A NEW multi-cultural project bringing together people from different musical backgrounds has been launched.
Cross Currents aims to highlight Crawleys diversity - the town has more than 90 different languages - and will include amateur and professional musicians.
On Tuesday last week (January 17) six young adults from the Celtic and Irish Cultural Society, the Gurjar Hindu Union and the Crawley Folk Festival kicked off the project at The Hawth.
Adam Bushell, project director of Cross Currents, said: “I introduced the project and described what it was about before the musicians performed.
“They played music in duos from each of their cultural backgrounds before coming together to do a group performance.
“The music grew out of all of their styles by composer Robert Jarvis.
“Everybody got to play music in their own way but it was built in a way that incorporated all their sounds.”
John Nolan, chairman of Crawley Celtic and Irish Cultural Society, said: “We nominated two of our Irish musicians for it. They have gone from strength to strength and they have found it very rewarding mixing their culture with the other two organisations. We hope to follow it up with the workshops in which we hope to have more people on board. It’s just great being a part of it.”
The project is funded by Arts Council England, South East, and Crawley Borough Council and over a series of workshops the musicians will create a much larger piece of music.
It will grow out of a variety of people from different cultures taking part. Cross Currents is looking for more participants to join in the project which is free of charge.
Participants can play any instrument to any standard and do not need to be able to read music. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult.
The finished piece, which will be named by its creators during the composition process, will be performed at a concert at the Hawth Theatre on March 2.
For more information or to book a place contact Adam Bushell on 01273 779491 or Cross-Currents@f2s.com