Welcome to Moon Arkestra, a series of podcasts created by students of the charity University of the Underground’s Moon Arkestra Whistleblowing Residency. This tuition free programme was led by Artist Head of Programme Dr. Aditi Jaganathan from April 2022 to June 2022, as an investigation into whistleblowing as a political action but also an instrument and language.

This podcast was created by Vee as a part of this practice-based residency. Students unraveled the relationships between nation-states, music, political action and displacement. Moon Arkestra was composed of unique multidisciplinary creatives and musicians. Who joined Moon Convoy and toured with Tour de Moon around England, during May and June of 2022. Moon Arkestra members put together a series of experiences, and creative interventions involving political theory and musical practice with this podcast being one of them.

“I had questions for the Moon Arkestra – about our instruments. These are questions I asked myself during this experience.

We all went to the park, after one of our live performances at the moon convoy. It was a sunny day. Together, we sat in the grass and reflected on what we consider our instrument(s) to be, what we feel we can communicate through our instruments and what we are able to actualise for ourselves.” Vee

Acknowledgments

Produced/edited by Vee

In conversation with:

Mango (Mirrored Fatality)

Samar (Mirrored Fatality)

Kingali

MayaLae

Zoe

Eeshar

Christopher

Fraz

Audio recordings

Moon Arkestra archive

Location(s) : Southampton, Newcastle

Véronique Belinga (she/they/vee) is a cultural worker and audio storyteller based in London. Véronique works across different mediums including sound, podcasting and radio to explore Black life as it relates to (self)identity, cultural production and its expression. Vee’s research practice is informed by her understanding of history as a radical tool for political education, creative thinking and imagination.