A Song From Below

Peter Nicholls uses sounds of the recovered time-keeping bell from the wreck of the London-based Henrietta Marie, a 17th century slave ship that fitted out in Deal, passed through Ramsgate waters twice and trafficked almost 600 captive adults and children, unknown and unnamed by records left by the enslavers, to British plantation colonies. The muffled ringing of the time-keeping bell was heard by those in the hold of the ship, below the waterline, every half an hour during the ocean crossings that birthed today’s diasporic realities.

300 years later, off the coast of Florida, the sunken remains of the ship were identified by the inscriptions on the bell and other metalwork forged in Kent and Sussex, hidden beneath layers of coral and corrosion. The bell was brought up and struck, enabling the exact sound heard by those ancestors to be archived.

Peter approached the recording according to Creole traditions of co-opting, altering, re-imagining and repurposing the apparatus and symbols of erasure in order to find and carry knowledge beneath the surface. Through altering wavelengths in the recording of the bell’s ring, Peter tries to open a channel of connection with spirit and memory in the frequencies that exist below the range of human hearing, in the range of Labalen - the Creole whale spirit of the ocean. The song will play at the end of Ramsgate’s East Harbour Arm, over the waters traversed by the Henrietta Marie.

Peter is a historian, artist and musician from the Isle of Thanet, of mixed British and Indian Ocean Creole heritage. His work focuses on this heritage and related histories, aiming to advance current knowledge and open up ways of connecting with the past based on Creole and diasporic traditions. He has worked on topics such as Indian Ocean middle passages, ancestral voyages, traditional Creole music, mermaids, and oceanic cultural imaginings. As an artist he explores creative, reparative and community-centred ways of holding history, making use of artefacts, portraiture, spoken word, sound, and music played on traditional Creole instruments.

Further information

Please contact event organisers for details on access and carer tickets.

Due to the location, this piece will be weather permitting. In strong winds the terrace will close and the event will be postponed.

The Brasserie will be open for drinks and food - there is no obligation to purchase whilst visiting this Sonic Trail event.

Instagram: @p.a.nicholls

Website: www.panicholls.com