GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL. Glastonbury Festival is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and a template for all the festivals that have come after it. The difference is that Glastonbury has all the best aspects of being at a Festival in one astonishing bundle. It's like going to another country, a hip and thrilling Brigadoon that appears every year or so. Coming to Glastonbury involves a fair amount of travel, and probably a queue to get in but, when you get past these impediments, you enter a huge tented city, a mini-state under canvas. British law still applies, but the rules of society are a bit different, a little bit freer. Everyone is here to have a wild time in their own way. The Festival site has distinct socio-geographic regions. The more commercial aspects are around the Pyramid, Other and Dance stages, which feels as if the West End of London a Saturday night has been removed to a field and thoroughly beautified. Unlike the West End, visitors are on every guest list, from the night time cinemas to the biggest gigs. But that busy whirl of excitement is not to everyone's taste. To accomodate the more laid-back reveller, more chilled out areas like the Jazzworld and Acoustic areas are in easy walking distance. If that's still not the relaxed state a Glasto-goer is after, there's also family oriented areas like the Kidz Field, the Theatre and Circus fields. And if you're into the more
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Transcript
GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL.
Glastonbury Festival is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and a template for all the festivals that have come after it. The difference is that Glastonbury has all the best aspects of being at a Festival in one astonishing bundle.
It's like going to another country, a hip and thrilling Brigadoon that appears every year or so. Coming to Glastonbury involves a fair amount of travel, and probably a queue to get in but, when you get past these impediments, you enter a huge tented city, a mini-state under canvas. British law still applies, but the rules of society are a bit different, a little bit freer. Everyone is here to have a wild time in their own way.
The Festival site has distinct socio-geographic regions. The more commercial aspects are around the Pyramid, Other and Dance stages, which feels as if the West End of London a Saturday night has been removed to a field and thoroughly beautified. Unlike the West End, visitors are on every guest list, from the night time cinemas to the biggest gigs.
But that busy whirl of excitement is not to everyone's taste. To accomodate the more laid-back reveller, more chilled out areas like the Jazzworld and Acoustic areas are in easy walking distance. If that's still not the relaxed state a Glasto-goer is after, there's also family oriented areas like the Kidz Field, the Theatre and Circus fields. And if
you're into the more alternative, less noisy aspects of festival life, you can always head up to the Field of Avalon, the Tipi Field, and the Green Fields. At the top of the site is the Sacred Space - the stone circle is a modern construction, but it has already seen as much celebration and ceremony as some of its forebears. Sun-up on a Sunday morning, with drums and torches and chanting and an astonishing measure of joy from the sleepless revellers at the Stone Circle is a glorious sight to behold.
The Festival takes place in a beautiful location - 900 acres in the Vale of Avalon, an area steeped in symbolism, mythology and religious traditions dating back many hundreds of years. It's where King Arthur may be buried, where Joseph of Arimathea is
said to have walked, where leylines converge. And the site is ENORMOUS - more than a mile and a half across, with a perimeter of about eight and a half miles.
Then there are the people, thousands of them in all their astonishing and splendid diversity! There is only one common characteristic of a Glastonbury-goer - they understand that Glastonbury Festival offers them more opportunity than any other happening to have the best weekend of the year or even of a life-time, and they are determined to have it! You'll meet all kinds of people, of all ages, backgrounds, nationalities, lifestyles, faiths, concepts of fashion (or lack of it) and musical taste. Some will undoubtedly wear silly hats, or buy shirts that they'll never wear again... until next year, that is. The overall vibe of the Festival is consistently mellow and friendly, even in the event of rain and all that comes with rain, a field and thousands upon thousands of tramping feet.
There will be moments when you ask yourself the inevitable: "Why can't life always be like this?" There will be enlightenments, awakenings, surreal happenings, Damascene epiphanies and people doing the strangest things in public. Sometimes the strangest things you'll see happening have been booked well in advance - but often it will be people spontaneously reacting to the spirit of the Festival. No two people's Festival experience will be the same unless they're tied together, in which case they're probably part of a theatre company.
It's best not to come to Glastonbury with a head full of preconceptions and a notebook full of plans of what you want to see. If there are one or two particular bands a day you really want to see, then let your day revolve around them and go with the flow. Hurrying between stages so you can tick off a list of things you feel you must see is not the best way to enjoy Glastonbury. If you can't get a good vantage point, or aren't enjoying a show, move on; there'll be something else in the next field that might just change your way of seeing the world! Often, your best memories of the Festival will be of new things that have startled you with their brilliance.
