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Wilberforce Connexion CD Cover.jpg

Wilberforce Connexion

In 2009, Full-Flava Entertainment compiled a world music CD and DVD celebrating the cultural diversity of Kingston Upon Hull through a collaboration of a wide selection of diverse musicians, bands and groups based in Hull. The Wilberforce Connexion included artists that have migrated to Hull, or who represented their ancestral country of origin: Angola, Congo, India, Kurdistan, Malawi, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania and United Kingdom.

2007 The Woman Who Refused to Dance 2017.pdf

The Woman Who Refused to Dance

In Autumn 2007, the opera 'The Woman Who Refused To Dance' by composer and conductor Shirley J Thompson was performed at Westminster Palace, Houses of Parliament. The piece was based on a 1792 print by Isaac Cruickshank - entitled 'The abolition of the slave trade, or the inhumanity of dealers in human flesh exemplified in the cruel treatment of a young negro girl of 15 for her virgin modesty' - depicting a woman who refused to dance on board a slave ship, and who was hung from one leg as punishment. The opera has recently been re-premiered to mark the 210th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

2007 River Niger Arts Sounds of Slavery Screenshot.png

The Sounds of Slavery

The Sounds of Slavery was a project by the performance and visual arts group River Niger Arts to research, record and develop a performance-related programme around the musical heritage and legacy of slavery. The project took particular interest in these themes in relation to the City of Liverpool, but also addressed them in global terms. The project created a database of songs and narratives from the period of slavery. Members of the River Niger Orchestra also performed at a Sounds of Slavery performance at Liverpool Hope University. Some of the songs performed included 'The Chase', 'No More Auction Block' and the African American spiritual 'The Jubilee Song'. The project was accompanied by a series of performance and visual arts education workshops with schools.

2007 Cotton Tree Passage from Routes to Freedom brochure.jpg

The Cotton Tree Passage

'The Cotton Tree Passage' was a dance theatre production by Koromanti Arts performed at The Drum in Birmingham as part of the Routes to Freedom season. The production depicted the spiritual passage of slavery from Africa to the Caribbean and the UK. A collaboration between 'H' Patten and dance, music, film and visual artists, this piece combined multimedia techniques and contemporary African, Caribbean and urban dance, including African hip-life and Jamaican dancehall.

2007 Leeds BCTP Sugar Beat Skank Leaflet.pdf

Sugar Beat Skank

Sugar Beat Skank was a reggae-theatre performance presented by Regeyshun Dance and commissioned by the Leeds Bicentenary Transformation Project. It explored 'African antiquity and the spirit of abolition', and gave voice to narratives linking the histories and cultures of Africa and Yorkshire. Sugar Beat Skank was performed at outdoor and indoor events across Yorkshire, including Ilkley Literature Festival in 2007.

2007 BHM Southampton University.pdf

Spirit of Survival: Lives Beyond Slavery

A collaborative project to explore the links between Southampton and the slave trade led by Southampton City Council, the University of Southampton and The Confederation of African Caribbean Communities. One highlight of the programme was a concert at the Turner Sims Concert Hall at the University of Southampton to celebrate the impact of black music and black musicians. The concert, part of Black History Month 2007, featured the works of black composers such as Joseph Bologna and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, performed by the Southampton Youth Orchestra, Southampton Youth Choir and the Southampton Youth Jazz Orchestra.

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Songs of Slavery

The Songs of Slavery CD and booklet were produced by a community-based project, led by the Hull and East Riding branch of the Historical Association. The project was part of the Wilberforce 2007 initiative in Hull. Songs of Slavery recorded 19 songs relating to slavery, alongside six short narratives. Most of the songs date from the mid-19th century and were originally composed and sung by enslaved peoples. Some were based on religious beliefs, others also contained coded messages to aid escape and resistance. The Songs of Slavery tracks were sung or narrated by local choirs, singers and musicians, together with students from local schools and colleges.

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Sing Freedom

The Sing Freedom project was based on the Spirituals sung by African peoples as a response to being enslaved. The generally Christian songs often contained instructions about escape and resistance. The project was a collaboration between Kainé Management Group, Leicester African Caribbean Arts Forum, Leicester City Council Arts & Museum Service and Library Service. It included research into the songs, a touring exhibition, and performances. A series of song writing workshops for young people in partnership with BBC Radio Leicester aimed to give each participant an understanding of the effects of slavery and perceptions they have on present day freedom. At Leicester Guildhall Kainé Gospel Choir and friends came together for an evening celebrating the Spirituals, where songs such as The Gospel Train, Wade in the Water and Swing Low Sweet Chariot were sung.

2007 Routes to Freedom Thumb.jpg

Routes to Freedom

The 'Routes to Freedom' season of events took place throughout Autumn 2007 at The Drum, an intercultural arts venue in Birmingham. The programme explored the struggle for social justice and equality in relation to African, Asian and Caribbean communities, and marked two key historical events and their impact: the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act and the 60th anniversary of the partition of the Indian subcontinent. The programme was made up of theatre productions, touring exhibitions, film screenings, readings, dance performances and special events, including 'Coolies of the Caribbean' and a conference about Olaudah Equiano.

