Making Tracks 2024 - Grand Junction, Paddington, London

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 203, December 2024.



Making Tracks 2024
Grand Junction, Paddington, London
3rd October 2024

Now on its fifth edition, Making Tracks is one of those not-to-be-missed occasions once autumn rolls around. Eight young artists, each from a different musical world, get together for two weeks of concerted collaboration, which continues to evolve across a two-week tour. This year featured participants from the UK, Syria/Germany, Denmark, Kenya, East Turkestan and Finland (see makingtracksmusic.org/fellows for the full list; they deserve more recognition than space allows here!).

For this tour’s penultimate concert at London’s Grand Junction, we were treated to two-and-a-half hours of unique collaborations interspersed with solo showcases from each musician. All eight remained on stage throughout, and it was always exciting to see who would stir to join in the next piece – will it be a medley of Newfoundland, Uyghur and Swedish songs? A composition for Arabic violin and tama (talking drum)? Hurdy-gurdy and Kenyan drums? It’s impressive just how accomplished these musical relationships were after such a short – albeit intense – gestation. Interspecies connections were also emphasised this year, with nature embraced as an equal participant, from transcriptions of whalesong to electronically-wrangled biosignals of sea-kale. The high, intricately decorated Victorian church ceilings of Grand Junction afforded interesting reverberations, highlighting acoustic elements that would have been lost in a less cavernous venue – a lovely marriage of sound and space.

Making Tracks has hit upon a winning formula, for the creation of both beautiful music, and lasting artistic partnerships. In his opening speech, director Merlyn Driver referred to the concert as “nourishing music” – this really is the sort of project that can achieve meaningful new musical directions.


Photo: Making Tracks 2024 at Grand Junction, by Andrea Terzuoli. L-R: Nina Harries, Anna McLuckie, Shohret Nur, Christian Mohr Levisen, Kasiva Mutua, Ossi Raippalinna, Ayman Hlal (Helen Anahita Wilson is obscured behind Hlal).

Arrested, Disappeared, Murdered? The Plight of Uyghur Musicians

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 146, April 2019.



There is a crisis in East Turkestan, also known as Xinjiang, an autonomous region of northwest China. For many years, Uyghur people of the region have spoken of the persecution taking place at the hands of the Chinese government; it is a persecution that has increased dramatically in the last 18 months. Culturally and ethnically Turkic, majority Muslim and with their own language (using the Arabic script), Uyghur life is culturally aligned with Central Asia and markedly different to the Chinese mainstream.

Under the guise of combatting Islamic extremism, the Uyghur way of life has come under systemic oppression and repression enforced by heavy surveillance and restrictions on movement, expression and association. Over one million people – mostly Uyghurs, but also Kazakhs, Mongols and other minority ethnic groups – are thought to have been imprisoned in euphemistically-named ‘re-education camps.’ These moves have been seen by the international community as a stepping-up of the long-brewing cultural purge of the Uyghur from the Han-majority Chinese government.

As is often the case in these sorts of situations, it is culture bearers that have incurred a particular wrath, with many prominent writers, academics, musicians, comedians, actors, poets and sportspeople confirmed as detained; some simply disappeared. Popular figures in Uyghur music such as pop stars Ablajan Awut Ayup and Zahirshah Ablimit and the folk and classical dutar (long-necked lute) player Abdurehim Heyit have all been detained within the past 18 months. As of writing, reports are just coming out that Heyit has been beaten to death in custody, although this is refuted by the Chinese government.

One of the most prominent arrests has been that of Sanubar Tursun. The classical singer is well-known for her contributions to the Aga Khan Music Initiative and her collaborations with Chinese musician Wu Man as part of the Master Musicians from the Silk Road ensemble. She has performed concerts around the world and was scheduled to complete a tour of France in February this year. She has not been heard from since November. Sources close to Tursun have stated that she was arrested and imprisoned for five years, but Chinese officials have refused to confirm the singer’s charge or even her whereabouts. An open letter, with over 120 signatories, reads ‘The case of Sanubar Tursun reminds us how powerful, but also exposed, fragile and vulnerable the voice of an artist is. This is unfortunately one example amongst many in the tragedy that is unfolding in the Uyghur region, and that now disrupts the French and international art scene, as well as the life of its audience who were looking forward to meet Sanubar Tursun in February.’

The plight of the Uyghur people and the attempted eradication of their culture by the Chinese authorities is cause for international concern; the stories of internationally-recognised figures such as Tursun help to spread the word far and wide. The world music community surely has their role to play.


Photo: Sanubar Tursun and ensemble