Songs from Home
Lesley Kennel
Switzerland is an immigration country in which the debate on the awkward relationship with foreign cultures has been continuing since decades. This circumstance demands concepts and solutions with regard to the integration of migrants in Switzerland. Integration needs exchange.
Inspired by her own experience as musician, Lesley Kennel focuses on the potential of intercultural dialog through music in her work Songs from Home. Together, immigrants and Swiss natives sing songs from their homeland. Music isn’t just personal and emotional, it also represents an element of cultural identification. Everybody carries with them songs associated with their motherland.
The details of specific native countries are scrutinized in interviews with immigrants who have resided in Switzerland for some time. In meetings of men and women from various countries who haven’t met before, the mutual singing establishes an exchange. The camera cinematographically accompanies the staged meeting of people through music.
The work aims at social integration, at a dialog between people from different cultures, and shows the prospects and potential for encounter in Switzerland.
