Junior Journalist & Photojournalist Competition

We are part of an exciting competition to find three ‘Junior Journalists’ and three ‘Junior Photojournalists’ to cover the inaugural Kaya Festival at the Vaynol Estate, Bangor, Gwynedd, in June. The winners will receive a ‘press pass’ to gain work experience and collaborate with the Kaya Festival team.

The partnership is between NWN Media Ltd, the Kaya Festival, Welshot Photographic Academy and the DIGS Project will support and promote six talented young people and provide them with a fantastic experience to broaden their skills.

 

To enter the competition, the ‘Junior Journalists’ must submit 300–400 words on the theme of ‘Celebrating cultural diversity – World Music, World Food, World Love!’ to DIGS.Project@gmail.com by Sunday, 20 May.

‘Junior Photojournalists’ must capture an image reflecting the theme ‘World Music, World Food, World Love!’ and email it to DIGS.Project@gmail.com by Sunday, 20 May.

Please ensure you email your entry with your name, address, phone number and your age by the 20 May 2012. The age groups for the competition are 13–15, 16–18 and 19–21.

The 19–21-year-olds will win press passes to cover the Global DJ night on Friday, 1 June. The 16–18-year-olds will win press passes to cover the ‘Do Youth Day’ on Saturday, 2 June. And the 13–15-year-olds will win press passes to cover the Kayabbean afternoon and the Caribbean fancy-dress procession on Sunday, 3 June.

We will arrange for the winner to attend, with an adult, at an appropriate time to cover the festival. If you are aged under 18, you must be accompanied by an adult. A full brief will be given on the day and the festival team will work with the winners to assist in creating a polished and professional piece of work.

The competition rules are at
http://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/101525/competition-general-terms-conditions.aspx

The winners’ work will feature in our festival report. It will also feature in a DIGS Project publication and in Kaya Festival publications.

In addition to the competition, local young people have their own ‘Do Youth Day’ within the main festival, with a PA from MC star Tinchy Stryder, creative workshops and the British DJ&MC Academy encouraging local talent. Coleg Menai, Careers Wales and local training providers will offer apprenticeships, mentoring and training opportunities.

Kaya ‘Do Youth’ day tickets are £15.00 and can be brought via the festival website at http://www.kayafestival.co.uk or through local Kaya ticket agents.

Kaya is a global World Music festival set overlooking the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Kicking off the festival season, the inaugural Kaya Festival will be on Friday the 1st, Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd of June 2012.

Proudly playing host to big name acts such as Tinchy Stryder, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Tony Allen, Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club and more.

Win FREE Studio Time!

Our close friends at TAPE have little gift up their sleeve for you lucky ladies and gentleman.
OK may not be quite up their sleeves any more as I’ve just indiscreetly yelled it at you all through the medium of headline spoilers.

The TAPE Recording Studio functions as a service of the TAPE Community Arts Centre and focuses on providing a cost effective, professional service for local bands, artists, companies and individuals.

Just get in touch at info@tapemusicandfilm.co.uk for more information and a chance to WIN FREE STUDIO TIME!

“Need more input, Stephanie!”

Hola!

“Need more input, Stephanie!”

We want an idea of what you want in the area, what sort of music, what sort of calibre, what artists, what you want from your gigs other than music, how much you think is an acceptable and reasonable ticket price, things you think would be cool, where you think this should go down, what you had for breakfast, what colour your socks are and whether you think a bowler, or a top hat is funkier.

So over the next few days we’re going to be trying to put this in a short, sucinct little questionaire, with slightly more order. Is there anything you think we’re missing that should be on there? If so please let us know, we would be extremely grateful. Post on here, pop over to our Facebook page, drop us a tweet, and email, a telepathic signal, or a special letter with cut out newspaper.

