| GLOBAL CALENDAR |
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| September
8 Int. Literacy Day
14 Racial Justice Sunday
21 Int. Day of Peace
October
1-31 Black History Month
5 World Teachers' Day
6-10 National Children's Book Week
10 World Mental Health Day
16 World Food Day
24 United Nations Day
28 Diwali
November
16 Int. Day of tolerance
17-21, Int. Ed Week
20 Universal Children's Day
December
1 World Aids Day
2 Int. Day for the Abolition of Slavery
10 Human Rights Day
18 Int. Migrants Day
24 Christmas Eve
25 Christmas Day
26 Boxing Day
January
1 New Years Day
18 World Religion Day
26 Chinese New Year
27 National Holocaust Memorial Day
February
21 International Mother Language Day
March
21 Int.Day for the Elimination of Racism |
| COMMUNITY CALENDAR |
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June '08 - June '09 WINDRUSH 60. Caribbean Calypso project with Alexander D.Great
3 - 9 November Shout about Climate Change
2008 - 2009
Coming soon, a project on the Notting Hill riots of 1958 | |
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Greetings!
Welcome to Talking Drum, the Autumn edition of the Music for Change newsletter! This season we're bringing you updates from all of our departments: Education, Community, Events and Projects. So whatever your interest you'll be sure to find relevant information about how Music for Change can work with you to add a lively, culturally diverse theme to your programme of activities. |
 Black History Month - last minute bookings |
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 October is the annual Black History Month and its aims are to highlight and celebrate the achievements and hidden histories of the black community.
Captivating storytelling, energetic drumming and fun-filled dance sessions can help kick-start or conclude the month's activities.
We have a range of artists from around Africa, the Carribbean and beyond. We have last minute availability throughout October so it's not too late to book!
Call Katy or Sarah on 01227 459243 |
| NEW PROGRAMME FOR TEACHING GLOBAL MUSIC |
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Are you looking to develop a global dimension in your music teaching?
We have developed a new programme to develop teaching skills in music from around the world with the support and training from our artists. Programme content includes teacher training sessions, workshops with artists, lesson plans, and a pack of teaching resources.
To get more information on this and other themed packages contact Katy on tel: 01227 459243 or email: katy@musicforchange.org |
| NEWS & FEATURES |
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 New Partnerships
Music for Change is working in partnership with Future Creative and Canterbury College from September 2008, on a pilot initiative called PULSE. Aimed at young people, the programme will offer participants the opportunity to plan, produce and manage their own public events. PULSE aims to empower young people with their own set of skills to take with them into the future and inparticular towards London 2012.
Artist Focus
 Alexander D. Great is from Trinidad, he has worked as a professional musician, composer and musical arranger for more than 30 years. Alex's captivating workshops combine Caribbean story, calypso music and rhythms and group composition. Participants are encouraged to compose a calypso song, based on a chosen theme or issue. This year he has been performing throughout the UK in libraries and museums as part of the WINDRUSH 60 project.
'Alex really inspired the students and they now have a respect for music that they didn't have before.'
East Barnet School, Herfordshire.
Book a workshop or performance contact us on tel: 01227 459 243
Seckou Keita's UK Tour 
Seckou Keita, originally from Senegal, represents the emergence of a new generation of African musicians.
Seckou specialises in playing the Kora (African harp). He is currently touring the UK with the Seckou Keita Quartet and has been delivering MfC workshops in schools and communities since 2002, inspiring participants with a magical flavour of Senegal and the world of the Kora.
To book a workshop or performance with Seckou contact us on tel: 01227 459 243.
Music for Change in the News
In June MfC joined with Migrant Helpline to deliver a week-long programme in Kent Schools to mark Refugee week. Click here to listen to the finished rap written by students and the Radio Kent feature:
Read more & find out how to book a Refugee Week workshop for 2009
'Very few children knew what a refugee or asylum seeker was and they now have very different view of the foreign people in the UK and what they may have been through to get here'
Gary McKenna Kennington CE Junior School Ashford. |
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| COMMUNITY NEWS |
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For all Community information contact Nadine on tel: 01227 459 243, email: Nadine@musicforchange.org
 WINDRUSH 60 - Anniversary of the first Caribbean passengers arriving in Britain
22 June 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the arrival of SS Empire Windrush, a ship bringing 492 Caribbeans (mostly WW2 veteran ex-servicemen) to Britain. From 1948 to the mid 1960s migrants came to work in Britain at the invitation of the British Government.
