Best Foot Music

Phillip Minns

Stories and collaborations with musicians and communities from around the World, living and working in the UK, plus the occasional soundscape recording from our travels.

  1. Monstrous Anger of the Guns. Jeremy Corbyn: In Conversation with Rhona Michie & Carmen Wilson. Chaired by Laila Kadiwal.

    04/15/2025

    Monstrous Anger of the Guns. Jeremy Corbyn: In Conversation with Rhona Michie & Carmen Wilson. Chaired by Laila Kadiwal.

    Sound recording of the conversation chaired by Associate Professor Dr Laila Kadiwal, with Jeremy Corbyn MP, Rhona Michie, Carmen Wilson. Palestinian author and activist Ahmed Alnaouq was also meant to be in attendance, but further members of his family had been murdered earlier in the day of the event, in the ongoing Genocide in Gaza. Andrew Feinstein had also been originally booked, but was unable to attend due to  other commitments. Thanks to Laila, Asma, Laura and all the team for organising this important conversation.  Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza and the co-founder of We Are Not Numbers, a collective that trains the next generation of Palestinian writers to publish their stories in English. Ahmed is also is a co-founder of Across the Wall, a media platform that tells Palestinian stories in Hebrew. Ahmed obtained a Chevening Scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in international journalism from Leeds University before serving as an advocacy and outreach officer for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. His writings have been published in many publications, including The Washington Post, The New Arab and Arab News. He has appeared live in interviews across the Western media, speaking on channels such as Sky News, the BBC and MSNBC. During an air raid by Israel’s military on the home of his family and relatives in the south of the Gaza Strip on October 22 2023, 21 of Ahmed’s relatives were killed: his father, two brothers, three sisters and 14 nieces and nephews. https://wearenotnumbers.org/ Carmen Wilson is Director of Operations at Demilitarise Education, a community and nonprofit organisation that envisions a world where universities champion peace. https://ded1.co/ Rhona Michie is the Director of Projects and Planning at Shadow World Investigations. She is a co-editor (with Andrew Feinstein, Professor Paul Rogers and Jeremy Corbyn) of Monstrous Anger of the Guns: How the Global Arms Trade is Ruining the World and What We Can Do About It. She is a co-founder and coordinator of the Corruption Tracker and was listed as an Emerging Expert by the Forum on the Arms Trade in 2022. https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/team_member/rhona-michie/ Jeremy Corbyn is Director or the Peace and Justice Project and has been the Member of Parliament for Islington North since 1983. He is the 6th longest serving MP in Parliament. In the 2024 General Election he stood as an Independent and won by a clear majority of over 24000, compared to the Labour candidate of 16800. He has a long track record of community involvement and campaigning for justice, often using his position to fight for marginalised people and taking a stand against corruption.  https://thecorbynproject.com/ Also speaking is DR Rodrigo Martinez Lecturer in Economics and Finance of Real Estate at University College London and member of BDS at UCL. https://bdsatucl.com/

    1h 45m
  2. Voices from the Protest. 27th/04/24 London

    04/28/2024

    Voices from the Protest. 27th/04/24 London

    A week after the Gideon Falter 'openly Jewish' incident, which gained wide press coverage and further attempts by him, some in the UK Gov and media to demonise the demonstrations, we attended the National March for Palestine from Parliament Square to Hyde Park. On this occasion we were near the front of the march, for a while with the Jewish Bloc. Following the previous weeks events, numerous people carried 'Openly Jewish' placards. There were lots of groups with drums and percussion, leading chants along the way. As always the march was hugely diverse, with people from a wide range of religious and ethnic backgrounds, age and where they'd travelled from around the UK. We met people from North Wales, Cardiff, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol across the UK, and fair few people who were visiting London and decided to join for a while. As the march neared Hyde Park, some people unfolded banners over the statue of Achilles, memorial to the Duke of Wellington, a huge symbol of colonialism. A group of police asked them to remove the banners, but after a few chants of 'show your human side' decided to leave them alone. Later in the day, after the main event had finished, a group gathered in Hyde Park, singing and chanting, for a while the police surrounded the group, mostly just observing and eventually deciding to step back. I made soundscape recordings of the day, this time as we were in the noisier front section of the march, it's mostly chants and atmosphere, with one guy from the Jewish Bloc speaking around 5 minutes in. Some of the groups on the Jewish Bloc Black Jewish Alliance Jewish Socialists Group Jews For Justice For Palestinians Jewish Voice For Labour Na'amod International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

    21 min
  3. Istanbul Soundscape 3rd to 11th April 2024

    04/13/2024

    Istanbul Soundscape 3rd to 11th April 2024

    We visited Istanbul for a holiday from 3rd to 11th April 2024. These recordings were made whilst walking around the city, predominantly in the Fatih district, which includes the historic peninsula . We also visited Kadıköy & Büyükada. Recordings are made with a Zoom H6 recorder with the XYH-6 X/Y MIC. All recordings made in public spaces. Istanbul has an estimated population of 15.46 million and covers 5461 square km², compared to London’s population of 8.9 million and size of 1573 km². Considering its size and population, it’ve very easy to find peaceful quiet spaces. This episode includes street musicians, nature sounds, cafes and memories of life in the city. The call to prayer (Adhan) is recited 5 times a day and so is a regular part of the soundscape of Istanbul. Our flight arrived in Istanbul early morning on the 3rd April, we arrived at our hotel around 5 in the morning, coincidentally Fajr, the first of the day happened just as we stepped out of our taxi. The street we stayed on was narrow, with high buildings, near several large mosques, causing the sound to reverberate, not dissimilar to being in a canyon. In other places, its a quiet background sound. We were visiting during the last few days of Ramadan, including Eid, with a major public holiday the following three days (Bayram) 00 - 7.10 April 3rd Arriving at our hotel, near küçükpazar, early morning call to prayer (Fajr) then Beyoğlu, near Galata bridge. 7.15 - 10.50 April 4th Balat and Fena. 10.50 - 14.40 April 5th Near küçükpazar, walking to Beyoğlu, then walking to Suleymaniye Mosque, Eminönü.14.40 -  18.10 April 6th Ferry to Kadıköy, then Fener in the evening, including drummer. His family have been drumming for generations, he collects money during Ramadan, wishing people happy holidays.18.10 - 27.00 April 7th  Venerable Patriarchal Church of Saint George, Fener. Street sounds Balat and Fener, including drummer.27.00 - 31.00 April 8th Early morning bakery in küçükpazar, then Büyükada, Princes' Islands.32.00 - 53.42 April 9th The last day of Ramadan, we spent the whole day around Sultanahmet, visiting the Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), Hagia Sophia and sitting in the Sultan Ahmet park with 1000’s of people as they waited for the final Iftar meal of this Ramadan. It was really beautiful.53.42 - 1.07.20 April 10th  Beyoğlu1.07.20 - end April 11th Early morning call to prayer from our hotel window,  with Simit bakery in background, walking through the neighbourhood early morning and Basilica Cistern sounds. There are a few bits of recognisable music being played from passing cars, restaurants etc. 27.15: Başkentli Resul - Sabir Ver 1.03: Aynur Doğan - Keçê Kurdan These are just the ones I recognise, if you know more, please message.

    1h 21m

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Stories and collaborations with musicians and communities from around the World, living and working in the UK, plus the occasional soundscape recording from our travels.