Sirocco

Programme:
Sollima Lamentatio
Lawes Aire in C
Trad. Click Song
Haydn Op. 76 No. 1, II. Adagio Sostenuto
Trad. Ibuyile (South Africa)
Trad. Echa monati (South Africa)
Stravinsky Concertino
Trad. Old Reinlender from Sonndala (Denmark)
Trad. Little One Mine (Ghana)
Trad. O Fredik, O Fredik (Denmark)
Purcell Excerpts from The Fairy Queen
Trad. Takamba (Mali)

Creative Team:
Rakhi Singh Violin
Simmy Singh Violin
Ruth Gibson Viola
Abel Selaocoe Guest Director and Cello
Alan Keary Electric Bass
Sidiki Dembele African Percussion

About The Show:
Sirocco is pure joy and energy - a great storm of music that celebrates the warmth and diversity of folk traditions from across the globe. This is music for the people, by the people; music that will raise the hairs on your arms and bring a great big smile to your face.

When we toured this show in 2018, critics called it a “once in a lifetime experience” and our audiences were dancing in the aisles. Now, we open our 19/20 Season with this joyous revival - 16 shows across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Switzerland.

We’re thrilled to welcome back Abel Selaocoe as Guest Director - he’s a friend, a colleague, and most of all, a completely inspiring artist who stands alone as an utterly unique, mesmerising, musical voice. Abel will be joined by Sidiki Dembele and Alan Keary from Chesaba, and of course, by the string quartet of Manchester Collective.

The show covers everything from Selaocoe’s outrageous arrangements for solo cello to beloved classics by Stravinsky and Haydn; from a set of original African folk to a collection of gorgeous Danish folk songs.

Manchester Collective:

Manchester Collective are changing the way people experience live music. Since their first set of “powerful, moving, & extraordinary” shows in 2017 (Yorkshire Post), the work of the Collective has expanded at breakneck speed. They now play in concert halls, warehouses, and factory spaces in 18 cities across Europe and the UK, performing a combination of cutting edge new music, classical masterpieces, and staged theatrical work to a hungry, new audience.

Recent performing highlights include international concert debuts in Holland, Switzerland, and Northern Ireland; appearances at the Southbank Centre in London to perform The Centre is Everywhere, a major new commission by Edmund Finnis; and a critically acclaimed tour of Pierrot Lunaire, a staged production of Arnold Schoenberg’s masterpiece featuring a newly commissioned English libretto by David Pountney, and presented by BBC 6 Music’s Elizabeth Alker.

New music has always been of vital importance to the Collective - in 2019/20 they premiere major new works by Paul Clark, Erland Cooper, and Alex Groves. The current season will also see the Collective mount their largest ever international tour - a revival of 2018’s critically acclaimed Sirocco, featuring South African cellist Abel Selaocoe.

Manchester Collective’s work has been featured by the BBC on an ongoing basis, most recently in the form of a one hour “supercut” of exceptional live performances from around the UK, broadcast on Radio 3. Other recordings have appeared on Classic FM, NTS Radio, Melodic Distraction, and on Tender Symmetry, released on the Erased Tapes label in 2018.