Celebrating Sanctuary

Music:

Member Since: 22/05/2007
Band Website: www.refugeeweek.org.uk
Band Members: The festival is part of Refugee Week a UK wide programme of events promoting the positive contribution of Refugees to the UK. It is hosted by Coin Street Festival and programmed by Rita Ray and Max Reinhardt founders of The Shrine.
"In music there are no borders. When you have no borders, you have no refugees."

Prepare to be dazzled by an amazing array of talent! From the Sanctuary Satge:
KAL Our headliners, the wild Serbian Roma Roots Rockers, described by The Observer as the “Gypsy Clash”. Kal enshrine the story of Roma and refugees in the Balkans. Band leader Dragan Ristic fled Milosevic’s Serbia in 1999 - at the time all males of military age were being conscripted to the army so to fight Nato and oppress the Albanian population of Kosovo – and took refuge in Budapest. When Milosevic was overthrown he returned, having already started developing the idea of a band that mixed Balkan Gypsy folk flavours with electronic elements. Kal was built in Belgrade out of their own Roma community, and has become a dynamic musical and political outfit that aims to speak for the Roma people of former Yugoslavia.
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Photos by Nana Varveropoulou

TEA HODZIC TRIO & PUPILS FROM CHARLES DICKENS SCHOOL Once a child star on Yugoslav TV , and in the years since here in the UK, vocalist with Szapora and Penguin Café Orchestra, Téa brings her unique trio to this year’s festival, with Oliver Wilson-Dickson on fiddle and Luke Carver Doss on accordion. Especially for the festival, she’s lead some songwriting workshops with pupils at the local Charles Dickens Primary School and will be joined by them on stage to perform them in public for the first time. (“I found a knot of people entranced by Téa Hodzic, a Bosnian singer-guitarist who was performing…an architecture graduate who came to this country as a refugee…her voice haunted me for the rest of the day” - Clive Davis / The Times)

TRENTON AND FREE RADICAL (South Africa,Uganda Zimbabwe) A hotbed of soulful, politicised 21st Century global urban grooves and melodies. Lead vocalist and songwriter :Trenton (South Africa), bass: Kaz (Uganda), and guitar: Marco (Ibiza) create a sound that combines reggae, hip-hop & electro with influences from all over the planet. Between them they’ve played with the luminaries, from Pee Wee Ellis to Faithless. Free Radical make your head spin, your heart pump and your waist wind! www.blackmangomusic.com www.myspace.com/trentonandfreeradical

POETIC PILGRIMAGE (UK) Two outstanding Muslim Women rappers from Bristol who have become a voice for the voiceless, particularly the women whose representation is often neglected. Inspired by oppression and injustice the refugee cause is something they are very passionate about. They have worked with the Somali artists Aziza B and K’naan as well as Talib Kweli. www.myspace.com/poeticpilgrimage

LONG JOHN LA FLECHA (Venezuela) A startling, hipshaking encounter with radical nu-skool Latin music. This quarteto-Carlos Chirinos, Dario Rossetti-Bonell, Adriano Rossetti-Bonell, Dave De Rose-chase the duende and take you to a place where Joe Battaan, Zappa, Llorca, DJ Dolores and the Specials swap tangos, mambos and cha-chas under the starlit sky. www.myspace.com/longjonlaflecha

FONT (Iran) Banned and jailed for playing an underground gig in Iran, winners of the recent Immigrant Song Contest on BBC2’s Newsnight here in the UK…FONT, the sound of Iranian Indie (think Radiohead meet Ultravoxa), are a five piece band formed in Tehran Capital of the Iranian Islamic Republic in 2006. Accused of attending a "satanic" party and disrupting morals, the entire band were sentenced to prison for 21 days. After they had served their sentence they left Tehran and here in the UK, they have developed their style from a rock and roll band to a more minimal indie pop sound, influenced by bands such as Bloc Party, The Foals , Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

Inspirational movers on the Dance Stage include:
BENE UBUMWE Cultural Troupe (Rwanda) Founded in 2001 by Rwandans living in the UK to promote Rwandan Culture through dance and music and to help young Rawandan refugees acclimatize to life in exile. With the help of Surf (Survivors fund, which is a charity for survivors of the genocide of Rwanda), Bene Ubumwe had been able to release its own inspirational album called " NZAZA", which means: "I'll come" with its message of hope and solidarity to survivors of the genocide.
ORLETA (Poland) A popular, Polish folk song and dance company from South London, established in 1973, who perform all over the UK and in Poland. Today’s sparkling set includes songs, dances and games from Opoczno, Krakow and Lwow.
MARCINA "URVASHI" ARNOLD Kathak solo dance (S.Africa) Trained in the ancient South Asian Classical Dance form “Kathak” and folk styles, she is a member of Shamaa dance company led by her guru and artistic director Sushma Mehta. Marcina performs as a member of Shamaa and solo. Marcina has studied with Kathak artists Akram Khan, Saswati Sen, Pratap Pawar, Sushmita Ghosh, Kumudini Lakhia, Maulik Shah and more. Marcina combines the beauty and discipline of South Asian dance with the free urban styles that are part of the ever evolving dance culture of today. www.streetsoul.org.uk/whoandwhat66.html
MARCINA "URVASHI" ARNOLD - Dance Workshop Young or old, Marcina’s fresh and open approach to movement inspires everyone to dance and create.
BEXLEY SOMALI CULTURAL GROUP The musicians, singers, dancers play traditional Somali music with hand drums, guitar, organ and the Kaban (like a guitar). They mostly perform for the Somali Community in Bexley but also appear at weddings and festivals all over the UK. They have helped make a film about the Somalian civil war, entitled (English translation) ‘What has happened to this family? What has made them divide and fight?’
BAILA PERU ‘Where passion, power and sensuality blend harmoniously, bringing out part of our heritage through each gracious movement.’ Baila Peru aim to make Peruvian culture have a strong impact in the UK and for Londoners to have more awareness of Peruvian culture, their dance and artistic projects cultivate their Peruvian heritage and represent the diversity of Peruvian folklore. www.chilliandginger.com
AFGHAN ATTAN (Afghan Folk Dance Group) Incandescent Afghan dance with live percussion.
ACADEMY OF TAMIL ARTS - Bharathanatya trad Tamil dance The Academy is based in Tooting and founded by Ragini Rajagopal, an acclaimed dancer and teacher of this Indian classical dance who fled to the UK along with her journalist husband in 1983. Barathanataya is one the oldest dance forms in India, developed in the temples of Tamil Nadu in Southern India...
Record Label: Unsigned