Student’s spoken-word film kicks off 120th anniversary

A student who grew up next to Goldsmiths’ campus has written and filmed a spoken-word piece to mark our 120th anniversary as a University. 

Rapper and poet Omar Elsaaidi, aka Refrain, is a second-year BA (Hons) Social Science, Community Development and Youth Work student who came to Goldsmiths after attending our free Saturday morning Alchemy music programme for local teenagers.  

Omar performs the work entitled Foundations of Gold across our campus – including under the landmark squiggle on top of one of our buildings – in a film shot by filmmaker and Goldsmiths graduate Liron Zisser. The full text of the piece is shared below and Omar also composed the loop which is played throughout the film.  

Goldsmiths has been part of Omar’s life since he was 14 when he started attending sessions at Alchemy.  

From our home borough of Lewisham, 21 year-old Omar is now an Alchemy Master where he mentors local young people who are taking the first steps on their creative journey. He is also an Equity Awards scholar, the Goldsmiths scheme of intentional support for Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) students to achieve their full potential.  

Speaking about his experiences through Goldsmiths, Omar said: “Even before I became a student, I was already a beneficiary of Goldsmiths' community, especially its Music department where the Alchemy project is based. If it weren’t for this project, and for my mentor, Martin Vito who works there, I may never have found the confidence to take my talents into my own hands and shape them into the purpose I now walk in today."

The film kicks off a year of celebrations to mark the 120th anniversary of Goldsmiths opening as a University in 1905. 

Then, we celebrated our students and staff and how they shape culture and society. Now, we are doing the same under the headline of 120 years of knowledge in action. 

Over this academic year we will mark the anniversary by recognising the achievements of our students and staff and the contributions they have made to the world around us. 

Find out more about 120 years of knowledge in action and how you can be involved.

Foundations of Gold, by Omar Elsaaidi, aka Refrain 

What is knowledge if the application is faulty?
The world tells us to stick to the code
But I’d prefer to stick to my codey
Rewind let me tell you how we got this far
Robust and rebellious
Aren’t just tropes of ours 
In fact
We are creative
Resourceful because we are native
And naturally nothing can come between the nest and the family that made it
()
120 years may seem like a lot
But
When greatness supersedes time these are mere themes
To the plot
There’s a bigger picture
And with each and every stroke like repeating notes
It resonates with the changing of voltage
Because in these current times
Conviction is bought in the dozens
Hence why a space like this is so valuable
()
Not for the bricks and steel
But for the people who still
Learn and reveal
Stern in their zeal
Firm in their fields
So when systems start knocking they fight for the real
()
It’s so strange
It’s like there’s something in the water
Raised in this environment now my words are published author’s
Can’t you see the power of this community
()
Talk is cheap evidence is better
Why
Because it takes more than reading a textbook full of letters
To be great in all sectors
()
I had to choose to be malleable in order to form these words
Instead of transforming into worse
I purposefully went against the grain
Instead of digging my own grave
It was foundations being made
()
Instead of turning lead into gold
Our form of alchemy isn’t so straightforward
After 120 years I take pride in the fact that Goldsmiths doesn’t have a set course
Because we take the lead from the things that harm and the gold from the dreams in our palms to create a future that our present can pass on 

Refrain