musical routes
Each of the groups has worked to explore their own cultural heritage (dance, music, voice, storytelling, cooking and composition), and in doing so have gained a stronger understanding of their cultural backgrounds.
Working with professional artists, the groups have sought to recreate and capture elements of their cultural heritage and to
share this with the wider population across Swansea.
This is intended to promote an understanding with the wider community of the cultural traditions and heritage that these groups bring to modern day Swansea.
Download the exhibition booklet
All of the participants have benefitted from heritage training at Swansea Museum, and have gained a range of employability qualifications to help them integrate further into the local community.
The work of the groups is to be shared with the wider population at two events including celebration day at the National Waterfront Museum Swansea on 23rd May 2017, and an exhibition to run at Swansea Museum throughout July and August 2017.
Swansea City Opera are grateful for the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund towards this project.
CHINESE COMMUNITY CO-OP CENTRE
The Swansea Chinese Community Co-op Centre operates from a drop-in centre based on The Kingsway in Swansea City Centre providing core services and participating in the promotion of a diverse, multi-cultural society.
The group here have been investigating blue and white porcelain, a traditional decoration style appearing on porcelain and ceramics throughout Chinese history, and possesses a great cultural significance. The group have used this association to fuse together elegant costume design, current pop music and more traditional dance routines, that both echoes and explores their Chinese heritage.
As part of Musical Routes, they have also collaborated with a well-known dance teacher, Ms Zhao Zhang, using this opportunity to extend their skill base and challenge themselves to learn more complex routines and further encourage their enthusiasm and passion for dance.
As part of the experience, they also held a meeting where they exchanged stories and sentimental memories over objects and belongings that they have brought with them to Swansea. These were often items from their childhood, or handed down through family. Rituals such as drinking tea, objects such as opera programmes and favourite family food recipes, all illustrate and encourage a heritage that is still with them to this day. With the group also consisting of different family generations, where some of the young members have grown up in Wales, this experience has been a beautiful and uniting exploration of their heritage.
Unity in diversity
Natalie Paisey and Phil Williams have worked with this diverse group, whose members are often temporary and transient, to introduce a cultural exchange, engaging in a process of sharing singing dancing performance and conversation to help build relationships and understanding – often where language forms a barrier.
Members sing, dance, and perform – sometimes in spontaneous collaboration - and through taking part and being together in activities, they are able to learn about one another and their respective cultures – sharing art, music, dance and stories.
As part of the process, Natalie has worked passionately to build bonds with the participants, to find out about their lives, their family, their journey and their heritage as they in turn learn about Swansea, Wales and the culture they now find around them.
Unity in Diversity is a community drop-in for asylum seekers and refugees hosted by the United Reformed Church in Waunwen, Swansea. Here members from various backgrounds across the world meet and form a sense of community, togetherness, food and are able to have English classes as well as other training activities. Members of the group are from diverse parts of the globe, including Sudan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Turkey, Albania, Cameroon, amongst many others.
This short film was made by Natalie Paisey and Phil Williams, who spent several months working with the participants at Swansea’s community drop-in ‘Unity in Diversity’. This film was screened alongside their performance on the 23rd of May.
AFrican COmmunity Centre
African Community Centre were founded in 2003 and have since gone on to develop into an exciting, innovative and impactful service. Their motto is ‘Working together to break down barriers ‘hold daily English classes and Storytelling in conjunction with Adult Learning Wales. Many of their participants are also asylum seekers and refugees, and it’s evident in their contribution to the project that they embrace people from all cultures.
The African Community Centre has developed several strands in the Musical Routes project which explore heritage art, music, cooking and performance.
The men’s drumming group have met at the YMCA to explore the musical act of drumming within African culture, during the sessions they discussed the differences in drumming techniques and how certain rhythms and styles can hallmark certain occasions and also purposes, such as ceremony or celebration.
Clara at the Sisters Sanctuary singing group meet weekly to embrace togetherness and a sense of community through voice and melody, during this they often explore music from diverse cultures and origins. Singing collectively, and embracing different singing roles within the group to create beautiful music. As part of the Musical Routes project, Clara and the members of the group have shared personal music that links with their culture of origin and together they created a performance that fuses a sense of heritage encompassing all of their backgrounds.
The cooking group has brought together members from Pakistan, Iran, Uganda and Nigeria. Moona Yunia Derin and Amber met at City Church in Swansea to share cooking from their cultural backgrounds, the cooking and sharing incited conversation and stories about their heritage. Particularly for Derin whose connection to cooking and hosting forms a unique part of her tribes culture.
Every food shared has a story, or is indeed rooted in its origin, from roasted plantains, falafel, to bhaijis and jollof rice; every dish serves a very personal connection to heritage that is being shared and celebrated here in Wales.