emperor Selassie speech to the League of Nations. Nelson Mandela holds many beautiful synchronicities across the histories that we became more aware of in the process of making this film. He represented South Africa’s fight against apartheid so as we witness apartheid today, we already know that it’s only sustained pressure and the voices of millions of people around the world that will end it. That chimes with footage of Marwan Barghouti who's currently imprisoned in Israel and is considered the Palestinian Nelson Mandela. These are the ways the film traverses time and space to connect the dots of the current moment.

Rohan: We must also mention one final voice in the work and that is the song of the nightingale. Throughout the piece, alongside the singers, you hear it coming in and out of the sound, which is part of our process of looking at magic. We listen to what shows up for us and we follow those signs. Tayo had gone to a performance in the woods with anaiis to hear the last nightingales of the season alongside a Palestinian instrumentalist. And this became the missing piece in the puzzle of this film - a lovebird who is singing to find their love.

Nataal: Any last words?

Rohan and Tayo: For us ‘ęmí: freedomsong’ is a spell, a process, a site and a song. It’s a refusal to be silenced and a reminder of the power of making in community with other people. Free Palestine. Boycott, Divest, Sanction. Now.