Have a good look at the Line-up and Areas pages on this site and at the Festival programme when you are on site, or ask at Information points. There are a plethora of wonders to be seen, heard or just caught from the corner of your eye. Glastonbury runs like a huge clock - it is the Big Ben of Festivals after all - and it is best not to stay staring at just one of the huge cogs, however many famous spokes it has. Travel round it clockwise and investigate all the workings of the Festival. All
those other stages and attractions wouldn't be there if they weren't worth taking in - and they are all capable of surprising a visitor.
One last instruction: whilst at Glastonbury Festival forget all instructions (as long as doing so involves hurting no one) and ENJOY!
Held each August Bank Holiday since 1966, the Notting Hill Carnival is the largest festival celebration of its kind in Europe. Every year the streets of West London come alive, with the sounds and smells of Europe’s biggest street festival. Twenty miles of vibrant colourful costumes surround over 40 static sound systems, hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, over 40,000 volunteers and over 1 million Notting Hill carnival revellers.
Starting its life as a local festival set up by the West Indian community of the Notting Hill area, it has now become a full-blooded Caribbean carnival, attracting millions of visitors from all over the globe. With many astonishing floats and the sounds of the traditional steel drum bands, scores of massive sound systems plus not forgetting the hundreds of stalls that line the streets of Notting Hill. The Notting Hill Carnival is arguably London’s most exciting annual event.
The Notting Hill Carnival usually gets under way on the Saturday with the steel band competition. Sunday is Kids’ Day, when the costume prizes are awarded. On Bank Holiday Monday, the main parade takes place. It generally begins on Great Western Road, then winds its way along Chepstow Road, on to Westbourne Grove, and then Ladbroke Grove. In the evening, the floats leave the streets in procession, and people carry continue partying at the many Notting Hill Carnival after parties.
The Notting Hill Carnival dates for 2010 are August 29th and 30th.
If you are looking to have a stall at the Notting Hill Carnival, you will need to apply for a trading licence. Find out more on our links page
The Notting Hill Carnival is the largest street festival in Europe and originated in 1964 as a way for Afro-Caribbean communities to celebrate their own cultures and traditions. Taking place every August Bank Holiday weekend in the streets of
London W11, the Notting Hill Carnival is an amazing array of sounds, colourful sights and social solidarity
At the roots of the Notting Hill Carnival are the Caribbean carnivals of the early 19th century – a particularly strong tradition in Trinidad – which were all about celebrating the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. The very first carnival was an attempt to showcase the steel band musicians who played in the Earls Court of London every Weekend. When the bands paraded through the streets of Notting Hill, they drew black residents out on to the streets, reminding them of the Caribbean homes they had left behind.
In the days of abolition, there was a strong element of parody in the songs and dances Trinidadians performed. Having been forbidden to hold festivals of their own during the period of slavery, they now took full advantage of the relative new freedoms the ending of slavery brought them. Dressing up in costumes that mimicked the European fashions of their former masters, even whitening their faces with flour or wearing white masks, they established a tradition that continues in the costume-making of today’s Notting Hill Carnival. The proper name for this aspect of the Carnival is Mas (derived from Masquerade)
Music is at the heart of Notting Hill Carnival, with traditional and contemporary sounds filling the air for miles around. Historically steel bands, Soca & Calypso Music have been at the heart of Carnival but in recent years these have been overtaken by the static sound systems playing anything from Reggae to R&B, Funk, House, Dub and much more. Live stages also feature local bands, top international artists and sounds from around the world – Eddie Grant, Jamiroquai, Wyclef Jean, Courtney Pine and Burning Spear have been among the eclectic line up in previous years.
Calypso
The Origin of calypso can be traced back to the arrival of the first enslaved Africans brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the enslaved Africans began to sing. They used calypso, which can be traced back to West African Kaiso, as a means of communication and to mock the slave masters. These songs, usually led by one individual called a Griot, helped to unite the slaves. Calypso singing competitions, held annually at Carnival time, grew in popularity after the abolition of slavery by the British in the 1830s. The Griot later became known as the Chantuelle and today as the Calypsonian.
Soca
Like calypso, soca was used for both social commentary and risqué humor, though the initial wave of soca acts eschewed the former. Lord Shorty was disillusioned with the genre by the 1980s because soca was being used to express courtships and sexual interests. Like all things related to sexual freedom, it became embraced because of its ability to reflect what people were thinking and their desires in a society that was sexually repressed. Soca music became an expression of sexuality through metaphors in the West Indies. Soon after, Shorty moved to the Piparo forest, converted to the Rastafari movement and changed his name to Ras Shorty I. There, he created a fusion of Reggae and gospel music called jamooin the late 1980s.In the 1990s and now the new century Soca has evolved into a blend of musical styles.
