Band on the Wall
It's not often you get to enjoy a vinyl release of records you've been involved in making, especially one that brings together so many cultures.
Thank you Band On The Wall for sending me a copy. Thank you in particular to Gavin Sharp, CEO of Band On The Wall, and also to my main contact Alice McIlwraith for being so patient throughout the project. And of course to everyone else involved in getting it to the release that it is today.
I worked with Hamsaz Ensemble and Hawa Kiin and also with the Without Borders Youth Band during the making of this, and the experience was like nothing else I have been involved with. It taught me many things about working together with artists from different cultures and that Google Translate can indeed translate from Somali to English!
Seriously though, please go and check out the projects over at their website, bandonthewall.org. They’ve run as a non-profit for over 40 years and they’re a gem in the Manchester/World music ecosystem.
As Gavin puts it:
"Those of us immersed in music understand that the richness of our culture and the strength of our musical creativity owe much to people who have brought sounds from across the world and throughout time - sounds often fundamentally linked to people, identity and culture."