Politics of the Imagination

Boundary-pushing rappers from the Birmingham hip-hop scene - Joel the Custodian, Kosyne, and Barrowclough - team up with avant-garde classical composer Anselm McDonnell to deliver an evening of genre-defying, humorous and hard-hitting music. Central to the concert is a performance of their collaborative theatre work Politics of the Imagination, which explores concepts of utopia, political dogmatism, and bitterly opposed worldviews. Commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and described in a 5-star review from The Morning Star as having, “all the potential to be realized as a full theatrical Hamilton-style British success… a hugely memorable piece,” Politics of the Imagination asks the question: how can imagination and playfulness inform our approach to political problems? The event features a panel discussion with the artists about their collaborative work, and solo sets from each rapper.

Setting the Scene:

In the rural constituency of Nether Whittaker, local politician Steven Bavington-Smythe believes he has all the answers to the post-Brexit, post-pandemic economic slump his town is facing: a government investment in his wife’s tech company to create jobs and level up the area. After grappling with several journalists at a press conference over the issue, he is accosted by an activist (and old schoolmate) as he enters the elevator. Their bickering is observed by an enigmatic lift attendant, who knows that not everything is as it seems in this particular elevator…

Meet the Artists:

Kosyne is a rapper, producer and label owner based in Birmingham, and has been releasing music and performing around the country since the early 2000s. Within the hip-hop scene he has supported artists such as Pharoahe Monch, Ghostface Killah, MF DOOM and more. He was one of the founders of underground label EATGOOD Records and was also creator of LOUISDEN, a popular hip-hop producer network and curated beats event/label. In 2024 he released his debut album ‘I Was Here The Whole Time…(some rap stuff by Kosyne)’.

Barrowclough grew through the cracks of the Birmingham hiphop scene in the late 90s and was part of the pioneering rap crew Michaelis Constant. A solo album and a couple of EPs materialised in the new millennium, but since 2020 he has worked on larger narrative and experimental project. He released the Boudicca Bap EP in 2020 (as Boudicca Hill) and then, in 2024, he unleashed two narrative rap projects- avant garde classical music/hiphop hybrid 'Politics of The Imagination' and a new solo album, 'The Riddle & The Spyglass'.

Joel the Custodian is a Birmingham-based filmmaker, writer and rapper. As well as releasing various rap albums and EPs since 1997, Joel has promoted UK hip-hop acts and co-ordinated gigs and music video shoots. Joel co-wrote and directed medieval rap film ‘The Quickener’, a one-of-a-kind period drama in which all the dialogue in spoken in rap and poetic verse. In 2022 he released two albums of unrelenting lamentations, ‘SXXTStorm’ and ‘PANDÜZIMA’. His work explores courage and cowardice, the specter of death and wild animal encounters. His current inspirations are rapper Billy Woods and activist-artist Nadya Tolokonnikova.

Anselm McDonnell is an Irish/Welsh composer based in Belfast. His music has been performed in fifteen countries, available on fourteen CDs (including three solo albums), and he has been commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, NSO Ireland, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Crash Ensemble, HRSE, BBC Radio 3, British Council, Belfast City Council, Galway City of Culture, and the National Concert Hall Dublin. His wide range of interests have led to multimedia and multi-genre work in collaboration with rap artists, lighting designers, theologians, poets, filmmakers, fashion designers, dancers, and actors. His music has been described as, “abrasive and compelling” (Irish Times), “bristling with energy” (GoldenPlec), “bright as fluorescent light” (Journal of Music), “a wide musical imagination with a vision to match” (Morning Star), and “perhaps the contrasts and complexities that it contains are a musical reflection of the multi-layered nature of what it means to be a composer in a community as complex as Northern Ireland.” (Robert Hugill)

Host or Publisher Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics