Sandblast's New Voices

On July 10th, Sandblast Team celebrated with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the V&A Museum of Childhood and the Praxis Community project the New Voices Festival in Bethnal Green. From I Love Migrants and Amnesty International to community gardening projects and dance clubs - everyone was there.

When we didn't simply enjoy the great array of performances and entertainment on the main stage, we experienced a great interest from visitors and passer-bys in 2011 Running the Sahara, Tiris' album "Sandtracks", and project-in-planning, Studio-Live.

As an extra treat, rap duo Poetic Pilgrimage got our heads bopping and hips swivel. Two women  wearing hijabs mesmerized the audience by performing a number of songs from their very progressive and uplifting hip hop mixtape. Charity director was intrigued and went to purchase their CD only to find out that Poetry Pilgrimage got together with Saharawi singer, Aziza Brahim, for one of the songs on the CD: Regresso.

Learn more about Poetic Pilgrimage by checking out their blog at http://poeticpilgrimagemusic.blogspot.com/.

Sandblast at New Voices Festival

Sandblast warmly invites you 

to celebrate with us the cultural richness of East London's community 

- a community with many roots.

On Saturday, July 10th, we will all come together to mark our differences as well as our sameness. Our origins may be in Poland, Turkey, Brazil or Ghana, but we have all come together in London to form a new community, to discover NEW VOICES.

With music, arts, theatre, and entertainment, Praxis Community Projects, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the Museum of Childhood celebrate these new communities and what they bring to the table to make East London the melting pot of culture and identity that it is known for.

"SARAVAH SOUL explodes out of the cross-cultural melting-pot of London’s music scene with their own special blend of Afro-Brazilian funk. Female Hip Hop and poetic duo POETIC PILGRIMAGE fuse African roots with London beats.
Live Klezmer music fusing wild, soulful eastern European melodies, alongside intense Burundi drummers, street dancers, choirs, carnival troupes and music from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe.
Children’s area with crafts and activities led by the Museum of Childhood. Theatre performances by arts group Kazzum and Chilean theatre group Los Comediantes."*

The Sandblast team will have a stall of information and Saharawi artefacts, like jewellery and tea pots, and we will be available for a chat about our newest project, Studio-Live, as well as the 2011 campaign of our annual fundraiser Running the Sahara.

Why don't you come and say hello?

We will have a stall at the Museum Gardens and Museum of Childhood on Cambridge Heath Road (London E2 9PA).

If you are not sure how to get there, but you don't want to miss us, give us a call at 0783 8463310.

*Extract from press release submitted to organisations exhibiting on the day.

EVENT: Folk Rock triple bill

Only a few days left...        Sandblast’s triple bill benefit gig "From 3 Corners of the World" feat. ZEEP, Henry Blake and Luzmira Zerpa & Family Atlantica on Nov 22 @ 7.30pm at CARGO Come for a great night out and a meal at CARGO and hear the fabulous tropical folk band ZEEP, the talented New Zealander guitarist and singer Henry Blake and Venezuelan vocalist Luzmira Zerpa with her  explosive Afro-Latin Family Atlantica ensemble. Henry and Luzmira have already been to the refugee camps in the Western Sahara and collaborated with Saharawi artist Aziza Brahim, shortlisted for the 2009 Freedom to Create Award. ZEEP hope to go out  to the camps with the UK contingent participating in the "Running the Sahara" event in February 2010. The benefit gig and "Running the Sahara 2010" are helping to raise money for the Saharawi Artist Fund, which promotes collaborations between Saharawis and artists worldwide and finances projects in the camps to provide the skills and resources for the refugee to gain a voice and income through the arts. For 2010, we hope to raise £50,000 for a professional mobile recording studio and train Saharawis to use it. To learn more about the projects the Saharawi Artist Fund facilitates, visit the website and meet Florie Salnot on Nov 22 and learn about her jewellery-making workshops from plastic bottles which she ran for 20 Saharawi women in the camps in April 2009. Buy your tickets now at www.justgiving.com/sandblasttickets for only £10 or for £12 at the door. Donations are welcome. www.myspace.com/zeepband www.myspace.com/henryblaketunes www.myspace.com/luzmira See you at CARGO, The Sandblast Team

MUSIC: Aziza Brahim for Freedom to Create Prize

News from Danish organisation Freemuse reached us that Saharawi singer Aziza Brahim, who recently performed at the Southbank Centre here in London, was shortlisted for the Freedom to Create Prize.

This prize seeks to award artists from all over the world whose ability to support and sustain the expressiveness and creativity of a people is exemplary. Aziza's music reflects the pains and hopes of her people, the Saharawi; negotiating ideas of freedom and narrating the story of those Saharawis living in the occupied territory and those living in exile. Her album, Mi Canto, drew the committee's attention to Brahim's talents and the importance of her music as a window to the rich Saharawi culture.

Aziza Brahim will perform at the awards ceremony at the V&A in London on Wednesday 25 November 2009. The winners for the Main, Youth and Imprisoned Artist Prize categories will be unveiled at this occasion. 

Sandblast congratulates Aziza for being shortlisted and crosses all fingers and toes!

Aziza Brahim in concert

AZIZA BRAHIM at The 7th London African Music Festival

When: Saturday 12th September | Queen Elizabeth Hall | 7.30pm |
Where: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

Born in a refugee camp in Algeria , she grew up in Cuba and now resides in Spain . She embodies the new voice of the Saharawis in their fight for independence. Her songs evoke the sorrows of exile and the longing for freedom. She combines all these global influences to create spine tingling music. Aziza is leading a cracking band that drops Latin rhythms alongside desert blues without missing a beat.

Cathrin's perspective: Not knowing what exactly to expect (true, I could have checked her MySpace page or YouTube for that matter), I was more than pleasantly surprised when Aziza introduced her first song in Spanish to us. Her voice is unique and strong; her appearance gentle and authoritative at the same time. Since my Spanish skills are close to none, I was glad to hear one of the lead guitarists to (very charmingly) translate not only Aziza's words but also the meaning she tried to make understood. Spanish accoustic guitars matched with various North African drums entertained us for one and a half hours, setting the mood to celebrate the Sahrawi cultural identity, the fears and pains of the refugees, and the hope of the Sahrawis to eventually return to their Motherland.


For more information: www.myspace.com/azizabrahim

If you missed it, this is Aziza Brahim with Hijo de las Nubes (Source: YouTube)