Afrikan Boy met Consultant Haematologist Dr Rakesh Popat at UCLH, who gave him and his collaborators Bumi and Adio an overview of the makeup of the blood and its functions.

They then toured The Doctors Laboratory with Naina Chavda, where they saw blood under a microscope and witnessed the processing of donated blood for transfusion. At St Thomas Hospital with Dr Robert Eckersley, they witnessed a pioneering technique for imaging and hearing the blood and tuned to the sound of their own blood pumping through their veins and arteries using this brand new ultrasound technology.

Finally Afrikan Boy visited the Apheresis unit at University College London Hospital, where he toured the unit with Consultant Dr Sara Trompeter and talked at length to four patients who rely on regular transfusion to fight Sickle Cell; hearing their stories, and their relationship to their own blood as a consequence of this disease.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“Initially I wanted to choose the heart as my organ to investigate. I felt the motion of a heartbeat would be an easy medium to create music to. I spoke with a heart specialist who quickly pointed out to me that the sound of a ‘Heart Beat’ is simply the noise of Blood being pumped through. He then added that Blood could be considered an organ in the human body.

Our song ”Eje Aiye” Which means ‘Life Blood or the Blood of life” in Yoruba is inspired by the 3 main functions of blood: Protect, Repair & Transport. I had the opportunity to talk with patients needing regular blood transfusions to get an idea of what blood meant to their unique lives. I am very proud of this piece of sonic art. It will forever remind me of this important component in my Body of Songs. ”

HEAR MORE FROM AFRIKAN BOY VIA SOUNDCLOUD