A band made up of torture survivors will play in London on Saturday

Recently we shared news of an all-day punk gig at the Shacklewell Arms that happened last weekend, which was the first event of the ‘Freedom From Torture Presents…’ festival occurring throughout December.

The festival is set to continue with a performance from the Stone Flowers collective on the 15th December at 3pm at the St-Giles-in-the-Fields Church in Holborn, London. The Stone Flowers music project is comprised of Freedom from Torture clients in the North West of England and features survivors of torture from a range of countries including Turkey, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project offers the chance for those involved to overcome the traumas of the past through music and collaboration. Their diverse origins are reflected in the original compositions created, which blend folk, jazz, classical and hip-hop and are performed in many languages. Lis Murphy, the artistic director of Musicians without Borders, said ahead of the performance:

“Each member of Stone Flowers has something really important to say and the music they have created to express this is incredibly powerful. We are thrilled to help a London audience share the life-affirming experience of a Stone Flowers performance for the first time.”

The event is being put on in connection with Musicians without Borders, a charity who use music to heal the impacts of war and bring people across the world together. Tickets for the performance have a suggested donation of £5 and can be reserved here.

Listen to some excerpts of Stone Flowers below, and head here buy a CD of their original recordings.