6May 2017
Comments Off on School Workshop: Nepalese Dance

School Workshop: Nepalese Dance

The culture of Nepal is rich and unique. The cultural heritage of Nepal has evolved over the centuries. This multi-dimensional heritage encompasses the diversities of Nepal’s ethnic, tribal, and social groups, and it manifests in music and dance; art and craft; folklore and folktales; languages and literature; philosophy and religion; festivals and celebration; foods and drinks.

This event is a closed workshop for the pupils of this school. If you are interested in having a Nepalese dance workshop in your school please email events@eqautorfestival.com


About Nepalese Dance

Legends state that dances in this country originated in the abode of Lord Shiva — the Himalayas, where he performed the tandava dance. This indicates that dance traditions of Nepal are very ancient and unique. With altitudes and ethnicity, the dances of Nepal slightly change in style as well as in the costumes. The Dishka, a dance performed at weddings, includes intricate footwork and arm movements. Accompanying music and musical instruments change in tune with the themes, which revolve around topics like harvesting of crops, marriage rites, war stories, a lonely girl’s yearning for her love, and several other themes and stories from everyday life in the villages. The famous Tharu stick dances, and the crazy peacock dance are two highlights, but there are plenty of other surprises. Expect to be invited to join in the dancing, as the evening reaches its climax.

The dancing takes place in a special community hall, newly improved with air conditioning added to make the evening more enjoyable in the hot season.

6May 2017
Comments Off on School Workshop: Nepalese Dance

School Workshop: Nepalese Dance

The culture of Nepal is rich and unique. The cultural heritage of Nepal has evolved over the centuries. This multi-dimensional heritage encompasses the diversities of Nepal’s ethnic, tribal, and social groups, and it manifests in music and dance; art and craft; folklore and folktales; languages and literature; philosophy and religion; festivals and celebration; foods and drinks.

This event is a closed workshop for the pupils of this school. If you are interested in having a Nepalese dance workshop in your school please email events@eqautorfestival.com


About Nepalese Dance

Legends state that dances in this country originated in the abode of Lord Shiva — the Himalayas, where he performed the tandava dance. This indicates that dance traditions of Nepal are very ancient and unique. With altitudes and ethnicity, the dances of Nepal slightly change in style as well as in the costumes. The Dishka, a dance performed at weddings, includes intricate footwork and arm movements. Accompanying music and musical instruments change in tune with the themes, which revolve around topics like harvesting of crops, marriage rites, war stories, a lonely girl’s yearning for her love, and several other themes and stories from everyday life in the villages. The famous Tharu stick dances, and the crazy peacock dance are two highlights, but there are plenty of other surprises. Expect to be invited to join in the dancing, as the evening reaches its climax.

The dancing takes place in a special community hall, newly improved with air conditioning added to make the evening more enjoyable in the hot season.

5Apr 2017
Comments Off on Samba Drumming Workshop

Samba Drumming Workshop

A hands-on session learning and playing samba patterns and rhythms.

Samba drumming provides the heartbeat of Brazil’s vibrant musical culture. During the workshop you will learn not just how much fun samba drumming is but also how it can help your co-ordination,  concentration, confidence  and teamwork.

Suitable for children 7 years old and above.  Children 7-12 years old must be accompanied by an adult.

 

 

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on Equator Choir Competition 2017

Equator Choir Competition 2017

The competition will be part of a new outdoor multi-cultural  festival in Ashford called Celebrate Ashford and the performances will be part of World in a Tent programme.

For details on taking part in the competition click here

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on Marry Waterson & David A. Jaycock

Marry Waterson & David A. Jaycock

After two hugely acclaimed albums with brother Olly Knight, Marry Waterson has teamed up with well-respected singer-songwriter and guitarist David A. Jaycock and released critically acclaimed Two Wolves on the One Little Indian label last year.

Daughter of Lal Waterson (from legendary English Folk group The Watersons) Marry’s music is steeped in the English tradition, but it is all original and has attracted incredible acclaim.


Reviews

Two Wolves is more than two fine English folk dynasties meeting. This is proper song brainfood.’ ★★★★★ fROOTS
‘Perfectly balances traditional and contemporary [folk]…echoes of Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan and Sandy Denny while Woolgathering Girl is more reminiscent of latter-day Kate Bush.’ ★★★★  METRO
‘A quiet treat for folk fans.’ The Arts Desk
‘A gorgeously simple and direct record… holds up a light to the blackest of winter nights.’ ★★★★  Q Magazine
‘Her finest album to date.’ ★★★★ Guardian

marrywaterson.com


About Equator Festival

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

equatorfestival.com

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on WOW London: Carmen Souza – Creology

WOW London: Carmen Souza – Creology

Carmen Souza piano, guitar, voice
Theo Pascal bass
Elias Kacomanolis drums

Born in Portugal to Cape Verdean parents, Carmen Souza fuses her forebears’ musical traditions with contemporary jazz, Latin and European music.

