At Take One Action, we’re not just moved by the power of film. We believe that music, too, has the power to pull us out of dark times and empower us to hope and action.
Our 2025 festivals will explore Real Utopias, and we are beyond excited that four extraordinary musicians will be helping to set the tone for this journey for us: Nadine Shah, Alloysious Massaquoi of Young Fathers, Hamish Hawk and Theo Bleak.
Forget Spotify Wrapped: This is set to be a musical map of possibility, with each artist choosing five of their favourite songs that represent Real Utopias – coming together to create a soundtrack of the worlds we want to collectively create.
How to get the playlist? Get involved with our crowdfunder!
By choosing the option “£25 or more – Real Utopias Playlist” you’ll get added to our exclusive playlist distribution list. What’s more, you can watch your impact double thanks to Creative Scotland’s match funding!
All the funding we receive will go towards accessible, community-led events for our 2025 festivals, which will take place in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness – and which will use film and the arts to explore global and local issues and how they connect, as well as practical actions people can take towards positive change.
In the meantime to whet your appetite, we’ve chosen four songs for you that represent our own Real Utopias:
Daisy – Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba
The song I’ve chosen for Real Utopias is Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba, not only because it’s got this infectious joy that makes everything feel possible, but also because of the layers of defiance and subversion that it gains in the context of Miriam Makeba’s activism as voice of resistance against South African apartheid.
Rachel – Air Forces by Mustafa
I chose this song because, although it represents the fear of loving people in a world that is hostile to them, it is also about the care we have for one another and the ways in which our community hold us. Most of Mustafa’s work is about light or beauty in a world that can feel dark and how we can find that in the here and now.
Saoirse – A Place in the Sun by Stevie Wonder
This song makes me smile, sway and contemplate what my real utopia is. It makes me feel like a better future is possible if we work together; it is hope, it is community, it is sunshine.
Xuanlin – Intro to Shamstep by 47Soul
My pick is Intro to Shamstep by 47Soul, which was introduced to me by the amazing filmmakers of Coming Home, a Palestinian-American short film about dabke that we were honoured to screen during Take One Action’s 2022 festival. This song to me is the sound of resilience, joy, resistance, a line between Palestine in 1947 before the Nakba and a Free Palestine on the horizon. It’s the sound of no landlords, no occupiers, and land back to all Indigenous peoples.
We’re excited to hear the final playlist soon – make sure you’re one of the ones on the list to get it by pledging today!