Afoxe

Afoxé Manchester - Tutors: Leon Patel, Adriana Rosso, and Ravin 'Raz' Jayasuriya

The booking deadline has now passed for this course.

Download the latest newsletter here!

For details of the Afoxé performance please click here.

Volunteers needed! - Please click here for more information

Afoxé Costume design:

You can check back here regularly to see the design progress.

See the final costume designs below

Please feel free to send us any

comments or suggestions you may have.

Course Content:

‘Afoxé Manchester’ is about sharing deep-rooted Afro-Brazilian heritage with a community in a modern setting in an att empt to encourage the meeting of minds, and to inspire and invigorate musical and creative experience. Through a short course workshop programme, the Global Grooves team will provide high quality yet affordable tuition in the music and dance disciplines of the Brazilian Afoxé parade whilst paying homage to its Candomblé roots. In sharing the artistic performance of this art form, the participants will not only improve their own creative skills, but will act as story-tellers passing on the centuries-old tradition to a local community that otherwise may not have ever experienced the phenomenon. This colourful, vibrant carnaval-style drumming, dancing, and singing bloco will saturate the streets of Manchester with its effervescent energy spreading hope and light to all who choose to follow!

In this course we will study the Brazilian (Nação Efon) music, dance and parade tradition of Afoxé. Drawing upon songs, choreography and phrasing from Candomblé we will work towards a full parade performance (Manchester City Centre) from the workshop group at the end of the course. We will focus on three – four Orixás. Percussionists will use Agogo, Xequeré and Atabaque. Participation in the Candomblé short course will be an advantage as singing and playing will be a key area of development. For dancers previous dance experience will be necessary and participation in the Candomblé dance course will be an advantage. Beginners to advanced participants welcome.

About the Instruments:

Percussionist will have the opportunity to try out a new modern style of marching conga of which only a limited number were made. For more information contact us.

About the Tutors:

Adriana Rosso - São Paulo, Brazil

Adriana has studied and danced with Meninos do Morumbi and Gaviões Da Fiel Samba School in São Paulo where she was twice Princesa da Bateria in 1997/ 98 . She soon became a lead dancer and teacher at Meninos do Morumbi and in 2005 she came to the UK to work with Bangdrum Workshops and Meninos Oldham. Adriana is an exceptional performer and choreographer with a vast experience in many international dance styles teaching and performing regularly internationally. Adriana has played a key role in the development of Global Grooves programme from the begining and it is our pleasure to announce her first Global Grooves course this year.

Leon Patel – Manchester, UK

Leon is an experienced workshop leader in many styles of international percussion including Brazilian, West African, South Asian and Cuban percussion. Leon specialises in Afro-Brazilian Bloco and Candomblé studying exstensively in the UK, Brazil and Africa and possessing over 10 years experience in facilitating workshops, master-classes and performances. Leon is also the Artistic Director of Global Grooves and has put together the entire programme of activity from scratch dedicating his time and skills voluntarily with his ongoing commitment to the development of international music and dance. His other cultural performance and workshop projects include Meninos Oldham and Bangdrum Workshops.

Ravin 'Raz' Jayasuriya - Hitchin, UK

'Raz' will be leading part of our workshop programme and will be taking part in the final event with us. Raz taught two of our Global Grooves 2008 Master-class weekends and I’m sure everyone will

agree they were an immense success. For more information visit www.global-grooves.org or

www.ovm.co.uk.

Ravin joined the Manchester based percussion group Inner Sense in ‘91 after completing a Popular Music and Recording Course in Salford, Manchester. Over the last seventeen years he has specialised in Brazilian and Cuban percussion and has focussed on the more traditional styles from these two countries. He has made several research / study trips to Cuba and Brazil and has worked with many UK & international artists including Amelia Pedroso, Arturo Martinez, Santiago Garzon Rill & Leonardo Pancha Clara (members of Clave y Guaguanco), Marta Gallaraga, Reynaldo Lopez, LaTimbala, Murah Soares & Dudu Tucci.

As a teacher, he has led a number of percussion workshops throughout the UK and in several other parts of the world. For OVM, he runs a modular course for beginners and two courses for intermediate levels, one in Afrobrazilian percussion and one in Afrocuban. He also teaches special one-off workshops focussing on a particular instrument or music style and teaches on holiday percussion workshops in Tuscany & Sicily.

Ravin has recently won a UK National Training Award. At a Gala Ceremony in London, he was presented with the highest level of award in the UK.

