Rehearsals appeared to be going well this afternoon for this evening’s performance of ‘The Rightful Owners of the Song‘ which you may recall was one of the 2008 Capital of Culture commissions. Its being repeated in a two hour concert tonight at the Pier Head as part of this weekend’s Music on the Waterfront. In August there’ll be Art on the Waterfront then Film on the Waterfront in September.
Liverpool’s Pier Head is being transformed into a massive outdoor concert venue this weekend.
The city’s iconic World Heritage Site is to host the first in a trilogy of FREE cultural festivals – called On The Waterfront – beginning on Friday, July 31 2009
The music festival begins with a reprisal of the Capital of Culture smash-hit concert – the Rightful Owners of The Song, which stars the city’s best pub singers performing classic popular songs by greats from Sinatra and Elvis to Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The two-hour concert begins at 7.45pm.
On Saturday 1 August, from 5.30pm-10pm, the venue will be awash with the sounds of Africa thanks to one of Liverpool’s best loved festivals. Africa Oyé will be showcasing the very best of its festival favourites with top of the bill superstar, Oumou Sangaré of Mali, ‘Groupe Lolou’ from Senegal and the ‘Hohodza Band’ from Zimbabwe who reside in exile in Blackpool.
The musical extravaganza reaches a climax the following day with a classic Lazy Sunday Afternoon, from 1pm-5pm, featuring some of Liverpool’s finest Latin, Blues and Funk players and visiting international artists. Star acts include The Grapes Band, the seven piece funk monster band – 6ix Toys, Lightnin’ Willie and the Poor Boys and Connie Lush – widely regarded as one of the finest blues singers the UK has ever produced, having been voted Best UK Female Vocalist by readers of Blues In Britain for 5 separate years.
Throughout Sunday afternoon there will also be Samba performances at the south side of the Pier Head by Liverpool Carnival Company, and music and dance from young performance groups working with Brouhaha International.
In total more than 200 musicians and performers, from 9 countries will take to the stage for more than 12 hours of free music.