As part of the Migration Sounds project, we were fortunate enough to receive a series of extraordinary recordings from Frey Lindsay, who spent time aboard the Ocean Viking rescue ship in the Mediterranean in December 2022. The sounds and stories – and the creative responses to them – were incredible, and we’d like to share them with you in their entirety.
These recordings dramatically bring to life the human stories that lie behind some of the news headlines about migration, and have inspired some remarkable creative responses to explore too.
Sea rescue
First of all, we have the sound of an actual rescue taking place.
This is the sound of three teams on rigid-hull inflatable boats rescuing around 130 people from an overloaded rubber boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, around 2 in the morning on the 27th of December, 2022.
The rescuees, almost all of whom were from West Africa, were attempting to reach Europe from Libya – where they had suffered extensive abuse. Among them were many children, and one infant just weeks old. The crew of the charity rescue ship the Ocean Viking located, intercepted and then met the rubber boat, giving the survivors life jackets and slowly bringing them back to the main ship.
The survivors were eventually disembarked in Northern Italy, where they entered the Italian asylum system.
The reimagined composition by Cristian Estrella came about as follows:
“How to intensify the chaos, courage, hope, broken life stories, action, deep sorrow, and erratic joy contained in the original soundscape? I decided not to intervene temporally. What you hear is what happened in real time. There are modulations of rhythm and frequency, which give way to a line of three violins and a cello, a piano, and synthesized basses that seek depth and edge.
“Working on this piece truly immersed me emotionally. I try to make the listener travel with me to observe and reflect on this authentic drama, which unfortunately keeps repeating. There are many levels of uncertainty in an immigrant’s life. I myself am an Argentine oscillating between Eastern Europe and the west of the continent. But nothing compared undoubtedly, to this.
“The nightmare experienced by these souls seeking to escape extreme suffering finds a balance in the bravery of the rescue teams, allowing belief in the solidarity fibers of the human being.
“”Tidett” means faith in Berber, Nafusi, and Tamazight, probably a word that motivated these people to the adventure of saving their lives in an overloaded inflatable boat. Perhaps the same faith that led the rescuers to meet them.”
The golden hour
Our second recording is an extremely moving one to listen to, as Frey describes:
“This is the sound of asylum seekers, mostly from West Africa, onboard the rescue ship the Ocean Viking in the Mediterranean, on the evening of the 27th of December 2022.
Very early that morning, they had been rescued from a perilously overcrowded rubber boat in the middle of the sea, hundreds of kilometres from land and without life jackets or navigational equipment, with very little food and water, and an enginer that was close to failing. They had been at sea for longer than 24 hours.
After what’s known onboard the Ocean Viking as the “golden hour,” where rescuees get the first rest they’ve had in a long time, the rescuees celebrated having survived the journey, utilising the drums kept onboard. Many of them recounted having tried multiple times to leave Libya, watching loved ones drown and nearly drowning themselves, before finally making it.”
Two different groups of artists tackled this extraordinary recording – first of all, the Oxford-based Odyssey Ensemble with a piece called “Threads across the sea”:
“This piece is a collaboration between composer Sarah Jenkins, sound artist Noah Lawson and poet Shukria Rezaei, and was created for the Odyssey Ensemble. The foundation for the piece is the recording provided by the Cities and Memory Migration Sounds project, in which the celebration of a group of West African migrants who had recently been rescued from an overcrowded dinghy is heard.
“The jubilation heard in the clip and the implied hardship that these people have faced and will go on to endure gave the shape and narrative for the piece. In addition, Rezaei draws upon her own experience as a refugee, weaving threads of her own story with the recording to tell a collective tale of hardship and hope.”
Secondly, regular contributor Eulipion Corps composed a piece called “Après l’heure d’or”:
“The harrowing journey of these migrants is incredibly powerful and emotional. The field recording is their celebration after being rescued at sea by the Ocean Viking. My musical contribution hopefully speaks to this moment. It’s a moment of relief, joy, community, and compassion.”
