World Upon My Shoulder

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This opening track is a message from one of the detainees being held at Campsfield IRC to the young people in Witney. Despite living through their own difficult situation, detainees sent messages of support and hope to the young people.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This track was performed by a detainee who at the time of recording was being held at Campsfield House IRC.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This track is a traditional Punjabi love song and was performed by a detainee who at the time of recording was being held at Campsfield House IRC.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This emotional message was recorded inside Campsfield House IRC, the voice is that of detainee being held in the centre.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This track is a collaborative effort between one of the detainees at Campsfield House IRC and Chris, one of the young people at Base 33. Upon hearing the recording made by a young man at Campsfield House, whose lyrics confront the feeling of regret experienced as a result of not having appreciated his mother, Chris reflected on his own similar feelings and recorded a rap in response to show the empathy he felt.

This was a memoriable moment for those attending the sessions at Base 33: "The moment I remember was when Chris did a poem or a rap about, cos he’d heard one of the detainees talking about his mother, something about his mother and then Chris then wrote a response about how he wished he’d listened to his mother, because he had made choices that his mother wouldn’t have approved of and he was finally trying to get himself together and he wrote this thing, and everyone was listening to what he had to say which I was really pleasantly surprised by."

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This recording captures a live freestyle performed by a young British/Somali detainee at Campsfield House. Other detainees in the group learnt how to use the drum machine and recorded the accompanying beat. Freestyle was a popular medium throughout this project amongst detainees and young people alike.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This tracks features many of the young people from Base 33. A small group of girls including Lauren and Becky worked on the words for the chorus whilst Myles and Chris wrote lyrics for their raps. Lyrics address issues around detention:

“we are base 33

UK needs to open their eyes

we have a major problem of locking up innocent people in detention centres

we need to step up and be problem solvers

make a CD address the problem

spread the word

my mum will buy it and so will my nan and me

that already makes three

we are one step closer to equality”

For many of the young people involved in the project this was the first they had heard about the UK detention system, and indeed Campsfield House IRC: "It’s weird to think that I live a couple of miles away from it but I don’t even know it’s there. It’s not like they’re going round handing out flyers saying there’s a couple of people down the road locked up because they’re born in a different country." The project saw much discussion around detention, with the young people learning more and more about it as the project went on.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This track is recorded by Charlotte, a talented freestyler at Base 33. She worked with Oliver to create a beat she felt comfortable with and from then on there was no stopping her!

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This track was recorded at Base 33. The group wrote lyrics together and worked on the backing track.

CD: World Upon My Shoulder; Music Provider: Music for Change

A project with detainees at Campsfield IRC and a group of young people attending Base 33 youth centre in Witney.

This message from detainees at Campsfield IRC sent to the young people at Base 33 shows the positive effect the support shown by the young people had on the detainees. Hearing voices from the outside world, especially empathetic and supportive voices gave the detainees a feel boost and will to remain hopeful during the difficult situations they were experiencing.