This year we were excited to be a case study for one of our Bloco family’s research papers at SOAS University. Rosa Lynch-Northover joined us as a drummer in 2008 and was part of the band for a few years. This year, as part of her degree, she interviewed Tamzyn French, Shayanna Dyer-Harris, Ruben Fox, Nathaniel Cross and Jermaine Amissah for an ‘appreciative inquiry into Kinetika Bloco: a study of what works and how, in contribution to the developing community music discourse, with the hope of aiding the growth of similar organisations.’ We loved catching up with her and remembering some throwbacks to her time in Bloco and also talking through the core values that keep us going today. We thought you may enjoy reading it too.

Rosa introduces her paper: “As I stepped in time to the music, I could feel the vibrations from the line of surdo drums behind me shivering through my body. The dancers spun around us in their bright, flamboyant costumes, making sure that anyone passing by was compelled to stop, listen, and gawp. The energy flowing through the band was electric.”

“This is a memory from performing with Kinetika Bloco when I was 15 years old, and the sheer excitement that the organisation gave me at such a formative age compelled me to complete this paper researching the foundations of Kinetika Bloco’s success.”

The paper includes  auto-ethnography along with interviews with Kinetika Bloco staff and alumni, and explores the processes and strategies behind the group’s 20-year success, hoping to present a model to similar organisations, with the hope that plenty more teenagers around the UK (and world) can be gifted with such an exquisite life-shaping musical experience.

Read Rosa’s Case study Here – Community Music and Youth – An Appreciative Inquiry in to Kinetika Bloco by R. Lynch-Northover