After the acclaimed jazz album Epistola, Carmen Souza, with the help of her longtime musical partner Theo Pascal, returns to her creole roots to present a new album called Creology. With her gravity-defying voice she guides us in the musical journey of her ancestors on a unique transatlantic route through the sounds of the Creole Nation.

Discover rhythms like Batuque, Funana, Semba, Quilapanga, Marrabenta from Cabo Verde, Angola, Mozambique together with Afro-Brazilian and Cuban sounds, travelling all the way to the jazz shores of New Orleans and experience a unique live atmosphere!


Carmen Souza was born in Lisbon within a Christian family of Cape Verdeans. Very early she experienced the sodade feeling of missing someone with the long absence of her father due to his work at sea. She grew up in a mixed language environment of Creole, the Cape Verde dialect her parents spoke at home, and Portuguese, always surrounded by the Cape Verdean way of life. Theo Pascal, her producer and mentor and one of the best bass players in Portugal, discovered her talent and introduced Carmen to Jazz and other contemporary sounds that markedly influenced her musical development. Musicians like Theo Pascal, Horace Silver, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarret, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, etc, truly inspire her evolution and search for a unique personal style.

carmensouza.com | theopascal.com | @EKacomanolis

 


About Equator Festival

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

equatorfestival.com

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on WOW London: Invicta Voices and Invicta Upper Voices

WOW London: Invicta Voices and Invicta Upper Voices

Invicta Upper Voices
Invicta Voices
THIS UNCERTAIN WORLD: WAR, PASSION AND LOVE

Join Invicta Voices and Invicta Upper Voices for a programme of music that brings together the emotions of war, passion and love.

The modern world can be an uncertain and daunting place and the works presented in this concert will take listeners on a journey of discovery in to choral music from the 20th and 21st century.

Highlighting the works of female composers, this concert will also feature pieces from their male counterparts as well as specifically commissioned pieces for the Equator Women of the World Festival.

 


Invicta Voices and Invicta Upper Voices are London based chamber choirs. Invicta Voices was formed in October 2014, giving its first performance in March 2015 and Invicta Upper Voices was launched in concert in October 2016. The singers come from all walks of life, including; teachers, lawyers, financiers and film producers to name just a few. Although having a diverse range of backgrounds, a shared passion for music and choral singing unites the group to continue making music. Meeting bi-weekly, each choir enjoys exploring a wide range of choral music from traditional pieces by composers such as Byrd and Hassler through to contemporary choral pieces by Gjeilo, Patterson and Whitacre.  Performances to date have included the University of Kent’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations at the House of Lords, and concerts at Canterbury Cathedral, the Colyer-Fergusson Hall, St. James’s Piccadilly, Leichlingen, St Luke’s Church in Maidenhead, St. Saviour’s Church in Dartmouth and at the Gresham Centre in London.

invictalondon.co.uk | invictavoices.co.uk


About Equator Festival

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

equatorfestival.com

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on WOW London: Anna Mudeka – Music of our Ancestors

WOW London: Anna Mudeka – Music of our Ancestors

Raised to the sound of her grandmother’s song and drum, Zimbabwean vocalist and mbira virtuoso Anna Mudeka was quick to adopt the mbira dzavadzimu, an ancient thumb piano variously known as a likembe, kalimba or in Mozambique, nyunga nyunga.

Over a thousand years old, the mbira represents an essentialelement of sub-Saharan identity. With an utterly unique soundthat pierces the soul with clarity and beauty, it evokes the spirituality of her ancestry with sacred and celebratory rhythmsalike.

Anna brings an inspirational feast of southern African culture toaudiences across the UK in autumn this year. She offers anaccessible family-friendly afternoon workshop followed by an informal evening solo acoustic performance. Workshop participants will learn instrumentation of the mbira, traditional rhythms and melodies through shakers and drums, clapping and song.

Anna’s performance offers a complete immersion into the musical evolution of the region, seamlessly weaving story with song. Anna’s powerful vocals and instrumental artistry bring alive the rich musical tradition of Zimbabwe in a show that is soothing, uplifting and vibrant in equal measures.

 


Singer, dancer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Anna Mudeka is an influential ambassador for women and their role in the proud heritage of her homeland, teacher and champion of women in business who has worked with institutions, corporations and celebrities across the globe. Steeped in the traditions and culture of her homeland, Zimbabwe, she is the recipient of Africa’s most influential ‘Woman in Business and Government Award, 2014’, and a consultant for organisations as diverse as the Ministry of Defence and Standard Bank. Organiser and founder of the Southburgh Festival of World Music in Norfolk, she has also performed at WOMAD, WOMEX, Roundhouse, Latitude Festival and for Cure International at Kensington Palace. She is a passionate charity activist, raising funds for the Mudeka Foundation which supports orphans in Zimbabwe through education and against poverty. Her debut album Dendende is available on Totena Music, showcasing her vibrant fusion of Afrorock and Afrofunk with The Anna Mudeka Band.

annamudeka.co.uk


About Equator Festival

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

equatorfestival.com

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on WOW London: Women and Words – Poetry and Music

WOW London: Women and Words – Poetry and Music

Remarkable women and their poems: poetry by trailblazing women from the 18th and 19th century will be set to music especially commissioned from selected women composers.

