Following the huge success of their previous visits, Drum Works is returning to Athens once again to deliver a creative music community project at the Greek National Opera.
The final Drum Works event will take place on Sunday 19 September 2021 at 19.00 at the Alternative Stage of Greek National Opera.
Admission is free via ticket reservation available at ticket services one day prior to the event. More information about covid-19 safety guidance can be found at Greek National Opera website.
Drum Works #HomeEdition
We have expanded our programme with Drum Works from East London and launched a series of weekly online #HomeEdition workshops for adults focusing on music composition and performance with percussion instruments. The percussion orchestra created by a Greek team of educators with members of Atrapos OKANA has been running weekly sessions since January aiming to create a new percussion piece in collaboration with Drum Works participants in London.
Following the postponement of their public event owing to Covid-19 and in the spirit of the times, the two teams prepared an online video together to share their work. Due to a lack of the musical equipment required, participants were encouraged to use improvised musical instruments (kitchen utensils and other everyday objects) as alternatives for the four main types of drum. Through the workshops, new rhythms emerged and were documented by each participant in their home. In parallel, the UK team also collected rhythmic material from its members. A shared library of rhythms was created using Ableton software to enable the collective composition of a final digital piece.
The result of the workshops can be seen in a collaborative video, which captures the outcome of the ongoing ‘conversation’ between the teams in Greece and the UK. This process has highlighted the need for co-creation, connection and solidarity, and brought people together in ways that we would never have conceived of even in the recent past. Watch the video and stay tuned for the new dates of the public event.
Co-produced with the Greek National Opera, in collaboration with Atrapos OKANA (organisation against drugs) and Shedia (street magazine).
For further information, visit the Greek National Opera website.
About Drum Works
Drum Works began in 2007, when the Barbican invited London-based musicians Ross McDouall and Jo Wills to collaborate with the Brazilian cultural group Afro Reggae on a short-term samba project in an east London secondary school. Once the project was over, Afro Reggae returned home and Ross and Jo were left with a pile of samba drums, a group of 20 teenagers and some time to figure out what to do next. It very quickly became apparent that samba music had no real cultural relevance to the young east Londoners or London-based leaders, so instead Ross and Jo asked the participants what they wanted to do and the group started creating new material together, inspired by the music they were all listening to every day.
For eight years the project flourished as part of the Creative Learning programme at the Barbican Centre and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, before launching as an independent organisation in 2016. Ross and Jo are proud to be a Barbican Artistic Associate and continue to work closely with both the Barbican and the Guildhall School.
Information
For further information, please contact Maria Papaioannou:
| Maria.Papaioannou@britishcouncil.gr | |
| Telephone | 210 369 2336 |