CAMBRIDGE WORLD COMMUNITY FESTIVAL
25th-26th August 2007
10.00am-6.00pm
@
The Guildhall, Cambridge
Celebrating 23 August, the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
The uprising that took place on the island of Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) during the night of 22 to 23 August 1791 shook the slave system radically and irreversibly and provided the impetus for the process which would eventually lead to the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
On the 24th-26th August 2007,MenelikMusicin partnership with South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridge City Councils and The University Of Cambridge are cordially inviting you to a weekend of celebration, in co-operation with various talented artists, volunteers, historians, other specialists and the media, to promote better understanding among people/communities.
Free entry on the 25th 26th from 10am-6pm @ The Guildhall, Cambridge, Market Square CB2
Activities and commemorative events include:
· Exhibitions
· Arts&Crafts
· Workshops (dance,singing and more)
· Lectures by historians
· Story telling (for children)
· Artistic performances by established artists, and
· Food from around the world.
Participating artists
Deanna Tyson - is a painter, textile artist and teacher, who exhibits locally, nationally and internationally. She has a passionate interest in African culture and art, particularly in appreciation of its rich contribution to world culture, a contribution not always fully acknowledged. She is creating a new work specially for this Festival, and visitors to the workshop will be invited to contribute to the piece (www.deannatyson.co.uk).
25th-26th August all day
Cost: Free
Rowena Whitehead - Cambridge-based Rowena is the Musical Director of Talking in Tune Community Music and has been leading voice workshops in the UK and beyond since 1991. She has a passion for unaccompanied singing and is known for her engaging and relaxed approach to enabling people of all ages and abilities to reconnect with and share their singing voices. She is a founder member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network (www. naturalvoice.net).
25th August - 1pm-2.30pm
Cost: £ 5/ £3 conc./ accompanying children free
Jenny Martin - believes passionately in justice and have been involved for many years with local and international charities; she has supported education and schools in South Africa and Zimbabwe for 20 years. She loves live music, especially African music, art and cooking for lots of people - all these things have found a home in MenelikMusic, and his really happy to be involved.
Sanz Tineo – A Spanish artist born in Oviedo. Her family moved to live in Logroño, a different part of the country, where she begun studying art (drawing) at the age of 12 years. At the age of 16 she won the Accesit Prize and at 17 the First Prize, then continued her higher studies in arts and received her accreditation with distinction from the Pamplona School of Arts. Now a well established artist in Spain, Sanz Tineo will be exhibiting some of her wonderful paintings at the Connecting The World Festival.
25th-26th all day
Cost: Free
Ramesh - Discover How To Dance With MORE Style, Get Some HEALTHY EXERCISE, And Learn Modern Bollywood Dance Routines... Even If You've NEVER Danced A Day In Your Life!
25th August at 11am-12:30 noon
Cost: £ 5/ £3 conc./ accompanying children free
Robert Maseko - For all his workshops Robert will use African drums like ngoma, djembes, xylophone, talking drum, marimba and various other instruments. To teach African literature he will use ancient African methods of poetry and story telling including dance and masks.
25th August at 2.30 pm-3pm story telling / 3pm African dancing
Cost: £ 5/ £3 conc./ accompanying children free
Theodore Menelik – will teach you moves that form the basis for a variety of African and Salsa dances and teach you to listen to the music and understand the logic of African and Salsa rhythms. Theodore will be joined by Robert Maseko for some workshops.
25th August at 3pm-4.30pm African dancing / 4.45pm-6pm Salsa dancing
26th August at 1pm-2pm African dancing / 2.15pm-3.30 Salsa dancing
Cost: £ 5/ £3 conc./ accompanying children free
Daniela MacDermott – will be teaching traditional Mandinka rhythms from West Africa, technique and exercises. No previous experience necessary, suitable for post-beginners, too. Her workshop includes some cultural background and history of djembe drumming.
Venue: Mill Road Baptist Church. Free parking at the church's car park on Stockwell Street. More info and bookings phone me on 01223 476771 or mail:
25th August at 10.30am-4.30pm
Cost: £ 30 for the whole day plus £5 djembe hire if required. Places must be booked in advance!
Ricardo Arbelaez art workshop:
The main intention of the workshop is to allow children to reach an understanding of Latin American art and the visual elements and differences this way of expression brings to the whole context of art in the world. Ricardo will talk about his South American experience (Colombia), and the children will translate these experiences into art by making sculptures, compositions and ultimately original pieces of work.
The workshop will be divided into two sessions one in the morning and one in the afternoon on the 25th & 26th.
Cost: Free
Dr Amira Bennison is Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge. She has worked extensively on medieval and modern North Africa and will give a talk on the life of slaves in Morocco from the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries. This sheds light on slavery in Islamic countries and its differences to Transatlantic slavery. Some Moroccan slaves were agricultural workers but others became very important trusted members of the court who possessed their own slaves, and not all Moroccan slaves were black, many were Europeans captured off the Moroccan coast who were put to work on building projects and other royal ventures.
26th August at 11am-12noon
Cost: Free
MenelikMusic is a Cambridge-based non-profit project that works for social change. It was founded in 2006 by Theodore Menelik who wanted to go beyond simply sending financial aid to support projects in poorer parts of the world. We believe that partnerships between like-minded organisations, can be vehicles for learning, social change, and personal empowerment.
MenelikMusic works for social change through supporting and building partnerships between people committed to global justice - bridging the gap between “people” and creating links based on common struggles and solidarity.
MenelikMusic’s partners are people and organisations that are rooted in their communities, with the vision, courage and ability to create change. They are on the frontlines of building strong grassroots movements for social justice – defending rights, advocating for gender equality, protecting the earth and promoting human rights.
Our mandate is to gather Cambridgeshire's diverse social justice community to a festival that allows for reflection, provides a forum for discussion and prompts participants to action. While the issues are often difficult, we feel it is important to provide tools and ideas for solutions.
Theodore Menelik sa ys “What we need in the region is something to celebrate life and replace fear and hopelessness with friendship, peace and understanding”.
By sharing stories and ideas, we learn to take responsibility for our privileged place in the world and find new strategies for achieving social justice in our own country and abroad. The World Community Film Festival is about sharing those stories. The 200th international anniversary of the abolition of slavery (1807) is the key theme this year, highlighting the role of music in creating social change.
It’s an opportunity to see how children around the world are learning about cooperation and harmony through classical music; to hear from musicians who travel to the devastated Democratic Republic of Congo using music as a bridge for communication; to learn from people in a Venezuela’s deprived area who use music to resist the pull of violence and drug wars; to witness refugees from Sierra Leone who find a place of refuge and a source of power in their music.
MenelikMusic believes that solidarity is at the root of global justice. We hope that this festival will help strengthen and deepen the solidarity that is the foundation of a sustainable and just world.
