'Songs of the Caged Bird' concert and a special weekender walk
03 Oct 2012
'Songs of the Caged Bird’ is a new song-cycle written and performed by Manchester composer-pianist George King, for arguably Manchester’s finest jazz diva, Doreen Edwards, and performed with young string players of the Royal Northern College of Music
October 12th. Cost - £24 Concert, city walking tour and supper, £19 - Concert and supper, £12 - Performance only.
‘Songs of the Caged Bird’ Concert
7.30pm – 9pm. Duration 1 hours 30 minutes. Part of Manchester Weekender 2012. This event will be the second outing for this piece which premiered at Manchester Jazz Festival in July 2012. It sets poems, speeches and historic sermons connected to African-American culture in the form of a song-cycle - improvisatory piano accompaniment and impressionistic string parts, interspersed with original recorded speech samples from the civil rights period.
The libretto includes work by Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and a re-setting of the lyrics to Strange Fruit – Abel Meeropol’s poem famously interpreted by Billie Holiday. This is a powerful people’s history, one that resonates directly with Manchester’s own history and the UK civil rights movements, making the People’s History Museum and its collections the perfect backdrop for this extraordinary event.
The museum will open from 6.00pm for ticket holders to look around the galleries before the concert.
The concert begins at 7.30pm and will be followed by a post performance discussion by Commonword who will introduce their community gallery exhibition Ghosts: Disappearing Histories.
Special Weekender Walk
Swot up in advance with local historian Ed Glinert who will lead a special Weekender walk from Victoria Station joining the civil rights dots between our city and Paul Robeson, Abraham Lincoln, Gladstone… Ed’s walk will start at Victoria Station at 4.30pm and will bring you to the People’s History Museum by 6.30pm in time for a bite to eat. In addition the galleries will stay open until 7.30pm.
Supper
Supper will be a Cajun style bowl of the day (veggie) and glass of house wine or soft drink and served between 6.00pm and 7.00pm. Suitable for adults.
Booking required, please contact: