Connecting Cultures Goes Fringe
Picton Room, Central Library
23rd October 2008
Reviewed by
About a year ago, local artists, organisations and other people were
invited to a very well organised and polite meeting - you know, one of
those where you’re well fed (halal or vegetarian food on request),
encouraged to socialise and network with your brethren and share ideas
for a so-called Fringe festival, which should take place sometime in 2008
and that, drawing inspiration from Edinburgh’s own festival, would
fill our streets with performers and other artists.
Anything could happen at the Liverpool Fringe, we were told.
Despite having my reservations about what exactly was the point of having
a Fringe festival in Liverpool, I was curious about what the idea behind
this was. After all, in order to have a fringe you need to have an official
festival first. So, would this be an alternative to the official 08 year?
The Biennial perhaps? Fringe to the already fringe Independents maybe?
One year after meeting (I still remember the food, though), there has
been little or no signs of that festival, initially scheduled for September.
In its place - and according to the festival’s website - there
are different events happening all year round, one of them being this
one by ‘Connecting Cultures’.
All these thoughts were in my mind whilst watching the performance that
artists from the SOLA ARTS run collective ‘Connecting Cultures’
put on.
It seems to me that by giving it the name of ‘Connecting Cultures
Goes Fringe’ they were making a point, as if they were saying: "well,
we were told we would be part of a Fringe so here’s our contribution".
For this, they chose the magnificent Picton Room at the Central Library,
a place so intimate that where every whisper seems to be projected across
the room.
For this reason, this event could also been called ‘Connecting
Cultures Goes Unplugged’ and it would have equally reflected the
mood of the night.
With a mixture of music, food, storytelling and film this was a quite
varied night. More so if you take into account the diverse origins of
the different artists and cooks who took part in the occasion.
‘Connecting Cultures’ is a collective of artists from the
refugee and asylum seeker communities, and as you would guess, they come
from a host of countries and backgrounds; however, their common link is
their passion and creativity and their interest in sharing it with the
local people.
The event featured ‘Somali-Scouse’ storytelling, Kurdish
folk music and West African pop-influenced rhythms; we also learned about
the traditions and customs of Afghanistan and we were invited to taste
homemade food by cooks from Algeria, Kurdistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia.
In between the performances and the food, there was the ‘premiere’
of a film made by artists from the collective and commissioned by Liverpool
Libraries; this is a film intended to raise awareness of the services
offered by the Library to members of the migrant and refugee communities
whilst also being an educational tool for staff and the general public.
Overall, and despite some sound levels problems with some of the performers,
this was an entertaining event that also gave us an insight into the wealth
of skills and talents of people from the ‘fringes’ of the
world.
Fringe or not, this collective of artists have a lot to offer and deserves
to be heard.
Comment left by Dazza on 2nd November, 2008 at 9:33 This sounds like a great event but I didn't see it publicised anywhere. Maybe I'm just not in the right place
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