Stroud Sacred Music Festival
Friday 5th & Saturday 6th July 2024
Stroud Sacred Music Festival 2024
FULL FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Special Peal of the Church Bells
Friday 5th July, 7.00-7.30pm
Friday 5th July, 7.00-7.30pm
For over 400 years, the ten church bells, rung in the “English” tradition, have been part of the soundscape of Stroud – where the sacred world of the church reaches out to touch the secular world of the town. This can be the joyful music of many bells in peal, for celebrations, weddings and to call to worship. On Friday, from 7.00pm the Stroud band rang a series of short “touches” to welcome people to the Get Gospel concert which opened Stroud Sacred Music Festival 2024. The selections were: “Grandsire Caters”, “Stedman Triples”, “Bob Doubles”, “Called Changes”, and finally the evocative “Ringing Down”, when the bells are returned to their safe storage condition at the end.
Get Gospel
Friday 5th July, 7.30-9.30pm
Friday 5th July, 7.30-9.30pm
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We were thrilled to present a joyful summer's concert with Get Gospel, a highly sought after choir with a stunning repertoire spanning classic and contemporary gospel tunes, original versions of pop songs and old hymns. Their bespoke, creative arrangements, brought a contemporary flavour to some absolute classics.
Featuring 4 singers and a pianist , they brought something completely unique to St Laurence's. The choir say, "It is our mission to see our music touch people’s hearts."
Get Gospel singers have performed individually with some incredible artists, such as Stevie Wonder, Gorillaz, Candi Staton, Gareth Malone, Jocelyn Brown, Foals and Pharrell Williams among many others. They have performed together on BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2, Songs Of Praise and BBC London. They’ve sung at celebrity weddings and worked for countless corporations and charities; the list goes on!
Featuring 4 singers and a pianist , they brought something completely unique to St Laurence's. The choir say, "It is our mission to see our music touch people’s hearts."
Get Gospel singers have performed individually with some incredible artists, such as Stevie Wonder, Gorillaz, Candi Staton, Gareth Malone, Jocelyn Brown, Foals and Pharrell Williams among many others. They have performed together on BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2, Songs Of Praise and BBC London. They’ve sung at celebrity weddings and worked for countless corporations and charities; the list goes on!
Since the pandemic, they have released two EPs ’The Spiritual Sessions Vol.1 and Vol.2’ featuring 10 new a capella arrangements of spiritual songs from the Americas, some of which they sang for us.
Why not listen online here: https://album.link/i/1508352318
They’ve sung on Michael Ball and Alfie Boe’s latest album, and for various adverts.
Singers:
Jules Rendell
Miça Townsend
James Philip
Alex Hardie
Piano - Ben Comeau
Why not listen online here: https://album.link/i/1508352318
They’ve sung on Michael Ball and Alfie Boe’s latest album, and for various adverts.
Singers:
Jules Rendell
Miça Townsend
James Philip
Alex Hardie
Piano - Ben Comeau
Morning Singing for Children and Families
with Jo McAndrews
Saturday 6th July, 9.00-9.45am
with Jo McAndrews
Saturday 6th July, 9.00-9.45am
An array of sunny, uplifting songs suitable for all ages, with popular choir leader Jo McAndrews. Singing brings the generations together. Some of the songs had actions or rhymes that made them memorable. And each one appealed to all ages. Jo McAndrews is an experienced Community Choir Leader and performer. She led StroudSong community choir for 15 years. "Singing can be healing and uplifting for the spirit and can be an easy way to connect to the sacred, too," says Jo.
SSMF Chant Space
Saturday 6th July, 10.00am-1.00pm
A flow of beautiful sacred songs and chants in a range of devotional styles in the incredible surroundings of St Laurence's Church.
10.00-11am Taizé Chants
As always, we opened with Christian chants from The Taizé Community. This beloved style of singing and music is characterised by simple and repetitive melodies, intended to be meditative and prayerful. We sang each chant for many minutes, to deepen into the harmonies and into prayer.
11.00am-12.00pm Songs for Earth, Water & Spirit
Continuing seamlessly, we moved into beautiful, simple, sacred songs that were in many cases well known, and all easy to pick up by listening and joining in. Voices, drums and guitar led the singing. The invitation was to enhance our connection with each other, the Earth, Water, Spirit and with the whole of life. Led by Kate Dineen, Fergus Ryan and Chris Head.
12.00-1.00pm Thrisha Haldar and Asha McCarthy (Kirtan Devotional Singing)
Our session of devotional singing flowed into and concluded with kirtan led by Thrisha Haldar and Asha McCarthy. Thrisha is a warm, soulful vocalist and musician who leads kirtan and pujas locally and across the UK, including co-organising the Bhakti Gathering. Asha is an inspirational cellist, composer and multi-faceted musician who is a performer in Western Classical, North Indian Classical, and folk music. Asha has collaborated with musicians across genres, and has performed internationally in orchestras, chamber music, and as a soloist. The kirtan was led by voices, harmonium and drums. Featuring Rev Simon Howell on Djembe.
