Studio-Live: Preparing the ground and first steps

Now that we've just come back from the Saharawi refugee camps after another wonderful trip, here we give you a summary of our Studio-Live music empowerment project so far:

September-October 2010 – The Studio-Live team, made up of Danielle Smith and Steve Stavrinides (Fairtunes), travelled to the camps for the first time to meet with the Ministry of Culture and establish a partnership with them for the project. This was the occasion when agreements were made to provide training for live concerts, as this was identified as a priority by the Minister, and also to assist in equipping of the studio that would be set up in the new Saharawi National Music School (ENAMUS) that was being built in the camps.

March 2011 – We came back with new member Nick Minton (Fairtunes) to do recordings of established and emerging Saharawi musicians, such as traditional music group Tahadi and new band Zeeza. We also did a short session with Tiris, who are developing incredible new material. London-based Algerian darbucka player Karim Dellali joined us to see how he could contribute his skills. In the second week of the trip, we were ecstatic about the arrival of the Sandblast-Fairtunes donated van full of sound equipment for live, which was stored in the Ministry of Culture to be used in the first training workshops.

Young band Zeeza being recorded with Studio-Live sound equipment