Refugee Music

Music & culture

Jul 9

Who: Refugee Music Norway

What: Refugeemusic Norge is dedicated to supporting refugee musicians with instruments and equipment to enable them to create a livelihood for themselves and to bring music activities to the refugee community.

Where: Kenya

Project period: 2024

Web: Refugee music Norway

About the project:

When war or other disasters force people to leave their homes, musicians have to leave their instruments behind along with most of their belongings. Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya is the size of Bergen, with more than 280,000 inhabitants, and like Bergen, it has many talented musicians. Unlike Bergen, there are few instruments, and in a refugee camp where resources are very limited, priority must be given to life-saving interventions with little space left for art and music. Yet, music activities are important tools for improving the quality of life by providing a positive psychosocial effect on the camp residents, and a sense of normalcy in the difficult life of a refugee camp. This project therefore aims to provide access to instruments and equipment for refugee musicians to be able to practice, teach, perform, and create music activities for the communities in Kakuma.

About the organization:

Refugee music Norge is dedicated to supporting refugee musicians with instruments and equipment to enable them to create a livelihood for themselves and to bring music activities to the refugee community. The aim is to mobilize artists, arts institution, and others to raise funds to create music centers that will give access to instruments, music education and activities for a large number of refugees. Kakuma Music Center in Kakuma Refugee Camp of Northern Kenya is our first project. To ensure it is anchored in the local community, we are cooperating with Mwanamuziki At Kakuma (MAK), a local association of refugee musicians in the camp, who will be fully in charge of the center. Once Kakuma Music Center is well established, our aim is to expand to other refugee camps around the world. Refugeemusic Norge was founded by musician and anthropologist, Ingvill Morlandstoe, who has spent a long time in Kakuma Refugee Camp conducting anthropological research among musicians in the camp. During research, Morlandstoe found that the camp had many highly skilled musicians who worked hard to create music and music activities despite a lack of quality instruments and space, and the music center project started to take shape.

In the first step of the project, which is supported by the Grieg Foundation, we are working in collaboration with the Bergen-based organisation Give Music a Chance and the Belgian non-profit association Music Fund to send recycled instruments to Kakuma refugee camp. This will enable the musicians to start music activities in temporary locations in the camp as soon as the shipment arrives. The next step will be to support the construction of a music center, which will be the first of its kind in a refugee camp. The Kakuma Music Center will include rehearsal spaces, teaching rooms, an outdoor venue for concerts, and other facilities. These will be available to a large number of musicians, giving them the opportunity to earn a livelihood through their art and to make music and music activities available to the community. Our main partner in Kakuma is the refugee-led musicians’ organization Mwanamuziki At Kakuma (MAK), which will be receiving and managing the instruments and equipment to ensure availability for as many refugee musicians as possible. We are also working closely with MAK on the design of the music center and planning for the construction of the facility.