Working with MfC, Trinidadian artist Alexander D. Great, presents WINDRUSH 60, leading participants on a Caribbean journey through the last 60 years through storytelling, Calypso song writing and singing - from the docking of SS Empire Windrush in Britain, to Caribbean lifestyle in 2008.
WINDRUSH 60 has been taking place in museums and libraries throughout the UK including London, Worcestershire, Kent and Cheshire since June this year. It is also popular this October as part of the Black History Month celebrations.
Contact Nadine to discuss the project, and how it might work for you!
Global Voices - a singing sensation
 MfC has produced an exciting project for a consortium of world music venues in the South East called rootsroundabout.
Global Voices is led by MfC artists Lucky Moyo (Zimbabwe), Téa Hodzic (Bosnia) and Shaheen Khan (India) These workshops lead to a fabulous community performance at the end of the weekend activities.
You can book for one of the following weekends:
6 - 7 September: South Hill Park, Bracknell 01344 484123
20 - 21 September: The Stables, Milton Keynes 01908 280800
17 - 28 September: West End Centre, Aldershot 01252 330040
Also coming to Canterbury and Chatham in Spring 09. Look out for more details in our January newsletter!
World in a Week - a musical holiday school
August saw the production of MfC's first summer school programme called World in a Week, aimed at delivering a fun and creative week of music and culture for young people in the Medway area. The initiative is a result of a partnership with Medway Council.
We are able to plan, produce and manage a holiday programme for your venue, whether that is a theatre, school, youth club, just about anywhere! From one day events to week long programmes, we can offer some fantastic workshop and performance events in your area. |
| EDUCATION NEWS |
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For all Education information contact Katy at Music for Change on tel: 01227 459 243, email: Katy@musicforchange.org
International Education Week
 International Education Week from 17-21 November celebrates the benefits of embedding an international dimension in education. How about transforming your classroom into a country and highlighting an issue which is pertinent to both the UK and a different locality such as the environment?
Contact Katy to find out how MfC can help to programme your IEW activities.
WDWTWA - Who Do We Think We Are?
Following on from the Curriculum Review on Diversity and Citizenship, it has been recommended that schools participate in a national event to explore identity, diversity and citizenship with children and young people. Who Do We Think We Are will therefore culminate in a week-long series of events and activities in June 2009, and the website is filled with ways that schools can get involved. www.whodowethinkweare.org.uk
If you would like to know how our artists can work with your students to reveal the cultural heritage of their art form, support your students in a celebratory performance or visit your setting as positive role models, please contact us.
Rough Guide to Music for Children - How your school can help choose the songs for the next album!
 This year we will once again be working with primary schools to help the World Music Network compile the tracks for their next world music compilation album specifically for children. We will be contacting schools for some assistance!
If you would like your children to take part, please let Katy know!
Tonbridge and Malling clusters lead the way in celebrating cultural diversity
 Tonbridge and Malling clusters in Kent have for the past three years been working with schools to promote and celebrate cultural diversity in mainly monocultural settings. With the help of MfC, students have been jumping about and slapping their wellington boots, spinning plates, reveling in Krishna's antics, drumming and
immersing themselves in a culture often far removed from their own.
According to the teachers, some of the most valuable things have included 'excellence and enjoyment across the curriculum', and the 'opportunity to meet someone from a culture that they know little about'. Contact Katy to find out how to set up a similar project in your area.
Funding opportunities
Grants4Schools
An essential management tool for all UK schools that are looking to fundraise
Heritage Lottery Fund - Young Roots
Projects involving 13-20 year-olds (up to 25 for those with special needs) finding out about their heritage
Take it Away
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| PROJECTS NEWS |
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For all Projects information contact Donna on tel: 01227 459 243, email: donna@musicforchange.org
Refugee Week 2008
 In June 2008 MfC worked in 6 primary and secondary schools in Kent in partnership with Migrant Helpline, to mark Refugee Week.
