Learning-disabled people at the Daylight centre are exploring their creativity by releasing their own songs
Thu 31 Jan 2019 09.32 GMT
Last modified on Thu 31 Jan 2019 09.54 GMT
It’s 11am on Friday morning and there are some weird and wonderful psychedelic sounds emanating from a small, makeshift music studio in north London. Inside, Patricia Angol is playing the xylophone, Mui Tang is touching a Kaoss Pad – an audio effects unit – and Fathima Maharali is singing into a microphone. When they finish, their session leader, Jack Daley, fiddles on a computer, overlaying each musical section before playing it back. There are smiles and high-fives all round.
Daley is a music producer who works at the Daylight centre for adults with learning disabilities, which is run by Islington council. He started private and group sessions composing and producing electronic music with service users two years ago. Since then, countless song lyrics have been written, an EP has been released (with another on the way), and there’s an animated music video to go with the title track, Watermelon Fantasy. Everything has been produced by the people who attend the centre with the help of creative professionals.
One service user who features on Watermelon Fantasy is 36-year-old Tina Bruins. She’s always loved listening to music so jumped at the chance to record her own. “I like doing this because I get frustrated and bored at home,” she says. Bruins, who has behavioural difficulties, also benefits from the sessions because they are an outlet for her anger: “It’s a release for me and it stops me winding myself up and kicking out.” Daley adds: “Having an hour focusing on Tina’s life helps her concentrate and get out of her head. She’s got a lot of energy and doesn’t have the resources to use it in a positive way when she’s out of the centre.”
Daley fell into this line of work after finishing an MA in music production four years ago. He had experience in care and came to the centre originally as a stopgap until he found a job in music. He spotted a room that was being used for storage and asked if he could turn it into a studio. The centre has a fund for activities, which allowed him to spend around £3,000 on recording equipment, and he hasn’t looked back since. “There’s an equality through doing creative and artistic work with these guys because they interact so emotionally,” he says. “They’re free and open to explore the instruments. It feels so genuine, even if the music ends up sounding really weird.”
Olly Price, a professional songwriter who runs a label and also leads sessions at the centre, has worked with Daley and the service users on some of the music. He says: “Some of the tracks are unique and amazing. They’re a challenging listen and I hope people will like them on that basis. There are also a few tracks that have crossover appeal. They’re universally catchy, and weird and wonderful.”
Both Price and Daley see this as more than just making music. The sessions act as a way of empowering people, encouraging them to talk about their lives, build confidence and form bonds with others.
Bruins and the others at the centre are lucky that this type of activity is on offer. The landscape in the UK for people with learning disabilities is grim. Austerity has hit councils, who fund day centres, hard. A recent review found that available funding to support people with learning disabilities is insufficient, and cuts have been detrimental to them, their families and carers. Individuals have lost social support and are experiencing increased social isolation.
Price, who also runs a company that sends musicians into day centres and care homes around London, has seen this worsening environment first-hand. “It’s devastating. Where I used to go to loads of day centres 12 years ago, we no longer really do. A lot have withered on the vine because people can’t afford to go to them anymore.”
He thinks part of the reason for this is that people with learning disabilities are “pretty invisible”. He says: “They’re in a bubble that the rest of the public doesn’t see and I think this is connected to why they’ve lost a lot of their funding. They’re not an effective lobby group and they don’t have a strong voice to stand up for themselves.”
He adds: “These are people who don’t fit into the normal boxes of society. I think that’s captured in these tracks. I hope people will see that. I hope Kanye West picks up on one of the samples and turns it into a global phenomenon.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/31/day-centre-recording-studio
