Oxford Street Preacher

Shortlist URBANsoundWORK

SONORA

Oxford Street Preacher is an extract of a field recording made at one of London’s busiest junctions - Oxford Circus. It consists of a young preacher who is working hard to make his voice heard above the surrounding traffic noise, to convert passers-by to his particular brand of religion. It is lunchtime, and his audience consist mostly of workers on their lunch breaks, who often ignore him, as he sells his message of salvation. At the end, he stops and hands out leaflets containing the following prayer.

BE SET FREE!
A PRAYER TO GOD FOR TRUTH
Almighty God YaHWaH.
I am praying to you because I
have heard you are the Creator of
the heavens and the earth, and
that I also came into existence by
your will.
Because I do not know all things,
but you know all things, please let
me know the things that are true
concerning you, and let the truth
rest in my heart: only then, will I
know how to please you.
Thank you Almighty God. Amen.


Joseph Young a.k.a. field, trained as an actor at Drama Centre, London (1979-82). His career as an actor spans over twenty-five years, starring in West End musicals, on television and in developing new writing.
As a sound designer and composer, Joseph won the 1992 Carling London Fringe Award for his work on The Ballad of the Limehouse Rat by Tim Newton. Recent composition work includes the soundtrack for a Friday Play for BBC Radio 4, Full Blown and the title theme and incidental music for a documentary series for ITV, St Dunstans.
Other recent commissions include a sound installation for iPods at the Redoubt Fortess in Eastbourne, as part of the Re:Play project with Community Arts Eastbourne; a large-scale community dance performance in Lewes, Something to Dance About; sound artist on Breaking the Silence, a new play by Liz Rothschild; Creative Partnerships at Whitehouse School, Hailsham; leading sound reminiscence workshops for the WRVS in Eastbourne and a commissioned sound installation for Dorothy Stringer School in Brighton, The Listening Tree.
In 2008, Joseph received funding from Arts Council England to curate and produce (Re)Awakening of a City! - a celebration of urban noise, inspired by the work of the Milan Futurists and in particular, Luigi Russolo.

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