Local Music Events
Livewires on the Levels
Livewires is a group of young musicians aged 8-18 which was founded in
2003 as a result of a 10-week project run by Folk South West and has a growing
repertoire that draws on the rich heritage of traditional music from the West
Country. We meet in Langport at the Ridgway Hall and have performed at many
events and festivals around the area, as well as on local radio. In 2004 we
travelled to perform at a music festival in the Val d’Ile, Brittany.
2005 sees the group moving into a new phase. We have
been awarded funding to research the music and history of the Somerset Levels
around the River Parrett. Local
elders and crafts-people will be involved in sharing their life stories and the
youngsters will write new traditional music based around these and their own
stories. The project will include a
major public performance at Sidmouth Folk Week in August
The new phase also sees an expansion of the teaching team. Miranda
Rutter is a professional fiddle player with a wide experience of playing and
teaching traditional music. She
says, “It’s a very exciting project. I’m looking forward to facilitating
the creation of new traditional music – English music is alive and well thanks
to traditional musicians continuing to write and reinterpret the music. This
project, involving young musicians, local people, craft workers and their
attachment to the land is the ideal environment for such music to be created and
nurtured”
From September the project will see a further expansion as the team
takes a road show of the project to schools in the area, culminating in the
creation of a show about life on the Levels.
The group meets in Langport on Thursday evenings and is open to all
instrumentalists aged 8-18 and we hope to have a song group for 8-11’s up and
running shortly. For further information contact Alan Curtis on 01458 272062
or Miranda
Rutter on 07751 123812, or
.
The project is supported by
the National Lottery’s Awards for All programme, Local Network and the Baring
Foundation
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