Abstract This chapter focuses on the contexts and overarching geo-politics within which the music-making explored in this book takes place. ‘Waiting’ and ‘integration’ as key aspects of forced migrants’ lives are discussed. An overview of the system of asylum seeking accommodation is outlined as well as artistic and cultural responses to its confines and imposed waiting. Specific examples of music projects provide a snapshot of the types of interventions that exist in the field. A focus on the two country responses to asylum seeking, in Ireland and Germany, is provided, where nine accommodation centres were engaged with as a core part of the research that informs this book.