The Big Gig 2011
The Big Gig was held on Friday the 28th of January at the Exmouth pavilion organised by Jamie Osborne, it is an event for under 18 years old and showing young and talented bands. The doors open efficiently at 6:30pmwith the event finishing at 11pm. When you got through the doors you were checked thoroughly but swiftly due to the amount of people there. As soon you reached the main room waiting outside in the cold was soon forgotten and the excitement levels lifted.
Already there was a band playing and the atmosphere was amazing. When people started dancing everyone did. The bands looked like they were all having just as much fun which was well received by the audience. The bands were (in running order):
Morning rush (Big Gig Pre-show)
The Sherpas * The Maratones * The Raphaelites * Beyond the green * We Bring Disaster * The Iona Lights * Electric Skies * Future Pilot * N.U.M.B * The Sunshine Getaway * DJ set by a former Pendulum support DJ
Pendulum DJ set
All the bands were made of mainly teens they all brought their own amazing styles of music which made it really exciting to listen too. The organiser of this event was Jamie Osborne a 17 year old A level student, at only 17 he has already won two local music awards for the Big Gig last year and has organised an amazing 30 other events in the last 18 months! He is a real inspiration for the amount of time and dedication it took to pull this off. He made it an amazing time for everyone there and it was very professional. All advance tickets sold out really quickly, cannot wait for next year, if you missed out on this event make sure you don’t miss the next one!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wren Music and South Africa
By Cicely Street-Mellor – member of Singing Roots, Roots A Cappella and Roots Exchange
Wren Music is a charity based in Okehampton which focuses on traditional music fromDevon, as well as importing music and songs from cultures around the world. It runs sessions and workshops for enthusiasts of all ages. As someone who has known about Wren since I was eight, when I first joined one of their young people’s singing groups, I’ve been involved in a fair share of projects and events; I’m currently a Young Singing Leader at Singing Roots, for example, leading warm-ups and songs. But Wren’s current project has to be the most exciting – a cultural exchange visit toSouth Africa.
A group of twelve instrumentalists and vocalists, nine under 18, have been brought together with this trip in mind – I’m incredibly thankful to be one of the lucky few. At the moment we’re all fundraising furiously to try and get the money together to perform it – not easy with huge cuts to the council at the moment – but the work is definitely worth it for what we’ll be doing once we get there. For three weeks in August we’ll be working with ComArts, a youth music group based in and aroundCape Town, sharing songs, music, and traditions from bothSouth Africaand theUK. As well as this, we plan to go around schools in the various impoverished townships that surround the city, performing and, hopefully, allowing the children to experience a new type of music.
Not only will it, I’m sure, be incredible once we get there, but the whole experience so far has been fantastic. Being part of a new group has meant I’ve met some great friends with the same passion for traditional English music and we’ve performed at events like wassails and music nights. Recently one of our group organised an auction of gifts and promises, which raised over £1,000 for the exchange. At the moment we are also organising a film showing and a family ceilidh. It’s very busy at the moment, especially with my AS exams looming, but I’ve lived every minute of it.
You can find out more about Wren Music, the groups and events they run, and theSouth Africaproject at www.wrenmusic.co.uk.
