Family workshop: 11:00 – 13:00
(no experience necessary, all under 16’s to be accompanied by an adult)

Musicians workshop: 14:00 – 16:00
(they should bring their own instrument, any level of skill, recommended 14 years+, all under 16’s to be accompanied by an adult)

In association with Hackney Museum’s autumn exhibition Black British Music in Hackney, Grand Union Orchestra and Shoreditch Town Hall present a programme of workshops and performances to complement this. Ricardo Axé will be leading two workshops throughout the day, with a morning session for families and an afternoon session for musicians.

Ricardo Axé is a specialist in candomblé and maracatú, the
chant/dance/percussion tradition of North East Brazil, which derives from the Yoruba culture of West Africa carried across the Atlantic with the slave trade. Ricardo is a charismatic performer and highly experienced teacher who has
been working and performing with music and dance for over 20 years.

Grand Union Orchestra will be bringing together different generations of Hackney musicians, and commemorating 500 years of black music, from its origins in Africa, its transportation to Brazil and Cuba, the Caribbean and Southern USA, right up to the arrival of the Empire Windrush and post-war migrants.

This programme culminates in a spectacular finale at Shoreditch Town Hall on 9 December. Full programme to be announced soon.