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Gyan has been working in the area of promoting and coordinating community choral events and facilitating workshops and concerts for visiting artists for the last ten years. She has coordinated nine RhythmSong music camps since 2000, and has been organising Gospel singing weekends for Tony Backhouse since 2003.
Through RhythmSong, in association with Rosie Johnstone, and prior to that through Voice Moves WA, Gyan has brought a number of quality artists to Western Australia who have gone on to forge fruitful links with the WA community. These include Rachel Hore, Valanga Khoza, Stephen Taberner, Joseph Jordania, Greg Sheehan, Carl Pannuzzo, Penny Larkins, Kavisha Mazzella, Andrea Watson, Parissa Bouas of the Hottentots and Kristina Olsen. Gyan has a passion for world and original music, travelling to Georgia in 2006 to attend an ethnomusicological conference in Tbilisi and take part in a two week residential workshop in Georgian singing and dancing. Another trip to Georgia is planned for 2010.
Gyan is a member of the group Shalva who sing Georgian and East European music.
Her main interest lies in creating opportunities for people to discover the joy and inherently life affirming qualities of music and other creative pursuits.
Contact Gyan by email at gya42@yahoo.com.
What’s coming up in 2010?
12th to 15th August
Supporting facilitators:
Kerrianne Cox / Ryan Morrison / Kate Rowe / Bernard Carney / Lara Norman / Craig Sinclair
RhythmSong is a three and a half day journey of community, creativity and musical exploration:
- workshops in songwriting, singing, percussion, TA KA TI NA, performance.....and more....
- concerts and performance opportunities
- youth scholarships and guest artists
Kristina Olsen’s presence last year stimulated an even greater interest in song writing, so this year we’re adding an extra day dedicated to song writing workshops followed up by mentoring over the three days.
Stephen Taberner will coordinate the Thursday programme.
Anyone is welcome to come to the song writing on Thursday but for those more interested in other aspects of the weekend RhythmSong will begin later on Thursday.
Stephen is well known for his fantastic skills in singing, conducting and creating and has been a great presence at RhythmSong in the past.
Tania Bosak is well known in Melbourne for her percussion and singing skills. She’s also the foremost teacher of the TA KA TI NA Rhythm process in Australia and is an experienced workshop facilitator.
Check her website www.bosak.com.au.
KERRIANNE COX
Kerrianne Cox is well known throughout Australia and internationally as an independent Aboriginal songwriter and performing artist. She comes from Beagle Bay in the remote North West Kimberley and continues to live amongst her people, fighting strongly for their rights and well being while continuing to develop as a musician and songwriter.
She has performed all over Australia as well as touring internationally to Canada, the USA and South Africa.
She won the Next Big Thing competition in 1996 when just 22 years of age and in 2005 was named National Artist of the Year (NAIDOC) and awarded the Yvonne Cohen Award for Creative Indigenous Youth.
Her CDs include Just Wanna Move (1999), Opening (2001) and Return to Country(2006).
To find out more about Kerrianne go to www.kerriannecox.com
KATE ROWE
Kate Rowe is an experienced and ever evolving song writer. Listening to her songs you’ll find quirkiness, humour, laid back country vibes, deep emotion and everything in between. She also writes songs with an otherworldly slant and she’ll be recording a CD of this material under the name Fildenstar in WA in August after the RhythmSong Music Retreat.
Kate has performed regularly in the Blue Mountains and Sydney areas and has appeared at the Blue Mountains Folk, Blues and Roots Festival in 2005, 2007 and 2010.
In 2007 she released her CD ‘The Simplest of Things’ and has another CD ready for release this year.
Her songs have won a number of awards, the most recent being her win in The John Lennon Song Writing Contest in the US for her children’s song ‘Space Rabbits of Brockelvoons’. This was an outstanding achievement.
Find out more about Kate’s songwriting and check out her cartoons at www.katerowe.com
CRAIG SINCLAIR
Craig Sinclair plays a unique brand of contemporary folk blues guitar and is a crafter of powerful and affecting songs. He combines crisp fingerstyle slide guitar playing and soulful vocals to communicate directly and meaningfully with his listeners.
