When offered the chance of an evening at a schools’ music concert I go with a certain level of expectation. On Tuesday night I was blown away.
I went along to the Charter School, Red Post Hill, SE24, for their Special Summer Concert. The music was by the ‘Triangle Project’, the result of a 6 day residency between year 10 and 12 music students, ’DNA Culture’, and some world renowned musicians, including saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis (pictured) and his band. Pee Wee has worked with such greats as James Brown, George Benson and Van Morrison. After almost forty years in the music business, he is one of the most acclaimed saxophonists of his generation.
Other musicians included Diabel Cissokho, a Senegalese musician originating in Mali, who has worked with Baba Maal, Femi Kuti and Manu Dibango; Mamadou Sarr from Senegal, who plays Djembe, Djun Djun, Sabar and Calabash percussion traditions; Ramon Goose, UK Blues guitarist, described as the ‘British Ry Cooder’. He is a writer/producer, currently working on a project/album with Diabel Cissokho, also on his first solo release and touring with his new band.
The Triangle Project is the vision of Nora Marshall, a long-time friend of the Charter School and a committed supporter of the arts and of musicians across West Africa. The project celebrates the roots of music from the three continents involved in the Triangular Trade: Africa, North America and Europe.
One language prevailed…songs, rhythyms and music, uniting many desolate people who were stripped of culture and identity. Music being the powerful force it is, the slaves sang of their hardship; the blues, often accompanied by a cheap harmonica, influenced the genre by the turn of the twentieth century. Add to this the European hymn (which influenced the spiritual, then Gospel) with repeated verses and powerful melodic line, you hear the shape of what became known as ‘The Blues’.
The project’s aim was to illustrate this history and to enhance the musical experience of the students involved. As Ramon Goose said when I caught up with him after the show: ”What’s great about this project is that rather than being introduced to this music just through a workshop, the young people have the opportunity of performing, taking part in the making of some incredible music, with fantastic musicians. What better way to learn than by actually doing it?”.
And rightly so. The evening was exuberant in its energy and musical diversity, with music students and professional musicians sharing the stage and instruments.
The Kora, a huge bowl-shaped instrument resembling a sitar from another planet, played while standing and supported by a belt worn around the players hips, worked so well played alongside the bass guitars, violins, drums, keyboards, recorders, and the complex twiddlery of Ramon’s outstanding blues guitar playing.
Pee Wee’s grandaddy of Blues sax playing, holding steady up front (after hilariously taking a phone call from his wife just as the show began- there’s cool). This musical fusion of established, and greatly respected musicians and young people was an outstanding achievement.
The Charter School can once again be proud of another show in a long line of successful, innovative and accomplished performances. This being the third collaboration of it’s kind, I look forward to the next.
Most of the artists mentioned can be contacted through myspace.com or see them perform on YouTube.
www.myspace.com/ramongoose
www.myspace.com/diabelcissokho
www.myspace.com/mamadousarr
www.peewee-ellis.com/biography.htm
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