Welcome
Established in 2009. We collaborate with musicians & communities who have moved to the UK
from around the World
Due to COVID 19,
we are unable to organise live events.
Labels
Whilst helping make it easy to find us online, simplistic labels such as 'Refugee' & 'Migrant', or viewing people solely by
religion or ethnicity can be divisive.
We value individual complex identities, and promote shared values, experiences,
commonalities and interconnections.
Ongoing: Artists we work with on a regular basis & long term projects:
 Fast & Easy Syrian Meals, by Manal Gharzeddin. All profits for medical supplies in Syria. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Stay Home Travel ShowVirtually travel the world, with music purchased on Bandcamp. Join us for a new live stream each Saturday |  Jamal & AlaaTheir concerts & vinyl & digital music release In aid of Sussex Syrian Community Hardship Fund. |  Bashir Al GamarMusic in aid of a school and clean water in the Sudanese village Bashir grew up in. |  Maté CaféIntercultural Social Club. Maté tea, vegan Syrian breakfast, music, dance & art for all. Arabic & English conversation. |  British LibraryRecording sessions made with funding from the British Library. |
Work: One off projects, recording sessions & activities the artists we work with have been involved in:
Paypal & Racialised Capitalism.
Our experience with Paypal and the system of racist behaviours it upholds as an orgainsation, and by some of its staff. This is a fairly...
Exile - A Mind In Winter.
Even under ‘normal’ circumstances this event would have been an exciting and ambitious project. Originally planned for April 2020,...
Refugee Week 2020
For the safety of everyone involved we worked in collaboration with Refugee Radio, friends and related organisations to produce online...
Four Against War
Four Against War is a collaborative music project. They kindly gave a live performance at Maté Café on March 7th 2020. It was a lovely,...
Syrian Orthodox Lent Service, 1st March 2020. Brighton.
Recorded at the Syrian Orthodox, Lent service on the 1st of March in Brighton. Thanks to Chama, Eleiah, Father Ephreim and Dr Noriko Sato...
Village Of Sanctuary Concert: Featuring Raghad Haddad and Jamal and Alaa.
Syria in Sussex was organised by East Hoathly village of Sanctuary on February 22nd, in the village church, which was a beautiful venue...
Refugee Valentine 2020
Organised by Brighton Migrant Solidarity and The Jollof Café, at The Rose Hill in Brighton. The event organisers objective read; "Love...
Syriac Orthodox Songs
On the 2nd February we were invited by our friend Chama and her husband Eleiah to attend a Syriac Orthodox Christian Church service, in...
Standing Together, Lewes Holocaust Memorial Day Concert.
Monday 27th January 2020, marked 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Held on January 25th in Lewes, this concert the...
Castaway Heritage Book launch
Over the years Steve at Refugee Radio has given me more advice and support in running a community organisation than I could ever thank...
Winter Warmer 2019
Our annual Winter Warmer concert, was a joint event with Polina Shepherd and her fantastic Yiddish and Russian Choirs, from Brighton and...
Thrive Festival, Crawley
Organised by Same Sky, Cohesion Plus and Crawley Borough Council, Thrive Festival was a celebration of Crawley. Held on the 30th...
Andrzejki Celbration, Brighton
Andrzejki (St Andrews Day) is a popular celebration with many Polish people. This year the annual event in Brighton was organised by...
Gigs: Autumn 2019
Festival of Hope 20th September, Tunbridge Wells. Heading toward winter with some warm gig memories... 30th September at The Forum in...
Recording:Polina Shepherd, Lorin Sklamberg & The Brighton & Hove & London Russian & Yiddish Choirs.
On the last weekend of August 2019, we were lucky enough to be invited to record this fantastic project with Polina Shepherd, Lorin...
Summer 2019: Gigs and more....
Its been sunny! Which is never, guaranteed in the UK but we were lucky with the weather this year. We were also lucky enough for...
Solas Festival 2019
As part of our ongoing work with the British Library, we were kindly invited to Solas Festival 2019 to meet and record some of the...
Eid Party: June 2019
A collaborative event with the team from Maté Café, the Alnoure Academy to celebrate Eid. There was face painting, Syrian and Arabic...