Have your say and help us get things happening in the area, music is food for the soul and I’m always hungry 😉

As an incentive to get people to do our little survey we will be entering you into an random draw to win the music and merch that was donated in our last few gigs from the lovely bands and artists that played. If you have merch, or music you would like to donate and get out there please get in touch digs.project@gmail.com we will making as much of a splash as possible about the draw and the gig and will do our upmost to bring your name along for the ride. Perhaps not national coverage, but as the soul suckers say ‘Every little helps’.

Have you missed us? Have you missed us? Have you missed us? Have you missed us?

DIGS is in the process of organising an open mic night at he end of March. We want to try and get some feedback and ideas on how you think we should take DIGS further and what you want us to do in the community.

So, as incentive to give us your feedback we are going to use the music we have collected from artists playing in a draw for anyone who lends a voice. More details on that to follow, but for the meantime, if you would like to add your music to this pile and get it out there, heard, or just do a grand gesture (much appreciated), drop me a line on digs.project@gmail.com

MORE TO COME NEXT WEEK….dun dun dun…

Half Price Entry!

Oh you lucky people out there, we’re kinder to you than your own dear grannies.
Not only are we bringing the best music the UK has to offer right to your very doorstep (if you live in North Wales that is!) but we offer it to you at the measly price of £6, and we do it EVERY MONTH!

As a special Christmas present to you, our dear fans, to help you through these troubled times of failing economies and “tensions” throughout the world, we are being more generous than a bucket full of Father Christmas’ on Christmas Eve and offering a 50% discount on entry to Day of the Unconquered Sun!

Click on and print off the picture below and show it to the lovely Steph on the door on Saturday the 17th at St Paul’s Hall, Colwyn Bay and you can gain entry for HALF PRICE! That’s £3 to see Nia, Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou AND The Indelicates (each of which you’d usually pay double figures for)!

Alternatively click HERE to download the PDF version.

Make sure you print this off and hand it over on the door otherwise you’ll be paying the full whack (even if it is only £6).

The Delighted Catbus

And so we come to the third installment of the great DIGS project, the wonderfully warming Autumnal Delights. With giant cakes and cups of tea supplied, as usual, by the thoroughly excellent Caffi CAIS, the scene was set for an evening of acoustic enchantment.

Starting us off (after an introduction by your compère extraordinaire, yours truly) was Sophie Ballamy.  Originally from Llangollen but now at Chester Uni, the most striking feature of Ballamy is her voice, crystal clear and with the control of a circuit veteran.
A solo performance with her playing guitar, she played songs more diverse than your standard singer songwriter fare, drawing in elements of 60’s pop, folk and a hint of twee pop that never descended into being saccharine (and I spotted a few cheeky jazz chords in there too for good measure). A strong collection of tracks drawing on a seemingly broad back catalogue – she introduced one song as being over 3 years old – there was a wide range of material played, from simple, bouncy & catchy songs to more complex, contemplative pieces, yet she retained a stylistic individuality throughout.  She was interactive with the crowd, from describing what songs are about to asking for any Spice Girls fans in the house… then breaking into an unexpected but highly entertaining cover of Wannabe a la Jack Johnson.
An engaging performance from a hugely watchable performer, Ballamy is very much one to watch.  Her excellent new EP “My Friend, The Moon” is out now and features a selection of the tracks played on the night.

Our second act of the night was Sam Airey, another North Welsh act, this time hailing from Anglesey via his current base in Leeds.  Again, performing solo on acoustic guitar, Airey played a more introspective set than Ballamy, slowly unfolding pieces with plenty of space inhabited by an, at times, mournful air.  Tales of heartache and regret dominated the first part of the set but as it progressed a little sunlight was let in by some more up tempo tracks as it progressed to an emphatic finale.  I found there to be a touch of John Martyn to Airey’s style, a patience and restraint in both the playing and the singing, with voice comparable to Martyn’s in its ability to command a room’s attention.
Another performer with a breadth of available tracks, Airey has a selection of singles and EPs available on iTunes, which well warrant further investigation (I personally recommend single Blackout, of which it and it’s b-side were played on the night to considerable applause).