Women poets featured are Phyllis Wheatley (the first published African–American poet initially came to America as a slave), Mary Baker Eddy (founder of Christian Science), the Brontë Sisters, and Elizabeth Margaret Chandler who became the first female writer in the United States to make abolition of slavery her principal theme.

Performers featured are Elinor Jane Moran, Sarah Denbee, Helen Johnson, Christopher Duckett and Elsbeth Wilkes.


About the Performers

Elinor Jane Moran was a student at the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester before moving to London to study voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Whilst at the Guildhall she won the Worshipful Company of Horners’ Becker Scholarship to complete her Masters Degree in performance and the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize for Contemporary Song. Her recent operatic roles include Anna in Don Giovanni (OUC /Soho Theatre), Mrs. Bear-Crawford in Beginners (New commission ROH Linbury Theatre) Mimi in La Boheme (in the Olivier Award winning OperaUpClose production at the Soho Theatre), Michaela in Carmen (For EPOC at the Royal Albert Hall), Pamina in The Magic Flute (Park Opera) and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro amongst others. Elinor has been the recipient of a Garsington Opera Award.

Based in London, Sarah Denbee is a versatile mezzo soprano. She performs operatic roles, oratorio, song recitals, at weddings, and in professional ensembles such as the Monteverdi Choir (conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner). She sang at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Chorus for their 2016 season. She is a freelance Chorus member for Scottish Opera, an Extra Chorus member for Opera North, and she was in the Chorus for a production of Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden which opened their 2015/16 season with Juan Diego Flórez in the title role. Sarah has performed as a soloist in some of the UK’s foremost concert venues, such as the Cadogan Hall, the Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. John’s Smith Square, and the Millennium Centre in Cardiff. She has performed extensively internationally with the Monteverdi Choir and other professional ensembles.

Helen Johnson studied her Post-Graduate Advanced Diploma in Vocal Studies at Trinity College of Music with support from Malpas and Palamkote, the Joan Greenfield Trust Award and the Lloyd Scholarship. In 2008 Helen was a finalist in the Wagner Society Bayreuth Bursary Competition. She continues her vocal studies with Anne Mason, Elizabeth Rowe, Philip Thomas and Kelvin Lim.Operatic roles include Genevieve in Pelleas et Melisande, Third Lady in The Magic Flute for English Touring Opera, Annina in La Traviata and Azucena in Il Trovatore for Dorset Opera; Madame Larina in Eugene Onegin for Stanley Hall Opera and Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia amongst others. She has performed in the ensemble for Opera North, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Buxton Festival Opera and English Touring Opera and as soloist in various concert performances


About Equator Festival

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

equatorfestival.com

24Mar 2017
Comments Off on WOW London: Olcay Bayir – Anatolian Songbird

WOW London: Olcay Bayir – Anatolian Songbird

Opera-trained in London but born in a small town near Gaziantep in Turkey’s south, Olcay Bayir’s soul is rooted in the deeply emotional and multi-cultural music of Anatolia.

Her father was an aşik singer in the Kurdish Alevi spiritual tradition, where music is highly valued and from an early age. Olcay has been singing and writing songs.

She was nominated for Best Newcomer in the Songlines Music Awards for her debut album Neva, sung in Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Albanian, Greek and Ladino.

Her new sound – working with Al MacSween and Giuliano Modarelli from band Kefaya as producers – draws on her cultural heritage but presents her own life-enhancing original material as well as traditional songs with both a contemporary groove and powerful emotion.

 


‘Olcay Bayir is an impressive newcomer to London’s vibrant global music scene. Born in the Kurdish region of southern Turkey, she moved to the UK to study opera and classical singing… This is an elegant and often gently exquisite set.’ The Guardian
‘A woman whose voice is extraordinary in range and emotional power’ Shepherd Express (Milwaukee, USA)
‘Sometimes you hear a debut album and get completely blown away by its quality and feel. Olcay Bayir’s Neva is such an album… Olcay renders each song with a natural ease, elegance and mastery as if she has been a recording artist all her life’ Al-Arte Magazine (Belgium)

olcaybayir.com


About Equator Festival

Equator Festival launched the Women of the World concert series in 2007, with the simple aim of promoting female performers  from all music genres, from all over the world.  Each year Equator showcases the best in female performers, musicians and songwriters.  Over the last nine years the WOW series has presented music from Africa, Eastern-Europe, Middle East, India, Australia and the UK.  The performances have included everything from choirs to solo performers, works you have heard before and new commissions.  Previous performers include: Beyounes Quarter, Commander-in-Chief, Hannah Marcinowicz, Ignite Ensemble, London Bulgarian Choir, London Klezmer Quartet, London Tango Trio, Monica Vasconcelos, Oclay Bayir, Shallu Jindal and Shiva Nova

equatorfestival.com