Folk to Folk is an original body of work rooted in Liverpool and inspired by a simple discovery: within a one-mile radius of the city centre, more than forty languages are spoken.

This revelation sparked a question: where are the communities behind these languages, and what songs do they carry with them?

Beginning in Liverpool, Folk to Folk explores the cultural songs held within communities whose roots stretch across the world. In the film, voices from Angolan, Portuguese, Irish, Swiss, West African and Trinidadian traditions sit alongside the English folk tradition and the perspective of a deaf woman, revealing a rich and often unseen cultural landscape within the city.

These stories represent just a glimpse of the many languages and traditions that shape Liverpool’s cultural life.

Through collective singing, the project reveals a powerful idea: that the world can sometimes be found within a single city, and that when we listen to each other’s songs we begin to recognise how much we share.

The project forms part of Jennifer John’s wider practice which explores collective voices as cultural expression and lived experience.

“Folk to Folk celebrates Liverpool as a living meeting point of cultures, showing how the songs people carry from their homelands continue to shape the emotional and cultural life of the city.” - Jennifer John