From: "Snowdrop Music" <snowdrop1_dot_music_at_virgin_dot_net>Date: 1 March 2010 18:48:22 GMTSubject: Fw: Burgess Hill Fairtrade & Freedom Festival
BURGESS HILL FAIRTRADE AND FREEDOM FESTIVAL SUNDAY BIG FESTIVAL WEEKEND FRIDAY 5th MARCH TO SUNDAY 7th MARCHWe have have had two stunning events during this Fairtrade Festival. 180 students from all the Schools and Colleges in Burgess Hill put on a Fairtade Variety show which was fantastic and played to a full College hall and on Sunday evening George Alagiah hosted a Fairtrade debate with local politicians which was very stimulating and interesting. About 150 people turned up - who said public meetings were dead.We are now on the final run in to our big festival weekend with some of the biggest names in Acoustic music coming to the Martlets Hall on Friday and Sunday and a really popular ceilidh band on Saturday evening.BOOKING LINE 01444 242888.Please come along and support Fairtrade and Stop The Traffik and have a brilliant time as well (invite some friends as well)!Friday 5th MarchAcoustic FairtradeThis features Phil Beer (one half of acoustic duo Show of hands) hopefully with Miranda Sykes; 3 Daft Monkeys and Rob Halligan & Gareth Davies JonesDoors open 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start.Tickets £14.00This will be an amazing evening of real passion, protest and frenetic rhythm. A not to be missed night.Saturday 6th March - only about 50 tickets left for this oneGrand CeilidhBack by popular demand is ceilidh band ASHA. Last year they took dancers through a storming evening of fantastic dancing. This is great entertainment and it is really worth booking early for this event.Doors open 7.00pm for a 7.30pm startTickets are £9.00 each (or £8.00 each when you buy 4 or more)Food is available separately.Sunday 7th MarchFolk, Fairtrade & FreedomThis is our 4th benefit gig for Fairtrade & Stop The Traffik as we seek to raise money to help the campaign against the modern slave trade.What a line up!Chris Wood (BBC 2 Folk Singer of the year 2009); Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson (one quarter of Waterson Carthy) and Chris Parkinson; and Julie Hall. Both Chris Wood and Julie Hall are SEFAN members.Also don't miss our Fairtrade Fair on Saturday 6th March from 10.00am to 3.00pmEntrance is free.Thank you.Robert EgglestonChairBurgess Hill Town Fairtrade0794 779 2033
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Hailed for their “sheer agility, vitality and power” by the Washington Post, Northern Harmony’s brilliant young singers are chosen from among the strongest recent graduates of Village Harmony teen ensembles. Now on their 12th extended European tour, they stretch the normal boundaries of choral music with their command of varied world ethnic singing styles: sacred and secular harmonies from Corsica and Georgia; village music from the Balkans; South African folk and church songs and dances; American shape-note singing and a cappella gospel; and contemporary compositions.
Georgia’s ancient three-part harmony singing tradition features a dark, sonorous vocal quality and startling harmonies, unlike anything in European music. Traditional Corsican singing, passed down through oral tradition, features two highly ornamented upper voices over a more sustained harmonic bass. The excitement for the listeners and singers both comes from the impassioned delivery, the surprising harmonic shifts which ripple from voice to voice, and the buzzing vocal timbre which creates an extremely powerful sound rich in overtones.
South Africa has a particularly powerful and appealing folk harmony singing tradition, with a rich, resonant vocal sound, and wonderfully syncopated rhythm. The singing is always accompanied by dancing, with the rhythm of the dance movements often in counterpoint to the song.
Shape-note singing, one of Northern Harmony's trademarks, had its origins in the community singing schools of 18th century New England. It is simultaneously a sacred and a social singing tradition, featuring stark, open harmonies, rhythmic, contrapuntal "fuging" sections, and the marvelous sacred poetry of the 18th century English hymn writer Isaac Watts and his followers. The concert will also feature traditional and contemporary arrangements of 1930’s gospel quartet numbers..
Northern Harmony also performs a wide variety of village music from the Balkan countries. This music features the characteristic bright, "hard-voiced" Balkan vocal timbre, with dissonant harmonies frequently based on drones, and irregular dance meters in 7. 9 and 11. Many of these numbers also feature accompaniment on accordion, fiddle, tambura and drum.
For further information visit the Northern Harmony website: www.villageharmony.org