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Projects in the Saharawi Refugee Camps

6/27/2016

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THIS SATURDAY July 2nd we have so many exciting activities prepared for our Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival (Hundred Years Gallery, E2 8JD, 4-9.30pm).

Among them we'll present two exciting projects in the Saharawi refugee camps:
  1. We will be launching Run the Sahara 2017, known internationally as the SaharaMarathon, which takes place annually in February. Through this fundraising and awareness raising event, UK participants raise funds for Sandblast’s music and youth projects in the refugee camps. The Run the Sahara 2017 launch will feature testimonials from former participants.
  2. A presentation of the exciting Stave House in the Sahara pilot project will be made by ethnomusicologist and music teacher Violeta Ruano. She leads the project together with three Saharawi teaching trainees to implement music education in English in the Saharawi primary schools in the refugee camps. She is working in close collaboration with Ruth Travers, the creator of the Stave House music-learning system based on characterisation & storytelling. 

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Music & Poetry for/by the Saharawis

6/27/2016

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THIS SATURDAY July 2nd we have so many exciting activities prepared for our Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival (Hundred Years Gallery, E2 8JD, 4-9.30pm).

To chill out at the end, the evening will conclude with a collaborative performance of two artists who have both been to the Saharawi refugee camps. Poet Sam Berkson will recite original poems and translated Saharawi poems from his poetry book “Settled Wanderers” accompanied by darbouka player Karim Delalli playing irresistible Algerian beats. Here is a teaser from their previous collaboration at Sandblast Benefit Concert last February 6 at the Bolivar Hall in London.



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Film premiere: The Desert of the Desert

6/23/2016

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THE DESERT OF THE DESERT ('84), by Samir Abujamra, premieres in England
at the 
Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival
Sat 2 July, 6.15pm

@ Hundred Years Gallery

Don't miss out!
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Film Premiere: Battalion to my Beat, Eimi Imanishi

6/16/2016

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Beautiful new short film on Western Sahara, Battalion to my Beat ('14), will premier in London next July 2 at the Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival. A coming of age story about a spirited Saharawi girl facing a crossroads between becoming a soldier or forever staying a refugee.

Listen to director Eimi Imanishi talking about her film during the Tenth Annual Dallas International Film Festival last April 2016.

Summary: 
​
BATTALION TO MY BEAT is an independent short film set in the isolated Western Saharan refugee camps in southeast Algeria. The cast of Battalion To My Beat will be entirely made up of Saharawi refugees and will be shot in the camps following a fictional script.  The story reflects the frustration that the contemporary Saharawi youth are feeling toward the complete failure of diplomacy, and their mounting determination that war is the only way to enact change. 

The story is told from the perspective of a fearless 13-year-old girl (MINA) because teenagers are reactionary in nature and directly reflect the societies in which they are raised. They are also, for better or for worse, needier of an immediate solution to their problems. Through Mina's eyes and her sharp-witted attitude, the audience will see the camps, feel its constrictions and its destitution, and run up against the difficult choice she faces between war or life as a permanent refugee.

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Programme: Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival

6/16/2016

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Programme

4pm - Welcome
4.15pm - English premiere "Battalion to my Beat" (Eimi Imanishi, 14')
4.30pm - Run the Sahara 2017 launch
5pm - Stave House in the Sahara presentation
6pm - BREAK
6.15pm - English premiere "The Desert of the Desert" (Samir Abujambra, 84')
8pm - Run the Sahara 2017 testimonies
8.30pm - Music and poetry by Sam Berkson and Karim Dellali
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40 years since the death of Polisario founder

6/9/2016

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TODAY it is 40 years since the death of El Uali Mustapha Sayed, the founder of the Polisario Front and its Secretary General just before the recently deceased Mohamed Abdelaziz.

At Sandblast we'd like to commemorate El Uali's life, deeds and death in the battlefield by sharing the article 'Shaheed El Uali Band and Beyond: 40 Years of Resistance Music in Western Sahara', written by our Project Leader Violeta Ruano​ about Shaheed El Uali, the first Saharawi national band, which was created in the Saharawi refugee camps and named after him shortly after his death! 
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Press release: Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival, Jul 2nd, LONDON

6/6/2016

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, 6 June 2016

Mid-summer Western Sahara Festival: Film premiers, music, poetry and talks highlight long-term Saharawi refugee plight in SW Algeria.

 London, 2 July 2016, 4-10pm
 
A Sandblast production in collaboration with Stave House & Hundred Years Gallery
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​On July 2nd, London-based arts and human rights charity Sandblast will join forces with acclaimed UK music academy StaveHouse for a multi-arts mid-summer Western Sahara Festival. The event will highlight the on-going 40-year-long plight of the Saharawi refugees in the Algeria Sahara and present recent efforts to bring early music-learning to the area. The charity will also launch Run the Sahara 2017, known internationally as the Saharamarathon, which takes place annually in February. UK participants raise funds for Sandblast’s music and youth projects in the refugee camps. The majority of the Saharawis became displaced in harsh desert camps, in SW Algeria, after Morocco forcefully annexed their homeland of Western Sahara in 1975. The territory, a former Spanish colony, is officially recognized by the UN as Africa’s last colony.

​Eye-opening film premiers, photography, music and poetry will offer something for every taste in Hoxton’s hipster Hundred Years Gallery. A presentation of the Stave House in the Sahara pilot project will be made by ethnomusicologist Dr. Violeta Ruano. She leads the project to implement music education in English in the Saharawi primary schools in the refugee camps and is working in close collaboration with Ruth Travers, the creator of the Stave House music-learning system based on storytelling. The Run the Sahara 2017 launch will feature testimonials from former participants. Potential candidates will be able to register on the day to either run or walk 5, 10, 21 or 42km and spend a week hosted by a local family in the refugee camps, experiencing the legendary hospitality and stories of the Saharawi people.
Unforgettable mentally and physically. I would recommend this journey to anyone as it changes your point of view. Tomasz Laczny, 2015 runner
The English premiers of “Battalion to my Beat” by Eimi Imanashi, and “The Desert of the Deserts” by Samir Abujambra’s will provide potent contexts to understand the Saharawi struggle. The former, a short fictional film tells the story of a young Saharawi girl who wants to become a revolutionary soldier and the latter is a fascinating, original account of Saharawi culture and the history of the conflict in Western Sahara. The evening will conclude with a collaborative performance of two artists who have both been to the Saharawi refugee camps. Poet Sam Berkson will recite original poems and translated Saharawi poems from his poetry book “Settled Wanderers” accompanied by darbouka player Karim Delalli playing irresistible Algerian beats.

For info & tickets, please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mid-summer-western-sahara-festival-tickets-25595518886
Hundred Years Gallery, E2 8JD, London. Contact: 02036027973

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