He’s released three CDs, Stones Beneath the Surface (2006), Barefoot Ballads (2007), and has toured and played at festivals throughout Australia. He now lives in Albany.
Find out more about Craig at www.craigsinclair.com.au
BERNARD CARNEY
Bernard Carney is recognized as one of Australia’s outstanding songwriters. In 2003 he was named Artist of the Year at the Port Fairy Folk Festival and was also awarded the prestigious Lawson Patterson Songwriting award. Prior to that he has won three major Australian songwriting awards.
Bernard is a master lyricist, writing both humorous and more serious songs and is also an outstanding guitarist. He is a regular performer at festivals throughout Australia and also tours to the UK, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore.
He directs two choirs – The ‘Working Voices Choir ‘which is the combined trade unions choir in WA that focuses on social justice issues, and the more recently formed ‘Spirit of the Streets’, a group originally created by Bernard for sellers of the Big Issue in WA. It’s now a more broadly based inclusive choir but welcomes particularly those living with social disadvantage or disability.
To find out more about Bernard go to www.bernardcarney.com
Last year we ran a pre RhythmSong concert to raise funds for youth scholarships.
This year we thought we’d do it again and are forming a choir for the occasion to revisit some of the songs of the last ten years.
Anyone who’s been to any RhythmSong is welcome to join the choir. Please contact Gyan if you want to be in it. Date for concert is 24th July. Musical Director will be Monica Lacey and dates for rehearsals are 20/6, 27/6, 11/7, 18/7.
Saturday 24th July
St Luke’s Hall
20 Monument St, Mosman Park.
Tix $15, $12 at door.
Some great groups and individuals will be performing to help us provide more scholarships for young people.
The line up – Jim Fisher, Summerhouse, Voicemale, Isabella Jennings, Mackenzie Cairns, Hannah and Genevieve Lacey and the RhythmSong Choir.
See flyer for more detail.
Also, check out the link below where Itiyopyia Ewart from USA who was at RhythmSong 2009 has posted some great video clips.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4070038EC6331BA4
Shalva are a vocal quartet who sing East European and Georgian music with passion and flair. They love the harmonies and beautiful sonorities that arise in this part of the world and sing songs from Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland and even Israel. In their performances they seek to express the colour, beauty and excitement inherent in these musical traditions.
Performances coming up in 2010:
May 30th - House Concert
Venue: 44 Breaksea Drive, North Coogee.
Time: 3 - 5pm.
Gold coin entry.
June 5th – Denmark Festival of Voice – 2 concerts
September 10th – Kulcha, Fremantle
Friday night
$15, $12 conc.
Tickets available from Kulcha.
Contact Gyan 08 9335 7054 or gya42@yahoo.com for Shalva enquiries and bookings.
Shalva Update
Thanks to all those people who came to our House Concert at the end of May and made it such a success and thanks also to Matt and Julie Clements who let us invade their house. It’s such a perfect venue for an intimate concert. Denmark Festival of Voice was also a great experience for Shalva.
Our next performance will be the Kulcha gig listed below where we’ll have support from some great musicians, including Mark Cain and Tim Chambers. Mark and Tim play together as Osmosis and in many other combinations, including a group for Musica Viva.
Friday 10th September
$15, $12 conc.
Tickets available from Kulcha.
3rd to 5th September 2010
Beacon Yoga Centre, Cnr South & Field Streets, Beaconsfield.
Tony Backhouse hasn’t been to WA since 2008.
He is now living in New Zealand and his workshops are in demand at home and internationally. If you want to come and spend a rare weekend exploring African American Gospel music with Tony and have an outstanding singing experience, keep this weekend free.
Bookings / Enquiries
Gyan 9335 7054, 0415 995 121 or at gya42@yahoo.com
Click here to download flyer for details and booking form.
Register your group now for a chance to perform
Community choirs and youth performance groups welcome
Featuring:
Vocal and mass singing workshops
Afternoon and evening concerts
Spooky Men of the West already confirmed!
Further details here soon
To register your group’s interest ring Matt Clements 0412 402 640
Or email clementsm@bigpond.com
Contact
Gyan Godfrey
gya42@yahoo.com
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