upcoming events
Mondays during term time 9.30-10.30 am @ Whitby Library :
Music Tots with Rebecca Gross
Wednesday 12th June at The Coliseum Whitby
Etran Finatawa (Niger)
8pm tickets £9 (£8 concessions) Tickets available from: Musicport Shop,Skinner St, Whitby tel 01947 603475 & The Coliseum
At the Festival of the Desert in 2004, somewhere near Timbuktu, two groups of musicians took to the stage. Never before had Wodaabe and Touareg musicians performed together and the ecstatic reaction from the crowd convinced them to take this impromptu jam session a stage further. Both sets of musicians came from nomadic backgrounds, their people sharing the grasslands of the Sahel. They also faced the same imminent threats to their nomadic way of life from climate change bringing draught then poverty which for many has led to migration to the cities. Never before have the clear, piercing vocals of the Wodaabe been heard in a contemporary context, infused with swirling Touareg guitars and hypnotic, driving, calabash rhythms. Their traditional dress on stage is a colourful and deliberate reminder that this is an alliance not a fusion of cultures.
The band’s first release earned them a BBC World Music Award for best newcomers in 2007 Eight years on from that first impromptu performance. Etran Finatawa have performed on every continent and become the most celebrated band in Niger. They have been cultural ambassadors abroad and cultural activists at home. Etran Finatawa were key participants in the highly successful The Endless Journey multi-media project that toured the UK in 2012. A fourth album, due for release in Spring 2013 on World Music Network, sees the band come full circle to celebrate their homecoming.
This tour coincides with the album release and this Whitby show will be a very special acoustic performance recreating the way their music would be performed in the desert landscapes of their home country . “Etran Finatawa opened the Musicport Festival in 2009 and put on an amazing show working alongside a local school and this time they’ll be working with Northstead school in Scarborough on the day after this show. We think this will be a really special performance that will act a great curtain raiser for Musicport festival here in Whitby in October when one of the headline acts will be Tamikrest another mesmeric act from the Sahara “
'Wailing, twisting songs as gritty as the desert wind'. 4**** stars Robin Denselow SONGLINES.
'driving, gloriously repetitive, traditional music mixed with some of the slickest and most beautiful electric guitar imaginable... they combine to present a sublime sound' Sydney Morning Herald, 4****stars
Friday 18th- Sun 20th October Musicport Festival Whitby Pavilion (see festival page)
