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The Joy of Sound is led and run by volunteers who provide inclusive participatory music and arts activities for people of all ages and backgrounds, including marginalised groups and disabled people facing complex health challenges. The Krar Project ran from January 2019 to February 2020 with the aim of accepting and embracing cultural difference in their local community through mutual learning and community development.

The project arose from Joy of Sound’s ongoing work with the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities around their base in Brixton, for whom the Krar, a highly adaptable string instrument of the lyre / harp family that can be played one handed lying flat, on a stand or held in different positions and strummed or plucked, or played with a plectrum, with its ancient African lineage, is central to their musical and cultural heritage. The three phases of the project; instrument making, outreach and events, allowed them to connect with a hard to reach group by running events, offering the use of instruments and promoting cultural exchange.

 

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