Celebrating Sanctuary London, the annual free festival showcasing the art of refugee communities in the UK, returns to the South Bank on Sunday June 19th.
One highlight will be Home Is Where The Harp Is, a collaboration between harp players from several different traditions, put together especially for the event.
In antiquity, harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all cultures.
Here we will see Temesgen Tareke perform on the krar, the Ethiopian 5 or 6 stringed harp; Kadialy Kouyate on the kora, or 21-string West African harp; Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian on the traditional Celtic harp; and Solveig Thoroddsen on the medieval wire-strung harp.
Cevanne speaks in the press release of her inspiration for becoming involved in the collaboration.
“When I performed at Celebrating Sanctuary last year, I was moved by how concisely one event creatively summarised diasporic life in Britain. While generations of travel and trauma can impose silence on communities, I was spurred on to look creatively at how travelling cultures can flourish in the sanctuary of this small island and how they can produce new art together.”
Temesgen Tareke will also be performing as part of the Geata Krar Collective, joined by Robel Tesfaye on traditional Ethiopian Kebero drums, and Genet Asefa on vocals.
There will also be a string and percussion quartet created by Sri Lankan veena player Hari Sivenesan. Hari is a BBC Radio 3’s World Roots Academy protegee; the veena is a plucked string instrument, one of the most ancient and revered in South Indian traditions.
Away from the Collaborations Stage, the Acoustic Yurt features literature, spoken word and acoustic music from across the spectrum of the UK’s refugee communities, while the Hot Shoe Cafe Stage dishes up food, dance, theatre and music in equal measures.
At the Refugee Village events include a musical installation inside and around a UNHCR supplied Refugee Tent; a Human Library where you can borrow a human ‘book’ to learn more about the person behind the refugee label; and an Umbrella Decorating workshop for children organised by Amnesty International.
Festival artistic co-director Max Reinhardt says the event is important because “refugees already have quite a bad time, and they’re people who’ve already had a bad time – that’s why they’re refugees. They’re not actually moving from one country to another because there might be a better branch of Sainsbury’s or Asda, they’re actually fleeing from famine, or war, or oppression.”
Celebrating Sanctuary London launches Refugee Week, which takes place throughout June 20th-26th. Refugee Week is a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, encouraging a better understanding between communities.
One highlight will be Home Is Where The Harp Is, a collaboration between harp players from several different traditions, put together especially for the event.
In antiquity, harps and the closely related lyres were very prominent in nearly all cultures.
Here we will see Temesgen Tareke perform on the krar, the Ethiopian 5 or 6 stringed harp; Kadialy Kouyate on the kora, or 21-string West African harp; Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian on the traditional Celtic harp; and Solveig Thoroddsen on the medieval wire-strung harp.
Cevanne speaks in the press release of her inspiration for becoming involved in the collaboration.
“When I performed at Celebrating Sanctuary last year, I was moved by how concisely one event creatively summarised diasporic life in Britain. While generations of travel and trauma can impose silence on communities, I was spurred on to look creatively at how travelling cultures can flourish in the sanctuary of this small island and how they can produce new art together.”
Temesgen Tareke will also be performing as part of the Geata Krar Collective, joined by Robel Tesfaye on traditional Ethiopian Kebero drums, and Genet Asefa on vocals.
There will also be a string and percussion quartet created by Sri Lankan veena player Hari Sivenesan. Hari is a BBC Radio 3’s World Roots Academy protegee; the veena is a plucked string instrument, one of the most ancient and revered in South Indian traditions.
Away from the Collaborations Stage, the Acoustic Yurt features literature, spoken word and acoustic music from across the spectrum of the UK’s refugee communities, while the Hot Shoe Cafe Stage dishes up food, dance, theatre and music in equal measures.
At the Refugee Village events include a musical installation inside and around a UNHCR supplied Refugee Tent; a Human Library where you can borrow a human ‘book’ to learn more about the person behind the refugee label; and an Umbrella Decorating workshop for children organised by Amnesty International.
Festival artistic co-director Max Reinhardt says the event is important because “refugees already have quite a bad time, and they’re people who’ve already had a bad time – that’s why they’re refugees. They’re not actually moving from one country to another because there might be a better branch of Sainsbury’s or Asda, they’re actually fleeing from famine, or war, or oppression.”
Celebrating Sanctuary London launches Refugee Week, which takes place throughout June 20th-26th. Refugee Week is a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, encouraging a better understanding between communities.