Children aboard the Ocean Viking
Our next recording is a collage of the sound of children between the ages of 3 and 9, speaking in various West African dialects, playing with my radio equipment onboard the charity rescue ship the Ocean Viking on the 28th of December 2022.
The day before, the children along with their guardians had been rescued from a dangerously overcrowded boat in the waters hundreds of kilometres north of Libya. The children are now in Europe. This audio has been edited to remove names and identifying details.
This piece by Firephly reflects on the recording as follows:
“The voices of the children in this really spoke to me. Migration can be very challenging but can also be exciting and adventurous. I wanted to convey that by using some melancholic feeling sounds but also in adding the voices of the children and optimistic sounds and patterns.”
Speaking with Astoun
Lastly, we have two examples of narrative interviews conducted aboard the rescue ship. Firstly, we hear a casual interview recorded with Astoun, a rescue worker with SOS Méditerranée, on board the charity ship the Ocean Viking.
Originally from Syria, Astoun travelled irregularly to Europe in the wake of the Syrian civil war, and after some time in Europe decided he wanted to use his maritime background to assist others in similar situations.
Astoun spoke about his motivation to help others, as well as how the work made him reflect on his own journey as a refugee. This interview was recorded onboard the Ocean Viking on the 26th December 2022, as the ship headed south to the “rescue zone” above Libya’s waters.
Artists from Australia, sherman and field, created this response to the interview with Astoun:
“Astoun’s words are a beautiful, moving, and human story of a remarkable life and sense of purpose. It is a story of direct lived experience. While Astoun speaks gently – what he talks about, about his ‘case’ to help others, is both powerful and the essence of the human spirit of giving.
“For the piece we removed most of the interviewer’s questions to elevate Astoun’s voice. We retained the last question as it pointed to creating a context of a sense of hope for others in Astoun’s words and actions.
“Our approach to the music was simple. We listened and sat in Astoun’s story, went to our music room, set up on the floor, and recorded live to the room in one take. There was no rehearsal – this was an “in-the-moment” response. We used a combination of analogue beats, keys, and looped synth. What came out seemed almost to been drawn more from what Astoun was talking about in such a calm, considered way. Our response acknowledges Astoun speaks as a witness and mobiliser from the frontline of humanitarian crisis, bringing visibility to the stories of displaced lives in distress at sea, and who would never be heard.
“Astoun’s resilience is stark and compelling. It urges reflection on what is really happening in the world, and a reminder of the inherent rights of all peoples to safety and dignity. It reminds us of the human capacity for hope and positive action; and our moral obligation to care for each other.”
Joseph’s story
Finally, we listen to an interview with Joseph, an asylum seeker from Nigeria, onboard the charity rescue ship the Ocean Viking. Joseph along with over a hundred other people was rescued from an unseaworthy rubber boat headed for Europe from Libya. Several days later, he sat down to record his story, leaving from Nigeria, across the desert to Libya and onto that rubber boat headed north.
He describes suffering extortion, robbery, detention, forced labour and other abuses in Libya. His story is very indicative of the treatment African migrants experience in Libya. He is now in the Italian asylum system. The audio has been lightly edited to remove identifying details.
The reimagined composition responding to Joseph’s story is our own piece, called “A space for Joseph”.
“Joseph describes himself as a painter by profession – this piece attempts to paint musical scenery around the edges of Joseph’s story, recounting his own journey of migration, and wanting to place him very much at the centre, and highlight rather than draw attention away from his words. The tone of the accompanying music is a simple reflection of some of the emotions his story generated in me when listening to it. A field recording taken elsewhere in the Mediterranean flows underneath much of the piece as a reference to the journey.
“The piece is dedicated to Joseph, about whom I have thought very frequently since hearing his story for the first time. Above all I hope he’s doing well, and I hope in some small way this piece helps others to think not just about his story, but also the mostly untold stories of many hundreds of thousands like him, who are making journeys “between life and death” that most of us cannot even comprehend every single day.”
