Forma

Sō Percussion

From Out a Darker Sea
Sō Percussion
2016

"A haunting and often deeply moving requiem for an industry and its people ★★★★" – The Guardian

For two centuries, the coal industry formed the backbone of many towns and cities across England. Entire communities sprang into existence as fervent mining activity fuelled the industrial revolution. Integrating art, narrative, photography, film and an original musical soundscape performed live, Sō Percussion capture the environment, personal stories, and aspirations of a community fighting against industrial decline in From Out a Darker Sea. From Out a Darker Sea is not about coal, but like everything in areas rooted in industrial, there are always traces of it presence.

Commissioned by East Durham Creates as part of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme, this immersive audio-visual performance is inspired by the context and history of East Durham, an area which has struggled to reinvent itself after the crushing loss of its mining industry. Sō Percussion collaborated with film and photography collective Amber Films on the creation of a new work, Song for Billy, which was developed from Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s photographic series The Coal Coast and features as part of the performance.


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From Out
a Darker Sea

From Out a Darker Sea
Sō Percussion
2016

"A haunting and often deeply moving requiem for an industry and its people ★★★★" – The Guardian

For two centuries, the coal industry formed the backbone of many towns and cities across England. Entire communities sprang into existence as fervent mining activity fuelled the industrial revolution. Integrating art, narrative, photography, film and an original musical soundscape performed live, Sō Percussion capture the environment, personal stories, and aspirations of a community fighting against industrial decline in From Out a Darker Sea. From Out a Darker Sea is not about coal, but like everything in areas rooted in industrial, there are always traces of it presence.

Commissioned by East Durham Creates as part of Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places programme, this immersive audio-visual performance is inspired by the context and history of East Durham, an area which has struggled to reinvent itself after the crushing loss of its mining industry. Sō Percussion collaborated with film and photography collective Amber Films on the creation of a new work, Song for Billy, which was developed from Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s photographic series The Coal Coast and features as part of the performance.

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So Percussion performing From Out a Darker Sea at Derby Cathedral, Derby, 22 November 2017. Photo: Charlotte Jopling

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So Percussion performing From Out a Darker Sea at Derby Cathedral, Derby, 22 November 2017. Photo: Charlotte Jopling

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So Percussion performing From Out a Darker Sea at St John the Baptist Church, Newcastle, 27 November 2017. Photo: Mark Pinder

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So Percussion performing From Out a Darker Sea at St John the Baptist Church, Newcastle, 27 November 2017. Photo: Mark Pinder

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So Percussion performing From Out a Darker Sea at St John the Baptist Church, Newcastle, 27 November 2017. Photo: Mark Pinder

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Biographies

Sō Percussion is a four-piece ensemble based in Brooklyn, New York, who have gained international recognition for their original compositions, percussion performances and education projects. Sō Percussion creates and presents new collaborative works to adventurous and curious audiences and educational initiatives to students, while providing meaningful service to its communities in order to exemplify the power of music to unite people and forge deep social connections.

Amber Films was formed as a film and photography collective in 1968 and their work has focused on documenting working class and marginalised lives and landscapes in North East England. In 1977, Amber opened Side Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, which is committed to celebrating the best in the wider tradition of humanist photography and houses the AmberSide Collection, an archive of the work Amber produces, supports and collects.

The Sacred Spaces Network Project is All Souls Church, Cheriton; Barbican, London; Bureau Centre for Arts, Blackburn; the Churches Conservation Trust; Deal Festival of Music & the Arts; Derby Cathedral; QUAD, Derby; Holy Trinity Church, Blackburn; the Kent Mining Museum; Mid Pennine Arts, Burnley; the National Coal Mining Museum of England; St George’s Church, Deal; St Giles Cripplegate, London and Strange Cargo, Folkestone.

Previous Presentations

2017

Derby Cathedral, Derby, UK
St Giles Cripplegate, London, UK
St John the Baptist Church, Newcastle, UK
Bureau Centre for the Arts, Blackburn, UK
St George’s Church, Deal, UK
All Souls Church, Cheriton, UK

2016

St John’s Church, Seaham, UK

Credits:

Created by So Percussion in 2016. Commissioned by East Durham Creates. Produced by Forma. 2017 concert tour produced by the Sacred Spaces Network Project. Supported by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Programme, The Foyle Foundation, Cockayne - Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation. Additional support from Unite the Union