Sounds from around the world

Acelebration of world music, arts & crafts, food and drink is coming to Stamford next month. Stamford Diversity is an open access, free, family friendly festival which will take place on the Stamford Recreation Ground from 11am-6pm on August Bank Holiday Monday (30th).

The Festival is being funded with £5,000 from South Kesteven District Council Community Fund, £1,000 Stamford Town Council Grant and money from the sales of Stamford World Cook Book (available for £12.95 from All Good Market and Cakes+co in Stamford) which features recipes from locals of different heritages.

Providing the musical entertainment are:

KING DON

Peterborough musician Don Saunders was born in St. Vincent & the Grenadines but has lived here for over 30 years.

Don says: “In the late 90s a popular band gave me three months to learn to play the steel drum for a big concert. I thought it was impossible at the time but gave it my best shot and with the natural born rhythm I inherited from my Caribbean and Irish ancestors I taught myself to play the pan and the concert was a success. After the gig, some peoplesaid I was the‘ King of the Dons’- hence my stage name King Don!”

LATINO SOUND

Peterborough based musician/producer Moises Sanchez formed Latino Sound in 2010 and has performed at various festivals in and around Peterborough including The Willow Festival and Green Meadows Festival in Oundle.

Currently Latino Sound is the resident band for the eighth consecutive year at Revolucion De Cuba Norwich and Revolution Milton Keynes, Nottingham and Sheffield.

MELLOW BAKU

Born to a Blues singing hippie and Trinidad ian Rastafarian writer actor in London, Mellow Baku’s music shares her journey to freedom and healing.

Raised in a cult, at age 5 she escaped to study art and has performed throughout the UK and internationally for over a decade.

MUHA

MUHA offers a new tradition in contemporary Eastern European music, influenced by the multicultural society in the UK, the band is a brilliant live act. Entertaining with their musicianship through a sound stemming from eastern roots and engaging audiences through a variety of languages and catchy grooves. Combining the melodic beauty of Eastern European folklore, North Indian Kathak rhythms, Cuban beats and original lyrics they mesmerise with a musical feast rooted in the Slavonic tradition but cultured from the world.

SURA SUSSO

Sura moved to the UK at the age of seventeen, as the percussionist in his brother’s band, the Seckou Keita Quintet. Since his arrival in the UK, Sura has performed as a solo act as well as part of collaborations, taking part in more than 500 shows and festivals in over 30 different countries spanning every continent. He has worked with and performed alongside renown international musicians which include Baaba Maal, Rokia Traore, Habib Koite and Sona Jobarteh.

His quest to promote the traditional music from his cultural roots in The Gambia and his fascination with experimenting new genres have led him to perform and record in a number of interesting cross-cultural settings, including collaborations with the great British-German violinist Maximilian Baillie, Chinese erhu player Ling Peng, Indian sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee, French jazz trumpeter Erik Truffaz, South African opera singer Pumeza, Spanish-Senegalese band Africai, British multi-instrumentalist Pete Josef and an album with the duo

TĀLA TARANG

Tāla Tarang embody a special chemistry, through a subtle yin-yang of two halves creating a whole. Their repertoire includes original music, folk tunes, classic pop, Bollywood, Western Classical and World music; it is a truly unique sound experience.

Tāla Tarang, which means Rhythm Waves, is aptly named as it sums up everything about this duo and their music as each performance takes both audience and the artists on a journey; like the oscillations of a wave.

Eleanor met Mendi in 2014 after hearing him at a concert with other world music artists.

Since then, their friendship has grown through not only their shared love of music, but also their passion for food (Mendi always cooks a curry to fuel their rehearsals!), travelling and philosophising about family and life-changing events. All of these shared experiences deeply influence their original compositions.

Peterborough’s Tony Nero and Mahemuda (Muni) Arsalani will be among the artists at the festival and interms of refreshment there will be world beers, Thai, Mexican, Caribbean and Indian food as well as cakes and crepes.