Sets the scene of ‘Lost and Found’ describing the good and bad of their new home.

1. Opening Song

Not everything is lost in London: these two found consolation in the free piano at St Pancras Station, and the link with home provided by the free internet in the British Library.

2. Uganda and Alex

Standing up to oppression both as a woman and a Kurd, Faryad found herself dangerously exposed, then exiled to a place where she’s still finding her voice.

3. Faryad

Reporting centres are London landmarks hidden from most UK citizens, where asylum seekers spend hours queuing in all weathers, then going in to repeat the same old information, week after week, year after year.

4. Lunar House

As she tells an unknown interviewer about her escape from trafficking, Prossy remembers a beautiful and poignant song from her village back home in Burundi.

5. Prossy

Two burials: the proxy burial of a banana tree in place of a child taken by Ugandan rebels on his way home from school, and the burial of a beloved violin when the Ayatollahs ‘murdered’ music in Iran.

6. Uganda and Kate

‘Ara Romo Kodini’ is a Ugandan song about lovers meeting on a corner; this song is the response.

7. Starlight

At a moment of despair, a stranger comes to the rescue; curiosity about somebody else’s life saves Jade’s own.

8. Jade

The work ends back in London, which begins to seem more like home.

9. Closing Song

Follow a musical tale of journeys from around the world to new lives in London.

Six members of Freedom from Torture’s Write to Life creative writing group share moments of significance in their journeys from ‘there to here’.

A combination of speech, song and recorded sound is performed by a cast from Iran, Cuba, Uganda and Burundi, supported by a chorus of other clients and staff.

The cast are survivors of torture, but these stories are not ones you’ve heard before. Its themes are love, unexpected friendship and above all, music - from the violin buried by order of the Ayatollahs, to the African song unwittingly performed in a British Library reading room.

The music is rooted in songs remembered from home, developed and intertwined during production.

The work had its live premiere at the Roundhouse on 2 September 2016. Listen to the final version on headphones to get the full binaural effect, which sends you on a magical journey through the stories.

Freedom from Torture

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