Rumble Sound System is an experimental project from Rumble Theatre funded by the Canada Council for the Arts “Digital Now” program. Taking its inspiration from the origins of Dub music and Sound System Culture, we’re seeing what happens if we take text, and then liberally repurpose it to make new pieces. 

Listen and download for free on Bandcamp.

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Projects

May All Beings Shed Their Shame
by Sally Zori

We live in a day where trans people are ruthlessly vilified as perverts, sadists, and pedophiles. Based on these outrageous and false accusations they are being denied healthcare, stripped of their civil rights, and murdered everyday. However, the real threat lies behind cathedral doors…church and state. The real threat lies in the hands of obtuse politicians and archaic religious figures spewing hateful drivel at the pulpit.

This is a story told in 3 movements. Violence. A love song. Reclamation.

About Sally Zori

Hi, I am Sally Zori. ​I am a transgender Iraqi (They/Them/Their) multi-disciplinary artist born in Baghdad, raised in the United Arab Emirates and different parts of Canada. Today, I live on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

At the age of 11, I picked up my first drum, the Doumbek (middle eastern goblet drum), and never stopped. By the time I was 18, I’d played several instruments including congas, bongos, timbales, drum kit, and guitar. I pursued a career in music, performing, and touring while attending the University of Windsor to study Film & Television. My musical journey took me all over Canada and the world, performing in international arts festivals; The Sydney Festival in Australia, Dublin Fringe in Ireland, and the PuSh Festival in Vancouver, and was once lucky enough to have the opportunity (one new years eve in ’08) to be the percussionist for Aretha Franklin.

In early 2017, I started my own content creation company (Zori Media) which led to my falling back in love with making videos. With a film degree under my belt and a new found love for making videos, I’m starting to experiment with video composite art on collaborations with other Vancouver based artists. Today, I’m still a session musician, percussionist, and content creator just trying to get through the pandemic. I am currently working on my story of being a third culture kid exploring my relationship with ‘home’ and how to heal. Working with film,  the piece hopes to incorporate spoken word with live musical underscoring.

From The Corner
by Luz Fleming

The Soundsystem brings music and culture and history across many boundaries, exposes lies and brings a counter narrative to the ultra colonial and capitalistic one we have been spoon fed for centuries. Luz Fleming was drawn to Shanae Sodhi’s written parts for this project because of their blunt and unapologetic lyrics and subject matter, not far removed from Luz’s own experiences growing up on the inner city streets of New York and San Francisco. Shanae was inspired to write and record his lyrics to a Benny The Butcher song called “Who Are You”, produced by Daringer of Griselda. Daringer’s track features a haunting sample of the song “Take A Look At Yourself (Before You Frown On Someone Else)” by White Heat. In the spirit of Soundsystem and Riddim culture, Luz Fleming has taken the same chord structure and lead melody of “Take A Look At Yourself”, unpacked them, and remade a new “version” for Shanae and his partners to use as their backing track. With the addition of extensive sound design, editing, and effects, Luz brings the listener into an entirely new and visceral storytelling landscape.

About Luz Fleming

Colorado born, Bay Area raised, Brooklyn True Yorker, East Van local. Luz Mob brings the heat to every set with vibes from Hip-Hop to Rub-A-Dub, Cumbia to Coladeira, Deep Funk to Disco. Just try not to dance!

When My Father Becomes a Cobra
by Anju Singh

When My Father Becomes a Cobra is a sound art adaptation composed by Anju Singh of a poem of the same name composed by writer Roshni Riar. The piece travels through the poem using electronics, voice, violin, and other traditional instruments to create a sound experience that aims to honour the spirit of the poem.

The sound artist was drawn to the poem for its vivid imagery which inspired the creation of sounds for the piece as well as re-working parts of the voice to reflect the content and reading of the poem. While experimental techniques were used, the piece intends to draw listeners in so that the sound work is as relatable as the poem’s content – a stark and heavy reality that sits uncomfortably but locked in the present. The sound composition holds the piece in the same universe as the poem itself – in a realm beyond space and time.

About Anju Singh & The Nausea

Composer, musician and performer Anju Singh is bringing her combination of chamber-doom and noise – created via violin and electronics – to Sled Island as The Nausea. Easy-listening it is not. Rather, Singh is pushing the sonic boundaries of her instruments into the furthest reaches of the halls of extreme music to “channel doubt and discomfort, venting and volume, hypnosis and requiems.” It’s something best understood out-loud.

Kookum’s Sound System
by DJ Kookum

About DJ Kookum

Cheyanna Kootenhayoo AKA Kookum is a DJ and multi media maker from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, and Cold Lake First Nations, their maternal Denesuline traditional territory. Based out of Vancouver BC, Kookum has been making a name for their self across the country and is no stranger in the community.

Kookum is an open format DJ inspired by EDM and Hip Hop music. This diverse-mix-diva is a force on the decks and always keeps the party hype, fresh, and unpredictable.

Kookum tours nationally and internationally with the Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Holds down weekly DJ residencies. Facilitates videography and DJ workshops, operates sound and lighting for community dance parties, and works with youth as a DJ mentor. You can also catch DJ Kookum performing virtually for online festivals, curating online events, hosting online workshops, making beats in the studio, and selling merchandise on their online store.

Kookum has been a video editor for just over 10 years editing television, documentaries and promotional videos. Kookum is also the music supervisor for the children’s television series called ‘Coyote Science’ and host’s the Immersive Knowledge Transfer Podcast produced by the Indigenous Matriarchs 4 Media Lab.  

Sandra, Said Like A Cuss
by Richard Brown

The piece reflects images of the background of the poet and the musician. Reflections of life in the Caribbean and Canada. Based on events that deeply affect the lives of all people. The images evolved, how deeply personal and yet, universal.

About the Work

Poem by: Melly Davidson
Music composed, arranged and recorded by: Richard Brown
Mixed by Richard Brown and Krischan Grohne (KG SOUND)

Musicians:
Chris Couto (Conga, Djembe, Bells Shakers)
Jonah Ocean (Bass, Cello, Vocals)
Langston Raymond (Trumpet)
Tim Sars (Flute)
Richard Brown (Drums, Keyboards, Samples)