Local students take on the UK

By Kate Mani

Two aspiring Southbank musicians have just returned from London as recipients of Nando’s Global Music Exchange program.

Local residents Zoe Marshall and Isaac Liew, music students at JMC College in South Melbourne, were selected for a workshop and recording session at London’s esteemed Roundhouse Studios.

This is the first year that the Nando’s Global Music Exchange has involved Australian students. The program provides aspiring musicians with the chance to share, learn and create songs under the guidance of professional artists.

The Southbank pair, along with six other Melbourne students, worked with contemporaries from the UK and South Africa and received assistance from Australian hip-hop MC and producer Urthboy, UK singer-songwriter Ella Eyre and South African hip-hop artist Dope Saint Jude.

For Zoe Marshall, the opportunity was a unique chance to collaborate with global musical influences.

“Everyone who got selected had their own individual tastes and they’re all into different genres. People from the UK and South Africa had their own influences and combining them together was really cool,” she said.

The finished product for Marshall and her group was an African-influenced rap song with an 80s vibe, which has been well received in the UK.

“Our track got played on BBC Radio One. I was really gobsmacked. To have that kind of exposure, that’s pretty exciting, so I was stoked,” Zoe said.

While the London experience may be over, the international collaboration and impact of the program is set to continue.

“We’ve already set up a social media page and we’re still connected, we can still work overseas by sending each other ideas” Zoe said.

Back home in Southbank, Marshall believes that her suburb has had a big influence on her musical production.

“Sometimes the atmosphere can inspire me to write. I like to walk around when I write music and things that are happening around me in the area affect what I’m writing and what I’m feeling,” she said.

“In Southbank on Friday nights we have JMC street sessions. Anyone from the uni can go up and just perform if they wish. They busk and that also gets filmed and put up on social media, so that’s great practice. So far we’ve had really good feedback.”