10.00-11am Taizé Chants
As always, we opened with Christian chants from The Taizé Community. This beloved style of singing and music is characterised by simple and repetitive melodies, intended to be meditative and prayerful. We sang each chant for many minutes, to deepen into the harmonies and into prayer.
11.00am-12.00pm Songs for Earth, Water & Spirit
Continuing seamlessly, we moved into beautiful, simple, sacred songs that were in many cases well known, and all easy to pick up by listening and joining in. Voices, drums and guitar led the singing. The invitation was to enhance our connection with each other, the Earth, Water, Spirit and with the whole of life. Led by Kate Dineen, Fergus Ryan and Chris Head.
12.00-1.00pm Thrisha Haldar and Asha McCarthy (Kirtan Devotional Singing)
Our session of devotional singing flowed into and concluded with kirtan led by Thrisha Haldar and Asha McCarthy. Thrisha is a warm, soulful vocalist and musician who leads kirtan and pujas locally and across the UK, including co-organising the Bhakti Gathering. Asha is an inspirational cellist, composer and multi-faceted musician who is a performer in Western Classical, North Indian Classical, and folk music. Asha has collaborated with musicians across genres, and has performed internationally in orchestras, chamber music, and as a soloist. The kirtan was led by voices, harmonium and drums. Featuring Rev Simon Howell on Djembe.
Soumik Datta Arts Presents
The Green Room Collective
Saturday 6th July, 7.30-9.30pm
Soumik Datta Arts presented a double bill of performances
for an evening of music, dance, spoken word and film
exploring themes of memory, home, migration and displacement.
for an evening of music, dance, spoken word and film
exploring themes of memory, home, migration and displacement.
British Indian musician Soumik Datta
on the 19-stringed sarod |
The Green Room Collective
- an interdisciplinary group of seven artists from migrant and refugee backgrounds |
"Indian music is deeply connected to times of day and to seasons. Through frequencies and phrases a raga is recognised in relation to the natural world. And each raga is meant to be played within that season, time and context. In my own world, though, there is no continuous environment, or even time zone. My heart and my body, always in separate places. Always cutting a bit too brown to be British, or too British to be Bengali. But through creating new music with others, I can stretch across time zones, merge languages and contexts; combine dawn and dusk; London and Kolkata. Because migration, I've learned, is not a linear journey from A to B. It's a dance between two worlds, a constant negotiation of identity."
Soumik Datta
Soumik Datta
We witnessed a group of artists from migrant and refugee backgrounds weave music and spoken word to explore themes of home, displacement, and migration.
Developed during a three-week residency with Soumik Datta Arts, living and working as a team, The Green Room Collective's performance was a celebration of diversity and a testament to the power of collaboration.
The Green Room was produced by Soumik Datta Arts and supported by Arts Council England, Aga Khan Music Programme, Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinkin, Counterpoint Arts and Good Chance Theatre.
Performers
Héctor Manchego (spoken word, film and dramaturgy)
Hossein Mirzagholi (bass, vocals and composition)
Giuliano Modarelli (guitar and composition)
Deeptarka Mukhopadhyay (tabla, dholak, dhol and composition)
Preetha Narayanan (violin and composition)
Saled Silbak (oud)
Developed during a three-week residency with Soumik Datta Arts, living and working as a team, The Green Room Collective's performance was a celebration of diversity and a testament to the power of collaboration.
The Green Room was produced by Soumik Datta Arts and supported by Arts Council England, Aga Khan Music Programme, Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinkin, Counterpoint Arts and Good Chance Theatre.
Performers
Héctor Manchego (spoken word, film and dramaturgy)
Hossein Mirzagholi (bass, vocals and composition)
Giuliano Modarelli (guitar and composition)
Deeptarka Mukhopadhyay (tabla, dholak, dhol and composition)
Preetha Narayanan (violin and composition)
Saled Silbak (oud)
Each one of these multi-talented, streetwise, transglobal performers would be worth spending an evening with, experiencing their solo work. The fact that we had seven of them collaborating so that we could witness the birthing of a new musical work of startling relevance was beyond value. Entering together a shared crucible of migration and marginalisation they collectively wove music, dance and film to produce a magnificent tribute to resilience. Their bandleader and mentor was the young sarod virtuoso, Soumik Datta, “one of the biggest new musical talents in Britain” (Vogue). Soumik collaborates with refugees, mental health and climate change practitioners as well as artists from disparate global traditions including - Beyonce, Jay-Z, Nitin Sawhney, Akram Khan, Anoushka Shankar and the BBC Singers. This concert really was an evening of consequence.
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St Laurence's Church: Stroud Centre for Peace & the Arts
Other SSMF Supported Events in 2024
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Sunday 3rd March
An Introduction to the Aramaic Lord's Prayer with Matthew Heyse-Moore |
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