Turning Tables
EMPOWERING MARGINALIZED YOUTH THROUGH MUSIC AND FILM
Can you rap about human rights? Make hip hop on good governance? DJ your way to peace? Turning Tables believes you can. From refugee camps in Lebanon to post-Arab Spring Tunisia, divided Myanmar and the urban slums of Africa, marginalised young people from different backgrounds gather around turntables to find their voices and common ground in music and film. At the heart is Martin Fernando Jakobsen, a 31-year-old DJ from Denmark. In 2009 he was living in Beirut when he set up Turning Tables (TT) to give refugees there a platform and a voice. What started as small hip hop workshops in refugee camps has turned into permanent ‘Turntable Labs’, with sound studios and film production facilities in the most unlikely places – as well as Voice of the Streets festivals and tours.