We were very grateful to Anna who did our guest musician session yesterday. She demonstrated the Mbira and sang and played songs from Zimbabwe. It was a great experience to hear the instrument and Anna’s voice acoustically and promoted interesting discussion about the radically different approach to music in African cultures.

A little bit of live music at our Xmas session and a live DJ set from Simon. See Norwich Playlist for the 17th.

By Norwich Culture Quest member. ‘Sharp Scratch. See Playlist pages for more.

and one from the Bury Group.

One from the Norwich group.

And one from Bury.

See playlists for full listings.

One from the Norwich group.

And one from the Bury St Edmunds.

Members of the Norwich Culture Quest group went to two concerts this year which well represented the diversity of music played in the group. We were able to subsidise the tickets and 3 people went to see Deva Mahal at the Norwich Playhouse.  Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the performance and were able to meet Deva and the band after the gig. This song was one of the highlights of the set which included a lot of audience participation. Click on the Watch on You Tube below to see and hear.

The other concert was the Britten Sinfonia with Thomas Ades at The Theatre Royal. They played Beethoven’s 4th and 5th Symphonies and Gerald Barry’s Piano Concerto which is a very modern dissonant piece that was a lot of fun. Four people went from the group and one member described it as a wonderful experience, we were all entranced by the quality of the playing and the Orchestral sound.

Yesterday was our first regular group in Bury. Here are two tracks from the playlist, (for a full list see Bury Playlists). Thanks to all involved.

We are able to play vinyl now thanks to the generous donation of a new record deck from Norwich group member Simon.

We are pleased to say that thanks to funding from Norfolk County Council we will be able to run 40 sessions in 2018. We will be opening the group up to people supported by other support organisations such as Together, Mind, and St Martins Trust. Our first session of 2018 will be on 22nd January at Norwich Arts Centre. Enquiries to Dave Pullin Tel 07715710354.