The Leeds Summat Gathering will – thanks to Planet Leeds (with whom we’re partnering) and a great volunteer team - feature a range of music and performance throughout the day and at the ‘Summat Enchanted Evening’ event from 5pm.
Daytime listings (in the Lounge, Level -1) are:
11am: Sue Smith with songs about togetherness, change, and the power of music to make a difference.
11.30am: poetry with young local writers Nathaniel (part of Leeds Young Authors) and Memory Mandeyo.
11.40am: an acoustic set from Isolde Freeth-Hale.
12pm: Grey Catz – original Irish acoustic music with a Gothic edge.
12.20pm: local poetry with a radical twist, including: David Thom (co-organiser of this year’s Leeds Independent Poetry Festival); Dave Barlow, on a mission to spread non-violent, lawful rebellion with the battle-cry, ‘Get off your knees, humanity!’; Sai Murai from Leeds Young Authors; and Ian Harker (chair of Leeds Writers Circle).
12.40pm: Bolivian and Peruvian songs from Mestisa.
1pm: Radical People, Radical Songs, featuring: Free Range Choir (freerangechoir.org.uk)… Aya Danto (a world-acclaimed, master desert blues guitarist – a magical form of blues which influenced and was influenced by the delta blues of the USA; Aya is a refugee from the Tuareg people of North Africa, oppressed by a succession of governments including Libya’s new rulers)… and global protest songs from Bradford based Iranian anarchist Javaad Alipoor. (Aya Danto will also be performing at Summat Enchanted Evening, from 6pm.)
2pm: Radical People, Radical Songs 2, featuring: Joe Solo, with songs of protest ranging from Woody Guthrie’s dustbowl songs to original pieces from his Scarborough shed; Joe believes in community singing, so come ready to join in… and Boff + Phil from top-selling Chumbawamba, protest singer-songwriters par excellence.
3.30pm: ‘Leeds on Trial’: freshly written and prepared for the Leeds Summat Gathering, a new piece of drama re-telling Leeds history – drawing on both formal documents from Leeds’ history, and also personal accounts from diverse Leeds people through the ages.
4.30pm (in the Terrace Bar, Level 1): hip-hop clinic, in partnership with ‘First Floor’ from the West Yorkshire Playhouse.