LATEST NEWS ETRURIA CANAL FESTIVAL 30th and 31st May 2009 On the 30th and 31st of May, Etruria Museum celebrated its 2009 Etruria Canals Festival. The event hosted a variety of traditional crafts, vintage cars and steam engines but, the main attraction being the only working mill ‘in steam’ in Europe which attracts thousands every year. Planet Sound worked with NexLevel to deliver workshops and perform on stage as part of the event, on behalf of Glenn Airey from Etruria Industrial Museum. The African drumming workshop started at 2pm and was led by Planet Sound artists Adrian Waters and Mechele Carpenter directing the participants. Using a variety of Djembes and Duns, members of the public were encouraged to take part alongside established drumschool players, many of whom had never played djembe before. The Drumschool were then introduced to the "Urban Arena" stage, to perform pieces from their repetoire for the audiences at the event. The second performance was led by drumschool star Leondro De Oliveira who played a solo to take the performance to a grand finalé. Audience and participant for the day, Ibrahim Yymall said “The workshops were brilliant, I could hear the drums playing from the other side of the park - I love the African flavour, I loved the people playing the music” The drumschool meets every Sunday at Burslem School of Art from 4pm to 5.30pm and everyone is welcome regardless of age or ability and experience. For more information click here to email us Drumschool links! Planet Sound Drumschool Website! / Planet Sound recordings & video on mypsace!

All photos by Sarah Nadin 2009

SAMBA CULTURA PARADE BURSLEM ARTS FESTIVAL 2nd MAY 2009 On Saturday 2nd May, Samba Cultura took to the streets to parade through Burslem as part of the Burslem Arts Festival. The event is an annual festival emphasising on the theme about Art. Working to the theme of the day "creating a street party atmosphere and letting local artists express their work", the first parade started from Swan Square at midday and went through Queen Street which was led by Mika De Oliveira, where an original Samba “Reggae” piece was played. The second parade returned from Queen Street back to Swan Street but playing a Samba “Funk” melody with dancers from the Samba Cultura group joining. The Samba group ended the event in Swan Square to jam with the complete band of 20 people playing Surdos, Tambourimes and Caixia’s. As the Samba Jam was being played it was combined with Capoeria in the centre of Swan Street, with the audience watching and being invited to take part. The music and dance party continued long after the Festival had finished, with Samba Cultura continuing to play in Swan Street corner, attracting even more members of the public to watch and join in. Festival co-organiser, Chris Rowlinson said “Fantastic day out, enjoyed the parade. I came back and saw them still playing and dancing” 'Samba Cultura' currently rehearses every other Saturday at Burslem School of Art, Stoke-on-Trent. We hold guest workshops with top Sambistas throughout the year. Dance - led by Clare, learn basics of energetic and exciting dance forms of Samba and brazilian dance! Music - led by Mika and Helen, join the 'bateria' and learn Samba percussion styles including Samba Reggae and Funk. All classes are free! To get involved, or for more information email mika@samba-cultura.co.uk Samba Cultura links! Event photos from Sarah Nadin! / Samba Cultura on Facebook! / Planet Sound recordings & video on mypsace! capoeira-art-brasil.co.uk!

All photos by Alan Taylor of Planet Vision

PLANET SOUND DRUMSCHOOL, KASANTI AND NEXLEVEL KIER CHARITY EVENT, HOSTED BY NIGEL BOOTH PORT VALE FC, 25th APRIL 2009 On Saturday 25th April Planet Sound Drumschool joined forces with Kasanti and members of NexLevel to perform at Port Vale FC as part of the entertainment for the season finale against Wycombe. The event was organised by Nigel Booth, from Nigel Booth Associates with a special half time event to raise money towards a benevolent fund for a colleague from the Kier Stoke Group. The Planet Sound Drumschool started drumming before kick-off on the side of the pitch alongside the stalls, led by Mechelle Carpenter, who orchestrated a group of 35 participants to perform an original drum piece created specially for the event, featuring elements of both Samba drumming and African percussion . Fans joined in the party atmosphere and took part in the pre game entertainment sessions shouting and clapping along to the rhythms of the drums, and fans were invited down to have a go on the percussion instruments. During the half time interval, Planet Sound took part in the Charity penalty shoot out playing loudly and encouraging cheers for every goal. Again the crowd were invited to join in and clap, sing or play along to create that carnival atmosphere. Planet Sound would like to thank all those who took part and showed their support for such a great cause. Martin Weaver, entertainments manager of Port Vale said “We received positive feedback from the fans, and it created a heightened atmosphere for the rest of the game” with long time Port Vale Fan Lorna Hancock adding “The event went really well, the crowd loved the show. The young people joined in with the fun. It added that extra bit of excitement to the day” Drumschool links! Event photos from Alan Taylor! Planet Sound Drumschool Website! / Planet Sound recordings & video on mypsace! / Kasanti website! / Port Vale FC / Kier, Stoke! / Nigel Booth