The headline act for the night was The Common Tongues, a (usually) 5-piece from Brighton. As the drummer was, for some unexplained reason, in Norway, they were down to being a 4 for the night.  Now these chaps are the real deal – multi-instrumentalists, four-part harmonies, unusual arrangements (each song stops dead about 4 bars before you expect, it’s a neat trick that caught me off guard every time), hummable hooklines and one of them even broke out the harmonium for a couple of tracks and it didn’t sound incongruous or gimmicky.  Now that is talent.

They are starting to snowball in popularity off the back of several successful Youtube clips and free-gift mp3s for mailing members and such, though of course it wouldn’t happen if the material wasn’t up to scratch but that is of no concern here.  With deft playing and a range of instrumentation, most tracks are based around dual guitars, but glockenspiel, violin, bass, keyboard and of course harmonium weave in and out of the mix seamlessly.  They inhabit similar territory to Danny & The Champions of the World (whose some-time members and wonderful outfit in their own right Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou are starring for us on Saturday 17th December) and are within touching distance of making the breakthrough to bigger audiences.

Common Tongues were very interactive with the crowd, just as the preceding two acts.  It really helped through the night to generate the intimate, in-on-a-secret feeling the DIGS events have fostered so far.  But we need more people to be in on it!  These nights are too good to miss, so make sure you get down to the next one…

We have, as previously mentioned, got Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou next time, fresh from releasing their second album, a thoroughly modern folk duo with deep roots in the music’s heritage, they are a major force in the UK folk scene, having played tours of both village halls and festivals.
We have Nia, previously Sunrise Sunset, a local girl from Llandudno who is currently living in London and getting a serious reputation on the circuit, but we’ve convinced her to come back for what promises to be a very special night.
Lastly, but by no means leastly, we have the supreme Indelicates, who are a huge, huge favourite of team DIGS.  Having just completed a headlining tour of the United States in support of majestically ambitious and flawlessly executed David Koresh Superstar (which is, of course, a rock opera about the Branch Davidians cult in Texas in the early 90s and is, of course, probably the best rock opera this side of Tommy), we have convinced them to stop making fudge (no, really, they make excellent fudge) and come and bewitch us with their unique brand of socio-analytical cabaret-rock’n’roll-country-indie-folk (well, what else?).

Saturday 17th December – Day of the Unconquered Sun.  Don’t miss it!

– Jack “Catbus” Francis

 

Day of the Unconquered Sun

We are breaking from our usual pattern of last Saturday of the month gigs for Day of the Unconquered Sun, you know with all that Christmas malarky going on. Our next gig will be Saturday the 17th of December with 3 off the scale of talented sets of artists. Doors opening at 7:30 and our first set starting at 8pm. With Nia (formely Sunrise Sunset) Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou and The Indelicates on the bill where else are you going to be? Pop over to the event page to see why collectively these guys have such a fantastic and famous fan base which include Jack Black, Neil Gaimon and Stephen Fry – Day of the Unconquered Sun

If you fancy an extra read there’s an interview with Headliners, The Indelicates talking about their latest Album, David Koresh Superstar, here – An Indelicate Look at David Koresh: An Interview with The Indelicates

Monster Mosh Review

Monster Mosh was an epic night and two weeks later I still haven’t quite got over its awesomness, but don’t listen to my rantings. Listen to the much more coherent ramblings of Catshoe Gazing’s Mike Hughes at the excellent independent webzine God’s in the TV

Monster Mosh – The Dogbones

Dogbones, a set by Mike Hughes aka Catshoe on Flickr.

The third and final act for the Halloween weekned were the truly fantastic Dogbones who were a force to be reckoned with!

Monster Mosh – FOE

FOE Colwyn Bay 28 Oct 2011, a set by Mike Hughes aka Catshoe on Flickr.

Second act on were the rising stars FOE, who resplendent in Halloween make up rocked our socks off