All photos by Alan Taylor of Planet Vision

SPECTRUMS OF SOUND 2008!! On 14th Dec 08, Planet Sound staged the 5th "Spectrums of Sound" event at the Victoria Hall, Hanley. Now an established annual event at the Victoria Hall, the 2008 show was organised in partnership with events management team NexLevel. The event started in the afternoon, With visting international artists conducting public workshops in the a full programme of public workshops in the venue, while the community groups and other acts soundchecked and prepared on the main stage. Workshops were conducted by Jahman Sillah, Seby Ntege, Bosco De Oliveira and capoeira art brasil. Click here for photographs from the event! The doors opened at 6.30pm, and the year 7 beginners group from Madula performed in the reception area of the Victoria Hall to entertain the public as they arrived. The main show started at 7pm and first on were Samba Cultura. Fresh from leading the parade for the switching on of the Xmas lights in the City, the group paraded through the hall onto the stage to perform the 08 carnival theme "Oatcake samba", and a traditional Brazillian song. The group were joined by Bosco De Oliveira who led the performance, and Laurie who played Cavaquino for the evening. After introductions and audience participation by Comperé Nigel Booth, the group MADULA joined forces with Kasanti onstage performing 3 pieces of music. The first piece was a djembe based "Tomas Tribute" composed for the Kasanti group as part of a tribute to Tomas Camara. The group were then joined by Jordan Drakeford who performed dance alongside the whole stage of drummers. Finally Madula performed a special arrangement of the piece "Obeah" to feature guitars, brass and keyboards as well as djembes, congas and a balafon section. The mood then changed to Rock Music as the group "Jayne's Day" took to the stage to play an energetic set with guitars, bass and drums! Shortly after the audience were treated to a special drumkit solo by talented Jake Brown, an already nationally recognised kit player at the age of 13! The set was finished by the Flamin' Nails - another exceptional young group based in the Stoke area. All the groups played their own compositions and are performing regularly, and looking towards and Easter 09 Planet Sound bands event. The first half finale featured our newest project "Rhythms 4 Life" - a group of young people in the area dedicated to performance based around junk percussion, dance and elements of theatre and humour! The scene featured an ushering offstage of the comperé and an "angry boss" setting cleaners to work onstage. Once the audience got the joke and the rhythms and dance started, the auditorim came alive to the performance! Rhythms for life is due to continue in Easter 09. In the interval, "Global Grooves" from Stone Youth Centre performed in the foyer, led by Adrian Waters. The group played several pieces of West African percussion and raised £167 towards an exchange programme with the Gambia. After the interval, our special guests Capeoira Art Brasil performed on the main stage, starting with some traditional samba songs, and then gave a display of Capeoira led by Prof. Leandro De Oliveira, featuring movement and music on the traditional Brazillian instrument - the Berimbau. The video "Thank You Tomas - A planet Sound tribute" was then screened for the first time. Tomas was the original drum tutor and mentor to Planet Sound Community Arts in 1998, and sadly passed away in October 2008. We decided to dedicate The Spectrums of Sound 08 event to his memory, and put the short film together to let people know of his importance to both Planet Sound, and West African drumming across the whole of the North Staffs area. You can see the video by clicking here. The Planet Sound drumschool were accompanied by Seby Ntege and Jahman Sillah with Mr.Will and Karl Jah to play an original piece of music made up of rhythms from the intermediate participants of the drumschool and lyrics from Seby Ntege. The audience were encouraged to dance, sing and join in with the performance to create a party atmosphere! Participants then came onstage where Ade Waters led a traditional West African drumming piece based around "fe". For the finalé, the Planet Sound group joined together to play a special composition in memory of Tomas Camara, called "Hands Together" sang by Scott Ralph, and joined by Dave Pickstock on guitar. Dave came to Planet Sound as part of work experience in 2007, and has gone on to study music to a high level. The group ended with the song "Monday" - fusion of the music from brazil & africa together with the sound and talent from stoke to create a sound that is unique to the area. Planet Sound would like to thank everyone involved in the creation and production of Spectrums of Sound 2008. These events are a credit to the commitment and energy of the artists, organisers and most importantly all the members of the community who perform and take part every week and raise their level to give a great show. This year there were 196 performers from all across the North Staffs who came together to perform at Spectrums of Sound! Thank you all! If you have any comments about the show that you'd like to send to us, please click here to email us! Spectrums of Sound 2008 links! Gallery 1 / Gallery 2 / Gallery 3 / Gallery 4 / Gallery 5 Thank You Tomas - the video / Hands Together - Tomas Tribute Planet Sound Drumschool Website! / Planet Sound recordings & video on mypsace! / Kasanti website! / Seby Ntege website! / Jahman Sillah online! / capoeira-art-brasil.co.uk! / Jayne's Day online! / Jake Brown online!