Exciting musical mash up fuses Northumberland traditions with Trinidad’s carnival season

It isn’t often that rural Northumberland and the Caribbean join forces but that’s exactly what’s happening on the 22^nd June at Sage Gateshead. In two free concerts, gig-goers will be the first to experience Sage Gateshead’s new commission ‘Panning for Gold’ as part of PRS for Music Foundation’s nationwide initiative, The New Music Biennial. The brains behind ‘Panning for Gold’ belong to renowned composer and concertina player Alistair Anderson, who has tapped into the North East’s growing hotbed of steel pan talent and traditional local music together and mixed seemingly incongruous genres together with exciting effect. As well as Alistair’s concertina playing and the steel band, ‘Panning for Gold’ will include a clog dancer and scratch DJ, with the entire performance being accompanied by atmospheric films shot during Trinidad’s electrifying carnival season. ‘Panning for Gold’ was part-created in Trinidad itself. In March 2014, Alistair and three other soloist travelled to the island and played with the celebrated Trinidadian steel pan composer and arranger, Professor Ken Philmore, as well as the brilliant collective Pan Trinbago - the ‘parent body’ for steel bands not only in Trinidad and Tobago but in all parts of the world where such bands exist As part of the performances at Sage Gateshead on 22^nd June (one at 2pm, the second at 4pm) each soloist will show off their specialism before joining forces for the premiere of ‘Panning for Gold’ itself, where they will play alongside young people from across Northumberland and the rest of the North East.. The New Music Biennial is presenting a series of 20 brand new music commissions to audiences across the UK in 2014. All of these commissions will also be presented at two weekend showcases in London (4 – 6 July 2014) and Glasgow (2 – 3 August 2014) coinciding with the Commonwealth Games. The New Music Biennial is a PRS for Music Foundation initiative, presented in partnership with Creative Scotland, Arts Council England and the British Council, and in collaboration with BBC Radio 3, NMC Recordings, Southbank Centre and GlasgowUNESCO City of Music. Additional support has been given by John S. Cohen Foundation, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Incorporated Society of Musicians and The Bliss Trust. Both performances are free to the public. For more information, visit Sage Gateshead’s website at: http://www.sagegateshead.com/event/panning-for-gold/ A short film about the performance, presented by Alistair Anderson himself, can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/user11823564/review/98429915/4341f6e227