Endgérbèthie: My Search for the Soul of Jèrriais

How might we define or explore the idea of a language and culture having a soul? If we were to try such an exercise for Jèrriais and Jersey, where would it lead us? Would it be helpful, or could it even be dangerous? Join musician and ethnomusicologist Dr Kit Ashton as he discusses his personal and musical journey with Jèrriais, reflecting on some of the poetic, aesthetic, and philosophical dimensions of our unique island tongue. This will be a lecture-recital involving some musical performance and culminating in a short time for questions and group discussion.

Max attendees 30

Kit Ashton is a musician and ethnomusicologist from Jersey, currently based in Cardiff. He is a vocalist, guitarist, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, with over 25 years of broad experience in popular music, music education, and ethnomusicology.

Kit is the lead singer and founder of pop-folk band Badlabecques, who are unique in that they sing in the endangered language of Jèrriais. As a composer/producer, Kit recently created the Jèrriais virtual electro-pop band La Dgaîngue, commissioned by L’Office du Jèrriais as an educational project. Kit gained a PhD in Music (2022), from Goldsmiths College, University of London, funded by the UK’s AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council). His research investigates the ways in which applied ethnomusicology can help revitalise endangered languages, with a focus on Jèrriais. He recently contributed a chapter to the peer-reviewed edited volume ‘The Language of Music: Minority Languages in Popular Music’ (2025, ed. Gareth R. Schott).

Kit has also recently collaborated with visual artist and filmmaker Penny Andrea and video artist Luke André Jackson, to develop the audiovisual work, ‘The Lost Dreams’. Exploring drawing as a dynamic temporal process to nurture emotional and neurological healing. It has been shown/installed in a range of locations, including Kunstraum Kreuzberg in Berlin. As a music lecturer, Kit has taught at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, where he designed and led a course for the MA in Songwriting. He has given guest talks and spoken at conferences all over the world, in both English and French, including in Jersey, the UK, France, Canada, USA, and Japan.