News in from Su Hart and Martin Craddick : In January this year we organised a festival of traditional music and dance in Cameroon. It took place in Limbe, a small friendly town under Mount Cameroon, in a stone built amphitheatre in a botanic garden by the sea. In this wonderful setting we had a day of celebration of the many diverse cultures in Cameroon. Groups from 7 of the 10 regions of Cameroon took part, including the Baka. There was also a performance from children from the local schools. Read more in full article.
We have made a website where you can see the performances at www.cameroontogether.com and you can buy a DVD from our web shop. Proceeds from the sale of these DVDs will go towards funding future festivals.
Cameroon calls itself "Africa in Miniature" having both environments and peoples who represent most of the different ecosystems and lifestyles found on the African continent. It is therefore a great place to see a huge variety of cultures.
After the great success of this year's festival we are intent on putting another one on next year. We see that it could expand and help a lot of very talented artists. It could also easily expand as a forum for teaching visitors from abroad song and dance from many traditions. We envisage profits helping performers communities and in education in Limbe
To this end we have a fundraiser on board and she has approached over 30 funders. We know that collectively we have many strengths and ideas and that's where we would like to tap into your thoughts:
* Do you have any ideas of people we could approach to fund this cultural, peace building, celebratory event?
(We know very little about American foundations but perhaps you do).
* Can you donate something to make it a success, or at least purchase the DVD?
You can now donate to the charity, Global Music Exchange on the website with Paypal.
You can buy a DVD from our web shop.
* Who do you think could be a good patron for the event?
The town of Limbe loved the festival and want it to happen each year. We would like to help this happen and build it up year by year, setting up a local crew to take the organisation on as we did in Ethiopia for the "Festival of 1000 Stars".
Together we can help to make this happen.
We hope to hear from you
Su and Martin
