RSS feedPosts Tagged ‘festival’
Feel the summer heat at Blaze festival in and around the Barbican in London
Posted on June 14th, 2009 in News 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 News 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
La Linea Latin Music Festival hits London and Liverpool in April and May
Posted on April 6th, 2009 in News by Songlines.
London’s La Linea Latin Music Festival 2009 kicks off on April 14 at the Barbican with the UK debut of 12-man Buenos Aires tango orchestra Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro, who give traditional tango a roughing up with four accordions and three violins. They are supported by French-Catalan musician Pascal Comelade, also making his UK debut.
This year’s festival showcases some of the greatest legends of Latin music alongside some of the hippest new fusions and mutations of traditional genres.
At the classic end of the spectrum, Peret celebrates 50 years of rumba Catalana on April 18 and Latin punk-alt country legend Alejandro Escovedo plays Bush Hall on April 30. The younger Latin scene is represented by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in collaboration with Cuban violinist Omar Puente at the South Bank Centre on April 17 and Brazilian singer-songwriter Vanessa da Mata at Koko on April 26.
Two shows will also be extending La Linea to Liverpool Philharmonic Hall this year, with Barcelona flamenco-hip-hop collective Ojos de Brujo at Camden’s Roundhouse on April 27 and Liverpool on May 1 and Spanish Bombs: A Tropical to The Clash at the Barbican on April 28 and in Liverpool on May 2, with tributes offered by the likes of Café Tacuba’s Ruben Albarran, Amaparanoia’s Amparo Sanchez and Sergent Garcia’s Bruno Garcia.
Migrations 09 brings world music to St Georges Bristol throughout 2009
Posted on March 31st, 2009 in News by Songlines.
Throughout 2009, the sounds of the world will be migrating across continents to St George’s Bristol for Migrations 09 in the UK’s west country capital.
Following the April 1 performance from the timeless Senegalese big band Orchestra Baobab and then the thrilling new Malian ngoni music of Bassekou Kouyaté and his band Ngoni Ba on April 2, later in the month there are shows from Malian singstress Oumou Sangare and Polish accordionists Motion Trio. May kicks off with Ivo Papasov’s Bulgarian Wedding Band, followed by Bollywood Brass Band and the Necks. Later in the year there are the Egyptian collective El Tanbura, UK Arabic star Natacha Atlas and the Mazeeka Ensemble and a Cajun Special with the Magnolia Sisters among others.
As part of this marathon festival, even when the concerts end, the music doesn’t. They also have a late night sessions at the Migrations festival bar after each concert where you can continue to enjoy the music. Migrations Bristol will also run in conjunction with the main concerts, bringing the multicultural sounds of local music to the festival.
