For episode 17 of the Creative Climate Podcast, Perry and Kirsten get into it with the supremely talented London-based, British-Ugandan Musician/Songwriter/Activist, LOVE SSEGA. 

Ssega was introduced to us through Alison Tickell from Julie’s Bicycle. Raving about him on our 15th episode, we were sufficiently inspired to reach out and ask him to come on the podcast. 

Ssega is a founding member, lead singer/songwriter for Clean Bandit, an electro-classical band that collaborated with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestras. He performed in front of 45,000 at Glastonbury on the Other Stage, live on BBC’s Jools Holland and to festival crowds from Tokyo to Rome.

Over the past few years, he has developed his solo repertoire which  invokes a distinctive, impassioned, and angular R&B electro-rap hybrid that is proving to be a serious voice in climate activism, particularly bounding off his life as a South Londoner. 

Ssega was moved by the story of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debra, a 9 year old girl who lost her life, afflicted by asthma that worsened as a result of the profound air pollution around London’s highly polluted through road, the South Circular. 

His music and his activism around this local problem, which of course illuminates a larger problem, led to his being selected for Seasons For Change’s Common Ground, led by Julie’s Bicycle and Artsadmin, on a national, year-long Climate Justice and Arts Activism commission in the build up to the UN’s COP26 environmental conference. 

His project “Airs of the South Circular” centres around uplifting Black voices in the climate crisis, specifically in response to air pollution and the communities around the South Circular.

“Airs of the South Circular” – multi-arts project – includes an album of new music, a specially-commissioned “Project Earth” comic by Andrew Kiwanuka, an information pamphlet of interviews and viewpoints and a visual trailer introducing the area.

Love Ssega's words and music can be found here: https://www.lovessega.com/