In the tradition of dub pioneers like Jah Shaka, Sunun uses a mixing desk as an instrument in its own right, manipulating and marshalling a diverse range of sound sources into narcotic hallucinations that are all cracked bass-weight at one moment, and pure astral travelling the next. Taking inspiration from the role of the drum in revolution music with roots built from dub foundations.
For Sunun, drums are a musical preoccupation. Her show for the Noods radio station, Everything Is A Drum, was an ongoing exploration of the role of the instrument in global music, and her own interest in percussion is longstanding. On Everything Is A Drum, Sunun’s preoccupation with percussion was especially focused on the role of the drum in revolution music, & the sounds of social movements around the world.
She found a record on the Palestinian intifada which was her first encounter with this music. It was that record that sparked it all, and soon she was collecting revolutionary music from wherever she could find it. Everything Is A Drum grew out of a desire to catalogue her discoveries.
In her own music, though, her focus tends to land more firmly on the role of sound as a psychic salve. Those epiphanic moments when playing the drums are channeled into compositions that, while sonically distinct, feel close in character to the mystically-inflected work of artists like piano, zither, and mbira specialist Laraaji.
“I create music to heal myself,” Sunun says, and she is drawn to artists who do the same. Sunun’s work is built on dub foundations.