2007 Revealing Histories Manchester Museum Leaflet.pdf

Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery (The Manchester Museum)

The Manchester Museum was one of eight heritage bodies in the ‘Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery’ partnership in Greater Manchester. The project set out to explore the history, impact and legacy of slavery on Britain through collections and community links in the North West.

The Manchester Museum examined the role of Victorian institutions in promoting the racist thinking that justified slavery; objects and images in the museum's collections were identified as having been used to support racist ideas. Events and workshops included a debate based on the question 'Are museums racist?', plus sessions on African dance traditions. 'This Accursed Thing' was a promenade performance around the museum, examining the transatlantic slave trade through the eyes of those involved - abolitionists and traders, slavers and slaves - and looking at ways in which individuals attempted to dispel racist myths. The 'Myths about Race' exhibition was the culmination of Manchester Museum's participation in the Revealing Histories project.

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Remembering Slavery: A Musical Journey

Remembering Slavery: A Musical Journey was a performance at Luton's summer festival in July 2007. Young people told the story of slavery through music from Africa to the Caribbean to South America.

2007 Remembering Slavery Photo Outreach Freedom performance.jpg

Remembering Slavery Freedom Performance

Remembering Slavery 2007 involved museums, galleries and other cultural organisations across the North East of England in a programme of exhibitions, events, performances, lectures and activities to explore the themes of slavery and abolition, and identify connections with the region.

The Freedom Performance was a collaboration between Tyne and Wear Museums, Dance City (a dance school in Newcastle), professional artists, performers and community and youth groups from across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. The performance was inspired by music, dance, literature and objects relating to the slave trade and its legacy.

Crystal Clear Creators.pdf

Reflecting on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Crystal Clear Creators is a not-for-profit arts organisation based in the East Midlands. Reflecting on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade enabled a series of community creative writing workshops in Leicester exploring themes of the slave trade. The workshops involved talks from experts in the field, a tour of relevant places of interest, and research at the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Records Office. Those involved then wrote, produced, recorded and broadcast radio dramas on the subject, and held a day of performances for the public. The project was developed with Leicester's Arts forum LACAF and Mainstream Partnership. A follow-on project in 2009-10, Reflections: The Trans-Atlantic Slave-Trade, was a course for young people about the transatlantic slave trade, which included researching and writing about the subject. The project culminated in a day of performances and an exhibition at New Walk Museum.

2007 Mass Carib by Nitro.pdf

Mass Carib

Mass Carib is a choral performance piece written by Felix Cross. In 2007 it was performed outdoors at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich by Nitro Theatre Company, as a finale to the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival. To accompany the performance, the festival collaborated with the National Maritime Museum and Nitro on a programme of workshops in schools in Greenwich exploring the themes of the production. Mass Carib was written as a Requiem using the liturgical form of the Catholic Mass. It draws on music from West Africa, eighteenth-century Europe and various Caribbean islands. Mass Carib is sung in English, French, Patois, Latin and Yoruba.

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Liberation Lullabies

The North East Cultural Diversity Arts Forum (NECDAF) is an umbrella organisation for arts and cultural organisations promoting arts practitioners from ethnic minority communities in North East England. Liberation Lullabies was their event to commemorate the Abolition Act at the Tyneside Cinema in Gateshead. The show featured Congolese singer Robert Maseko and his band Congobeat, and the Sun Dance group performing traditional African dance,

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Heartbeat Riddim Chant

The dance-theatre production Heartbeat Riddim Chant was based on the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade. The production premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in July 2007, and mixed dance, live music and voice, including traditional Caribbean folk dancing blended with contemporary reggae. The show was choreographed by David Hamilton, and featured dancers from Regeyshun Dance and members of the community dance group Back Bone. There were also performances from youth dance groups and young voices from across Leeds, including LS7 Result, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Gee4orce and Leeds Young Authors.

freedom_festival_poster.pdf

Freedom Festival 2007

East Riding's Freedom Festival in 2007 commemorated the abolition of the slave trade and explored issues of modern day slavery through a multi-sensory performance featuring pupils from mainstream and special schools in the East Riding area. The play was in three parts - the transatlantic slave trade, emancipation and modern day slavery. Resources and activities from the project were then made available to schools interested in developing an inclusive arts project.

2007 Fife WEA slavery event.pdf

Did Slavery End in 1807?

An evening of presentations and music organised by Fife Workers' Educational Association, examining Fife and Scotland's role in the slave trade and abolition, and efforts to end contemporary slavery.

2007 Bristol COSTA Sul Art leaflet.pdf

COSTA

COSTA stood for 'Commemoration of Slave Trade Abolition' and was a project of Sul'Art, a community art organisation in Bristol. Sul'Art delivered a programme of music, drama, art and dance to a number of schools and community groups to explore meanings of the bicentenary, working around themes such as migration, identity, celebration of difference, critiques of consumerism and intergenerational dialogue. Sul'Art also presented a number of performances of the professional jazz show ‘King Cotton’, dramatising the story of the cotton industry in music, song and film.

2007 Routes to Freedom brochure.pdf

Connexions: History in the Making

20 young people from the Aston area of Birmingham worked on a commemorative project exploring the impact of the 1807 Act on the African, Caribbean and Asian communities in the UK and the contributions of these communities to British society since then. Their performance at The Drum showcased poetry, singing and dance.