Afoxé Costume Design- Get Involved!!

We are happy to announce that our costume design and development is well under way. Our carnival artist Emily Wood has submitted the first draft designs for review (Click on the thumbnails to the right to see how they are taking shape).

Are you a visual artists or designer? Would you like to be involved in the costume design process and fabrication for this course / performance? We are looking for experienced designers and visual artists who would like to volunteer for this exciting project! If you are interested in helping out with the Afoxé costume project or would like further information about any of the Global Grooves courses please contact us!

Official partners and funders for Afoxé Manchester

Band On The Wall Grassroots Fund Manchester Jazz Festival Soar Valley Music Music Leader Arts Council England

Dates and times and fees:

Fee for 4 week course: £40

*Please note we do have a limited number of study bursaries available for this course.

To book on this course click here.

Questions? Veiw our FAQs page.

In order to open up more opportunities to get involved, we are running two sets of course date options for participants in two locations; Manchester and Nottingham. Participants may attend either course, as the musical course material delivered will be identical (however, dance tuition is only be offered on the Manchester course).

Manchester sessions

@ The Zion Centre, 335 Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5ZA

Sun 12th, Sun 19th, & Sun 26th* July:

Workshops 10.30am until 3.30pm

Sat 1st August: DRESS REHEARSAL / PERFORMANCE 9.30am until 7.00pm

*26th July: key session with 'Raz'

Extra rehearsal for Womad-ers and anyone else

Thursday 30th July

Attention all WOMAD-ers!!

We are aware that there are a small handful of people who are booked to go to WOMAD festival this year that clashes with one of the key rehearsal dates. With this in mind we have organised a special rehearsal for the WOMAD-ers and anyone else who wants to brush up on the material!! The extra rehearsal will take place on Thursday 30^th July, 6.30-9.30 at the Angel Centre, St Philips Place, Salford, M3 6FA. Please contact us for more information!

Attention Liverpool Carnival Goers!!

Please note for everyone attending Liverpool carnival we have been leasing closely with the organizers to ensure that performers and carnival goers arrive in good time for the beginning of the parade. The Afoxé performance will finish at 7pm latest and we have arranged car parking at the town Hall for a fast get away. This should get you to the beginning of the carnival parade for around 8pm giving you half an hour to prepare for the parade.

We have tried to make sure the Afoxé finishes as early as possible but do to the scheduling of the events in the City centre this is the earliest we could manage. If you have any queries regarding Liverpool carnival please contact us!

For further information/bookings, telephone

Holly Prest (07761261406) or Leon Patel (07771923185) or contact info@bangdrum.co.uk

Nottingham sessions

@ The Art Organisation, Station Street

(opp. Notts train station),

Notts, NG2 3AJ

Mon 20^th July: Workshop 6.30pm until 9.30pm

Sat 25^th July: Workshop 11am until 5pm

Mon 27^th July: Workshop 6.30pm – 9.30pm

Sat 1st Aug: DRESS REHEARSAL / PERFORMANCE

9.30am until 7pm (TAKING PLACE IN M’CR)

For bookings, contact Holly or Leon. For further information about the Nottingham school of Samba, contact Adam Watkins: 07746809748 or see www.nsos.co.uk

Note: It may be possible for the Global Grooves Team to organise a special workshop session so other community groups may get involved with the ‘Afoxé Manchester’ project.

For details, email info@bangdrum.co.uk

Bloco de Carnaval Performance - Global Grooves 2008

Notes on costume:

We are very excited to present Emily Wood as our costume designer and creator for the ‘Afoxé Manchester’ project.

This is a special event which we are designing and creating unique costumes for. All participants are required to submit their measurements on the registration form to guarantee a costume.

The deadline for registration and costume information is the 20^th June and it is imperative that all participants send this information by the deadline to ensure participation in the final event!

As we are purchasing drums and creating individually sized costumes especially for the event, it is necessary for participants to also send a deposit cheque for £30 each which will be repaid to all participants who attend the final event.

Please send a cheque payable to ‘Bangdrum Workshops’ to:

Global Grooves Team, 1st Floor,

The Angel Healthy Living Centre,

1, St. Phillip’s Place, Salford, M3 6F

And return completed registration forms to info@bangdrum.co.uk

Manchester venue:

The Zion Arts Centre

335 Stretford Road

Hulme

Manchester

M15 5ZA

Telephone:

01612261912

Web: www.zionarts.com

Click the map to open an interactive map in a new window.