Eden Arts Café parties for peace this October
September 28, 2009
The Eden Project Arts Café enters its second year with Cornish eight-piece Freshly Squeezed headlining a massive night of funk, hip-hop, soul and ska alongside a showcase of the Eden’s work with a peace park in Kosovo this Friday (October 2).
Freshly Squeezed have been wowing crowds with their mixture of screaming vocals, quick-witted MCing, powerful horns and heavy beats for more than two years and come to Eden’s Arts Café after playing at Mama Stone’s, an Exeter club owned by Joss Stone’s mother. They will be playing from 9.30pm.
Art’s Café’s resident DJs Jelly Jazz will be bringing their trademark mix of funk, soul and jazzy breaks throughout the night.
The October Arts Café will be showcasing the work of Eden’s collaboration with Manchester Aid to Kosovo (MaK), which has seen a peace park be created in Podujevo, a town still recovering from the conflict of a decade ago.
The peace park - a tranquil grove within a 22-acre open space - was the brainchild of ethnic Albanian cousins from Podujevo, Saranda, Fatos and Jehona Bogujevci, who were medically evacuated to the north of England after escaping with their lives from a massacre that killed eight members of their family and eight members of the Duriqi family in a back garden in their home town in 1999.
People who have worked on the park from both Eden and MaK will be on hand all evening to discuss the project with visitors. Manchester-based folk rockers The Travelling Band will be playing on behalf of MaK in the Mediterranean Biome between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.
Artists who have worked on the peace park will also be at the Arts Café, including Cornish designer Lucy Birbeck who will be showing flags she has made for the park.
Beth Lewitt, Eden’s Events Manager, said: “We’re really excited to have Freshly Squeezed headlining the October Arts Café, they should combine brilliantly with Jelly Jazz to get the party jumping.
”Eden’s really proud to be involved in the Kosovo peace park and Arts Café will provide a great platform for those who have collaborated on the garden to tell their stories.”
Arts Café takes place on Friday October 2 in Eden’s spectacular Core building between 7pm and 12.30am and admission is £7. Tickets can be bought on the door but those who book in advance on 01726 811972 or through www.edenproject.com get a free drink on arrival.
Arts Café takes place on the first Friday of every month. November’s event will feature rapper and winner of the BBC Radio 4 Poetry Slam Dizraeli with a seven-piece band and will be themed around Eden’s Climate Revolution and Real Cool Futures projects.
