Japanese Knotweed is an aggressive invasive alien plant that has taken root in Jersey. In Asia and Eastern Europe it is used to feed livestock. It can also be used to make a flute.

Following an initial period of research, artists Kitti Gosztola and Bence György Pálinkás will develop a series of workshops with community and school groups, to make instruments using plants that are abundant, but not necessarily native to the island. This would include plants that were introduced accidentally or deliberately, considering how aspects of our cultural heritage are conserved in the story of imported plants.

“Folk musicians made their musical instruments from materials they found in their environment, which were the easiest to mould and which created a pleasant sound. Today many alien species provide excellent raw material for traditional folk instruments. In the last hundred years, not only has folk music in the traditional sense changed, but also the environment once accommodating those that played authentic folk music.

We choose musical instrument archetypes that are common throughout the world, such as the leaf flute, slit drum and tambourine, spread through migration, cultural and economic activity, or created in isolation, as humans responded to the natural materials at their disposal.”