At Soundmix, the young people we work with have the opportunity to not only learn musical skills but also to broaden their experience of musical engagement in all its forms.

An important part of this is songwriting. Each term, our young people collaborate to write a song, which they will perform as a group once complete. The songwriting exercise not only gets the creative juices flowing, it also helps achieve our broader aims for the sessions: to increase confidence, maintain opportunities for interaction, and reduce social isolation.

For our most recent songwriting exercise, we started with the theme of friendship. Here’s the word “Friendship” translated into 5 different languages: Arabic, Vietnamese, Spanish, Albanian and Farsi.

From all at Soundmix we would like to wish all our supporters a very happy 2017!

Thank you to everyone who helped make so much of our progress possible in 2016. Thank you to our fantastic programme manager, volunteers, trustees, and partner organisations, who continue to allow Soundmix to impact positively on the lives of so many young refugees.

We look forward to continuing this powerful work in 2018!

In July we were fortunate enough to be able to take 11 young people from our Soundmix group to watch Beyoncé live in concert at Wembley Stadium. This was an incredible experience for the whole group. We had extraordinary VIP access; as a result our group were lucky enough to get very close to the front without many crowds.

What our young people said: 

• “It was the best Sunday I’ve ever had in my life, the best because I saw Beyoncé — the Queen of music and my favourite singer. I went with my friends and the people who work at the Refugee Council. They are amazing people who made my dreams come true and always make us happy. I cannot believe I saw Beyoncé so near and so real as she was singing. For me this was so wonderful and I’ll never forget that Sunday” –  16 year old girl, Albania
• “I went to Wembley Stadium for concert or party? I saw Beyoncé; she is a perfect singer, nice and good. I had a perfect time with my friends; the weather was so nice and warm. Thank you Joe and Andrea for taking me, I can’t explain how happy you made me feel” -16 year old boy, Afghanistan

Throughout the academic year we provide a range of opportunities for our young people to continually engage in music in a variety of ways. Here’s an update on some of the opportunities our young people took part in during the summer term 2016:

Residential at the Quadrangle
At the end of May we took our group to the Quadrangle in Shoreham, Kent, for a 3 day residential in partnership with Refugee Youth. The residential was an opportunity for our group to take part in outdoor activities and games, cook their meals together, and of course musical activities. The group both learned new songs and wrote one of their own. On our final evening we celebrated with a large bonfire, singing songs and playing music together. Some of the group even sang solos or duets.

This weekend created fantastic cohesion within our group and united them through their shared experience and a passion for music. Upon returning to our subsequent Soundmix session we taught the rest of the group the song written during the residential: “‘Together we love to dance”

Festival Performance
In June the group were invited to perform as part of the Midsummer Festival, back at the Quadrangle in Kent. Our group had the opportunity to engage in a variety of ways, helping with the set up of the festival, taking part in an informal busking set, and putting on a bigger performance of their 3 songs. After a group performance, two of our group took the leap of giving solo performances. This was a really exciting and memorable moment for the entire group! The festival organisers were very happy with the performance given by the Soundmix group – we hope to return next year!

• “I love it!”
• “I want to stay here forever”
• On Fatoumata Diawara: “I want to play and perform like her”
• “The dancing was amazing”

Soundmix is proud to be supported by Children in Need.

Children in Need is the BBC’s UK charity. Since 1980 it has raised over £600 million to change the lives of disabled children and young people in the UK.

Support from Children in Need allows Soundmix to provide equipment, tutors, and trips to the young people who attend our weekly music session at Croydon College.

Here’s a mural made by our music group to say a big Thank You to Children in Need.

Huge thanks to @BBCCiN for their support for @Soundmix1 music project @refugeecouncil #croydon pic.twitter.com/MtNb4y2oTR

— AndreaKempsonMusic (@AKempsonMusic) November 13, 2015

Soundmix is proud to be supported by Youth Music.

Youth Music support a range of projects that help young people access life changing opportunities through musical engagement.

Youth Music have recently published a new video which documents the impact the projects they fund can have on young people’s lives.

At Soundmix we are committed to mirroring this work by helping to increase the skills and decrease the isolation experienced by young unaccompanied refugees and asylum seekers.

Watch the video below and find out more here.