Travel Light
Travel Light is a new live music commission celebrating the 300th anniversary of pioneering civil engineer John Smeaton. The project has been seven years in the making and takes its inspiration from John Smeaton’s iconic Eddystone Lighthouse built in Plymouth in 1759. Travel Light will be a musical journey that spans continents, tracing the trade routes of the 18th and 19th Centuries from Britain to India through the music of southern Europe, Africa and the West coast of India.
Animated by a powerful blend of music, song, and visuals Travel Light explores the light and darkness of lighthouses, the unique patterns of their beams and their symbolic power of exchange and integration, exploitation, and hope.
The piece will evolve throughout 2024 and be performed on Winter Solstice night, the shortest day that signals the arrival of light.
An exceptional team of international musicians will bring to life stories of ‘power, pepper and people’ from the lives of the lighthouses along the trade route, in modern-day Cape Verde, South Africa, Portugal and India, in this brand-new commission.
As Keranjeet Kaur Virdee, MBE, the CEO, and Artistic Director of SAA-uk explains, “'Travel ligh' for me is, quite literally, the language of lighthouses translated into music. The concept originated in a conversation with Abby and Jane from Foxglove that began seven years ago, aiming to transform the language of lighthouses into a musical form. The idea is to use music as a medium to explore the interconnectedness of art and engineering, delve into the many narratives and share this with lovers of music and science, culminating a year-long celebration dedicated to an engineer who was the pioneer of civil engineering in the UK".
Travel Light weaves together a story of contrasting themes exploring public good and personal profit, fear and adventure, technology and tradition, and most of all what it means to call a place home and the concert on 21 December 2024, Winter Solstice night, will be the finale of the Smeaton300 programme.
‘Travel Light’ is commissioned for Smeaton300 by SAA-uk and Foxglove, generously funded by Arts Council England.