Street Sounds
Music has played a massive part in the Oxford experience, from buskers, and May Morning performers, to independent music shops, the O2 Academy, the Bullingdon, and pub performers. These sounds of Oxford’s streets, however, have been silenced due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, and other sounds have taken prominence.
Cowley Road Carnival
Oxford is home to the Cowley Road Carnival, a lively festival filled with diverse music and art pieces which showcases the multicultural community of Oxford.
In his interview with Museum of Oxford volunteer Graham West, Leo B, a local reggae artist, says that the Cowley Road Carnival is ‘Oxford's answer to Notting Hill Carnival’, with ‘local sound systems (and bands)’, transforming the area into ‘a massive street party with lively vibes’.
With 2020 changing the shape of Oxford’s lively music scene, many performers taking to online shows. The 2020 Cowley Road Carnival was livestreamed, and the recordings of many of the performances remain available to view on YouTube, creating a more long-lasting, albeit completely different, atmosphere of the Carnival. A playlist of these videos can be found on the ‘Cowley Road Works Organiser of Cowley Road Carnival’ YouTube channel.
Horns of Plenty
Horns of Plenty are a popular community street band within Oxford, participating in Truck Festival, Bunkfest, and May Morning celebrations, among many other events.
The band is so integral to many people's experience of Oxford and the Cowley Road Carnival that they were included in a a mural celebrating the Carnival. This busy mural helps to give a lively and loud feeling to Cowley Road despite the silence in the streets during the national and local lockdowns. The mural also gives a permanence to the music created during the Carnival each year, and demonstrates how important sounds are to a sense of belonging in Oxford.
Soundless streets
May Morning, in a typical year, is a loud and busy morning, filled with the sounds of choristers from Magdalene College, Horns of Plenty, and many more musicians, filling the streets of Oxford with sounds. 2020, however, was far from a typical year, and the May Morning celebrations were cancelled. The leaflet below shows how the community was keen to continue the celebrations despite not being able to physically take to the streets.
As lockdown and other COVID restrictions continue, Oxford’s streets remain quiet. Meg Barton shared some creative responses to the lockdown and its effects, including the impacts of the lack of sound, reminiscing on the hustle and bustle of humans in the streets, and how it has been taken over by birdsong.
After This
Meg Barton writes beautifully about being able to meet with friends and family, finally being able to go to postponed activities, taking advantage of what the 'outside world' has to offer, and enjoying the sounds of the city after this.