RSS feedPosts Tagged ‘festival’
Musicport Festival in Bridlington UK on October 23-25 in its tenth year
Posted on October 14th, 2009 in World Music by Songlines.
Now in its tenth anniversary year, Musicport Festival, which started out in Whitby on the UK’s north-east coast, has since moved to the Spa in Bridlington, just down the coast. It still offers one of the UK’s top world music experiences – the annual festival season closer, and very appropriately for October in the UK, it’s indoors!
Musicport 2009 takes places on the weekend of October 23-25, with UK Asian experimenter Nitin Sawhney headlining Friday night, roots reggae legend Misty in Roots on Saturday and The African Jazz All-Stars on Sunday. The line-up also includes the collaboration between guitarist Justin Adams and ritti player Juldeh Camara, kanun maestro Abdullah Chhadeh & Syriana, world trance from Banco de Gaia, the Tibetan Tashi Lhunpo Monks, eastern European rhythms from the Ukrainians, English folk from Jim Moray and Mamane Barka, the last master of the biram, the traditional instrument of the Boudouma tribe from the shores of Lake Chad in eastern Niger.
See Kanda Bongo Man and Malkit Singh free at Croydon Summer Festival on August 1-2
Posted on July 29th, 2009 in World Music by Songlines.
It must be one of the biggest bargains in the UK festival calendar – a weekend full of top world music names in Lloyd Park in Croydon on August 1-2 at the totally free Croydon Summer Festival.
The festival divides into a World Party on August 1 with such acts as Cameroonian kwassa kwassa king Kanda Bongo Man, Dreadzone, Eduardo Niebla Experience, Latin Dub Sound System and the dulcet tones of Scotland’s most famous twins, the Proclaimers, and the Croydon Mela – one of the UK’s oldest – on August 2. The Mela is headlined by bhangra legend Malkit Singh – who received an MBE last year for services to Punjabi music, something his fans would thoroughly concur with. He is joined by Veronica, Channi Singh with Alaap, Swami, Grand Union Bangla Band and Bireswar Gautam amongst others.
All this world music will be surrounded by street theatre in Lloyd Park, Croydon from 1-8.30pm on August 1 and 1-8pm on August 2.
Feel the summer heat at Blaze festival in and around the Barbican in London
Posted on June 14th, 2009 in World Music by Songlines.
CREATE 09 brings together arts, music and culture in the five host boroughs of the London 2012 Olympics. It is an umbrella for a host of festivals, live music events and community street parties happening across Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest boroughs.
Part of the festivities, that will run each summer towards the Olympics, is a new summer music and dance series by the Barbican called Blaze. Kicking off on June 19, Blaze takes place both at the Barbican and out in the leafy surroundings of Paradise Gardens in Victoria Park and the cool atmosphere of Cargo in London’s east end.
Top world music names on this summer’s bill include tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussein, Cuban legends Orquesta Aragón and Los Van Van, veteran Argentine tangueros Café de los Maestros, flamenco songstress Carmen Linares and Balkan brass titans Boban Markovic and Goran Bregovic.
Princes Amongst Men Gypsy Film Festival comes to London in April and May
Posted on April 8th, 2009 in World Music by Songlines.
Inspired by journalist Garth Cartwright’s book Princes Amongst Men: Journeys With Gypsy Musicians (Serpents Tail), published in 2005, the Princes Amongst Men Gypsy Film Festival takes place at the Ritzy in Brixton on April 24-26 and the Picture House in Greenwich on May 1-3.
The festival includes films, documentaries, live music and DJs alongside a photographic exhibition of an Albanian Roma community by Australian photojournalist Rob Hackman. The films include vintage live footage and footage never before screened in the UK of performers such as Esma Redzepova, Gabby Lunca, Fanfare Ciocarlia and flamboyant Bulgarian Gypsy pop-folk icon Azis and events including Serbia’s legendary Guca Festival where brass bands from across the Balkans vie for top spot in a crescendo of sound.
Following certain screenings there will also be live jazz, blues and Roma songs from French singer-guitarist Florence Joelle with accordionist and keyboard player Lucie Rejchrtova and klezmer music from the Matzoh Boys.
For those inspired by what they see, there is also a Songlines Music Travel trip to the Guca Festival in Serbia on August 6-11 to see the frenzied national competition between top brass players such as Boban Markovic and Ekrem Sajdic. The Songlines Music Travel trip includes three nights of music at the Guca Festival with accommodation in the village itself, plus time to explore Belgrade. The cost is just £495 per person excluding flights to Belgrade. Find more details and a video taster on www.songlines.co.uk/musictravel/tours/serbia-guca.php or call 020 8505 2582
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/ritzy
www.picturehouses.co.uk/site/cinemas/greenwich