Artistic expertise was provided by Bosnian former refugee and musician Téa Hodzic and Kent based rapper MC Lethal.
Over 200 pupils took part in educational workshops to equip them with facts and definitions to help them make up their own minds about the subject. They used what they learnt as the starting point for writing lyrics, placing themselves in the shoes of an asylum seeker.
Click here to listen to the In My Shoes rap and radio broadcast and to read the lyrics
'I used to think that refugees should all go back to their own country.Now I think they have the right to be here'.
Year 8 student at Archers Court Maths and Computing College, Dover
To find out how to get involved in a similar project, contact us.
 In My Shoes is part of Sing Up - the Music Manifesto National Singing Programme. The project was supported by Kent Fire and Rescue Service and delivered in partnership with Migrant Helpline www.migranthelpline.org.uk Using music to build understanding in secure settings MfC continue to explore new ways of engaging with staff and detainees as it continues into its second year of the national Music In Detention project. We are working in very close partnership with MID as one of their principal organisations working in Immigration Removal Centres across the UK.
The project includes a recent song writing and recording project in Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. Music artists H. Patten, Alexander D. Great and Anton French worked with a group of detainees and staff who collaborated in the process of writing, arranging and recording two songs.
Our artists' approaches can be used to help break down barriers between staff and detainees/offenders, and to find a common understanding through a shared creative process.
'This is really different from what I have done in the past. It's good to collaborate with the detainees. It gives me a chance to see them differently and some of them are really talented'.
Staff member, Harmondsworth IRC
To find out more about project work for secure environments contact
Music for Change.
New Musical Migration DVD resource available
Musical Migration is a Lottery funded project ending in the creation of a resource that will be available from this October. The KS2-3 teaching resource looks at the lives of three historical BME characters, who were born in, have lived in, or passed through Kent in last 200 years. Visit the Musical Migration page of our website to find out how to get hold of your copy!
http://www.musicforchange.org/pages/musicalmigration.htm |
| EVENT NEWS |
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For all Events Information contact Nadine at Music for Change on tel: 01227 459 243, email: Nadine@musicforchange.org
Global Boutique at Orange Street Music.
MfC ran a successful series of world music events at Orange Street Music Venue in the Spring this year with amazing performances by Cape Verdean vocalist Carmen Souza and band, the Tea Hodzic Trio from Southern Europe, and UK / Gambian group Outhouse Ruhabi!
We are pleased to announce the partnership will continue with Global Boutique on the first Thursday of every month. Supported by Another Planet world beats DJs, the series will feature some of the best music from around the world.
 Global Boutique dates to put in your diary:
6th November - Abdelkader Saadoun Trio (Algeria)
4th December - Sekou Keita & Surahata Susso (Senegal)
The 2009 dates are 5th February, 5th March, 2nd April so stick em in your diary now. Artists to be confirmed.
http://www.orangestreetmusic.com
U'Zambezi headline at Thanet Fair Trade Island
To celebrate Fair Trade Week this year all male A Cappella ensemble U'Zambezi produced an amazing show at the Winter Gardens in Margate.
 "U'Zambezi did Thanet and our concert proud. They were fantastic, and the people here simply loved them. Their performance was breathtaking. We cannot wait to have them in Thanet again"
Tammy Stewart-Jones, Thanet Fairtrade Initiative.
MfC works with a number of amazing groups such as West African drumming and dance troupe Maambena, Cuban band Cosa Latina, the outstanding Seckou Keita Quartet. Call us if you'd like us to help you programme your festival, event or celebration.
Dates for your Diaries... Out and about with MfC!
Would you like to see some of our amazing artists in action? Here are just some of the places we are visiting over the next couple of months.
28/09/08 Alexander D. Great at High Wycombe Library, Bucks
03/10/08 Emmanuel Okine at West Norwood Library, SE London
18/10/08 Alexander D. Great at Dover and Margate Libraries, Kent (pm)
28/10/08 Alexander D. Great at Droitwich, Bromsgrove and Redditch libraries
29/10/08 U'Zambezi (trio) at Maidstone Museum, Kent
Contact venues for details. | |
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