Friday, September 28, 2007
Impressions from the Medical Aid for Palestinians Concert
Medical Aid For Palestinians Concert
Tues 25th September 2007
@ 606 Jazz Club
Dynamite modern jazz, Andalucían Flamenco, Arabic guitars, sultry vocals, gastronomic delights & surprise special guests! Book a table for dinner by calling the 606 Club 0207 352 5953 (90 Lots Rd SW10) http://www.606club.co.uk/ Entrance fee £15 to be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians. Menu includes vegetarian options.
Tues 25th September 2007
@ 606 Jazz Club
Dynamite modern jazz, Andalucían Flamenco, Arabic guitars, sultry vocals, gastronomic delights & surprise special guests! Book a table for dinner by calling the 606 Club 0207 352 5953 (90 Lots Rd SW10) http://www.606club.co.uk/ Entrance fee £15 to be donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians. Menu includes vegetarian options.
GILAD ATZMON & THE ORIENT HOUSE ENSEMBLEExplosive fusion of Arabic bebop, groovy jazz-noir & sweeping electronica from BBC Jazz Award winner Atzmon & the Orient House Ensemble: Frank Harrison piano, keys & electronics, Yaron Stavi, bass, Asaf Sirkis drums. Special guest Jordanian oud player & vocalist Nizar Al-Issa. A master…a jazz giant with a formidable international reputation. The Guardian Astonishing Time Out
Audiences are clearly bowled over with Atzmon's whirlwind approach ... dynamic, charismatic and ... exasperating! Jazz UK
ORQESTRA MAHATMAEclectic blend of folk tunes, gypsy jazz & wild percussive grooves from string virtuoso Stuart Hall & renowned drummer Paul Clarvis. One of British jazz's quirkiest groups. They're musical nomads mixing up tunes, melodies and rhythms from America to Macedonia and Arabia to Venezuela and beyond Time Out
ATTAB HADDADElectrifying combination of flamenco, jazz & Middle Eastern classical music performed on the Oud by Haddad featuring Graeme Blevins on sax & Genevieve Wilkins on Cajon.
SARAH GILLESPIEAnglo-American songstress fusing folk, jazz & gypsy feat: Ben Bastin, bass, Billy Adamson guitar, Andrea Mann backing vocals w Gilad Atzmon, accordion. Acoustically styled songs that shimmer with a resonant beauty & emotive hurt Time Out Infectious melodies & a voice so potent it will knock you to the wall Get Rhythm
Medical Aid For Palestinians (MAP) is a charitable company limited by guarantee: 038352 England. Registered charity no: 045315
Sarah Gillespie writes:
It's amazing what you can achieve for a good cause when you're not fighting off that pesky bunch of kosher ethnic-police who attempt to sabotage all they disagree with in the name of righteousness. Up they pop: picketing, protesting, shouting, blogging, terrified to the bone that someone might be permitted to campaign against the current genocide in Palestine without first lamenting the genocide of the Jews over half a century ago.
So it was that we managed to pull off a fundraising concert for Medical Aid in Palestine (MAP) last Tuesday at Chelsea's famous 606 Club completely without incident; a small miracle indeed. Perhaps it was Ahmadinejad's whirlwind US speaking tour that consumed their rage quota last week, or maybe it was the shame of Israel's expansionist and illegal air strikes in Syria that shut them up for a few glorious days, who knows? But somehow our concert was publicised in London's Metro, Time Out, The Evening Standard and the Guardian Guide without anyone racing to pick up their quill and compose letters demanding we be cancelled, or preferably culled.
Musicians from Kuwait, Israel, Egypt, Britain, Australia and America eagerly volunteered their talents for a marathon night of music that managed to raise over £2000.00 for people suffering in Gaza and the West Bank. The high octane Middle Eastern jazz blasted through the candle-lit club, packed to the rafters with punters of every denomination feasting on wine, goats cheese & homemade humus while throwing their hard earned cash into buckets touted around by volunteers. Others helped out on the door collecting money and breaking the news to disappointed hordes huddled outside that we simply couldn't fit one more single person into the club.
Indeed, it is slightly boring to generate such support and profit with so little effort. But such was the success of this event that we are considering developing it into a monthly fundraising gig. Inshallah the pseudo ‘peace lovers’ might one day lay down their placards and join in the fun. Watch this space.
So it was that we managed to pull off a fundraising concert for Medical Aid in Palestine (MAP) last Tuesday at Chelsea's famous 606 Club completely without incident; a small miracle indeed. Perhaps it was Ahmadinejad's whirlwind US speaking tour that consumed their rage quota last week, or maybe it was the shame of Israel's expansionist and illegal air strikes in Syria that shut them up for a few glorious days, who knows? But somehow our concert was publicised in London's Metro, Time Out, The Evening Standard and the Guardian Guide without anyone racing to pick up their quill and compose letters demanding we be cancelled, or preferably culled.
Musicians from Kuwait, Israel, Egypt, Britain, Australia and America eagerly volunteered their talents for a marathon night of music that managed to raise over £2000.00 for people suffering in Gaza and the West Bank. The high octane Middle Eastern jazz blasted through the candle-lit club, packed to the rafters with punters of every denomination feasting on wine, goats cheese & homemade humus while throwing their hard earned cash into buckets touted around by volunteers. Others helped out on the door collecting money and breaking the news to disappointed hordes huddled outside that we simply couldn't fit one more single person into the club.
Indeed, it is slightly boring to generate such support and profit with so little effort. But such was the success of this event that we are considering developing it into a monthly fundraising gig. Inshallah the pseudo ‘peace lovers’ might one day lay down their placards and join in the fun. Watch this space.
Medical Aid for Palestine Concert Tues 25th September 2007: Attab Haddad, Sarah Gillespie, Orquestra Muhatma, Gilad Atzmon & the Orient House Ensemble
Labels: activism, Atzmon, friends, good news, music, Palestine, UK