Ipswich Sessions
Ipswich has a vibrant music scene and it was great to be invited to visit and see some of it as part of our work with the British...
Winter Warmer 2018
Our annual Winter Warmer community fundraiser concert. With support from Mate Cafe, Refugee Radio and of course all the musicians...
Global Sounds Portsmouth.
A fantastic music initiative. Held on 24th November 2018 in All Saints Church, Portsmouth, the concert was part of a longer term project....
Journeys Festival International: Portsmouth. 27 October 2018
A really nice event in Portsmouth. Organised by Artreach. Jamal and Alaa were booked to play on the stage at St Marys Church in Fratton....
Summer 2018, Refugee Week and more.
Summer 2018 has been our busiest since we started Best Foot Music, with artists playing all over the south east. Ranging from Refugee...
Flavours of Syria fundraising concert and meal.
Organised by a collective of friends, including born and bred Brighton folk, and those who've made new homes here. With support from...
Giles Duley: Legacy Of War Fundraiser and Community Gathering, Hastings 4th & 5th July 2018.
We were very pleased to be invited to involve musicians Bashir Al Gamar and Raghad Haddad in this fundraising community event for...
Royal Festival Hall Concerts June 2018
Earlier in the 2018, we had been asked by the Southbank Centre to provide music groups for two shows in the Royal Festival Hall Central...
Guifa Project
The Giufà Project was commissioned by Glyndebourne and created by an international team based in Italy, Portugal, Romania and the UK. ...
I Call For You My Country
In October 2017, Adam Punzano, Beatriz Machado & Haodi Zheng from Sussex University, studying a Masters in Media Practice for Development...
Jamal & Alaa 'Day & Night' E.P. Launch Party
Big thanks to Jamal & Alaa for playing such a great music performance at the launch of Day & Night EP. The night also featured a short...
Brighton Syrian Musicians: Vinyl Record& Community Support.
As a celebration of diversity and a fundraiser in collaboration with the Sussex Syrian Community Group and Refugee Radio, we set out to...
International Language Winter Warmer Concert 2017
Community Fundraiser with musicians from Sudan, Syria and The Brighton & Hove Russian Choir Saturday 9th December, at the Unitarian...
Alumni Festival.The Institute of Ismaili StudiesandThe Aga Khan Development Network.
Held in September 2017, a three day program of lectures, workshops, cultural visits and music, around the theme of historical and...
Gypsy Stars at Newham Mayors Show
Big thanks to Continental Drifts for inviting the band to play at this fantastic event. More information on the festival in the link below.
Brighton Refugee Week 2017
Refugee Week 2017 in Brighton was slightly extended and took place over 2 weeks. Activities where organised by many groups, with...
Healing Sounds of Ancient Turkey
A night of Anatolian Sufi music and poetry was organised by the Brighton group The Anatolian Friendship Association and took place in St...
International Language Day 2017
Held on the 18 February 2017, in the Brighton Open Market; the day was a celebration of the diversity of language and culture in our...
Sussex Syrian Community Fundraiser Concert
The event was a collaboration between friends and volunteers, working jointly with Best Foot Music, Sussex Syrian Community Group, Stand...
Voice of Santur Fundraiser for Rojova
Fundraising event for medical supplies for Syria, featuring Kurdish, Iranian and Afghani musicians. We worked with the organisers in an...
Calais 'Jungle' Camp Recording Session
On December 17, as part of on going work with an several organisations, I travelled to Calais, to record a concert with musicians in the...
Steve Ignorant & Gypsy Stars
The term "Gypsy Punk" has been bandied around by a lot of bands, labels and promoters in recent years but, thanks to a Brighton musician,...
Crawley International Mela Festival
Crawley International Mela Festival was established in 1989, running for many years in the grounds of the Hawth Theatre. It was the...
Lessons for Gadzo
In 2013 we where approached by documentary maker Victoria Fiore, who wanted to make a film based around Gypsy Stars and their families....
Brighton, Polish, Czech and Slovak Musicians
From 2010 until around 2013, we worked regularly with several musicians, originally from Poland, The Czech Republic and Slovakia, who had...