Steel Pan
Steel Bands: also known as ‘Pan’ will be filling the streets of Notting Hill with their wonderful melodic sounds throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. Steelband came from the ‘Tambu Bamboo’ band from Trinidad in the early 1030s. Trinidadians used to beat the bamboo and sing and by using some creative means, began to create different tones. This led to the use of oil drums and in a short space of time the Steelband was born.
Static Sound Systems
Static Sound Systems: over 40 sound systems positioned around the Carnival area provide the perfect setting for DJs to strut their stuff. From Latin jazz, reggae and garage to hip hop and drum ‘n’ bass.
Samba
Samba: Samba is a type of music and dance developed from the musical traditions of the enslaved Africans of Brazil. Samba originated in the north of Brazil and was radically developed in Rio at the turn of the century. Now you can hear the Samba beat in London and throughout the world.
Music is at the heart of Notting Hill Carnival, with traditional and contemporary sounds filling the air for miles around. Historically steel bands, Soca & Calypso Music have been at the heart of Carnival but in recent years these have been overtaken by the static sound systems playing anything from Reggae to R&B, Funk, House, Dub and much more. Live stages also feature local bands, top international artists and sounds from around the world – Eddie Grant, Jamiroquai, Wyclef Jean, Courtney Pine and Burning Spear have been among the eclectic line up in previous years.
Calypso
The Origin of calypso can be traced back to the arrival of the first enslaved
Africans brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the enslaved Africans began to sing. They used calypso, which can be traced back to West African Kaiso, as a means of communication and to mock the slave masters. These songs, usually led by one individual called a Griot, helped to unite the slaves. Calypso singing competitions, held annually at Carnival time, grew in popularity after the abolition of slavery by the British in the 1830s. The Griot later became known as the Chantuelle and today as the Calypsonian.
Soca
Like calypso, soca was used for both social commentary and risqué humor, though the initial wave of soca acts eschewed the former. Lord Shorty was disillusioned with the genre by the 1980s because soca was being used to express courtships and sexual interests. Like all things related to sexual freedom, it became embraced because of its ability to reflect what people were thinking and their desires in a society that was sexually repressed. Soca music became an expression of sexuality through metaphors in the West Indies. Soon after, Shorty moved to the Piparo forest, converted to the Rastafari movement and changed his name to Ras Shorty I. There, he created a fusion of Reggae and gospel music called jamooin the late 1980s.In the 1990s and now the new century Soca has evolved into a blend of musical styles.
Steel Pan
Steel Bands: also known as ‘Pan’ will be filling the streets of Notting Hill with their wonderful melodic sounds throughout the Bank Holiday weekend. Steelband came from the ‘Tambu Bamboo’ band from Trinidad in the early 1030s. Trinidadians used to beat the bamboo and sing and by using some creative means, began to create different tones. This led to the use of oil drums and in a short space of time the Steelband was born.
Static Sound Systems
Static Sound Systems: over 40 sound systems positioned around the Carnival area provide the perfect setting for DJs to strut their stuff. From Latin jazz, reggae and garage to hip hop and drum ‘n’ bass.
Samba
Samba: Samba is a type of music and dance developed from the musical traditions of the enslaved Africans of Brazil. Samba originated in the north of Brazil and was radically developed in Rio at the turn of the century. Now you can hear the Samba beat in London and throughout the world
ALL AGES.FUNDED BY GOVERNMENT AND SPONCERS.
Underbelly is a UK based, live entertainment company.
Our events and festivals division operates 15 performance venues at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as the festival's busiest bars. In 2009 we sold 180,000 tickets to 130 shows a day for 25 days. 2010 will be our 11th year at the Fringe
We are also presenting our second season of live entertainment at London's Southbank Centre from 14th May, with our touring venue E4 Udderbelly. Previous seasons include Brighton in 2007 and 2008. We are always looking for new projects and events for Udderbelly.
Our productions division produces shows in Edinburgh and beyond, with a focus towards national and international touring. Previous productions include Joan Rivers, Tom Tom Crew, One Man Star Wars, The Magnets, The Caesar Twins and many more. You can find details of past and present projects on our productions page.
FUNDING FROM TICKETS, CLOTHING. (MERCHINDICE) PLUS SPONCORS: E4 Scotland on Sunday Grolsch Southbank Centre