MEDIA RELEASE

More African Soundz for Western Sydney

Released 6 July 2007

Information and Cultural Exchange
PO Box 4033 Parramatta NSW 2124 Australia
T: +61(2) 9897 5744 / F: +61(2) 9897 5766

Granville-based community arts organisation, Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) will be running a free urban music program for young people from African communities. The program, called African Soundz 2, goes for eight weeks and will be held at SWITCH, ICE’s multimedia digital arts access centre.

This is the second year that ICE will be running the popular program but this time it will also incorporate hip-hop dance. The program is ideal for young African people, aged 15-25, who live in Western Sydney and are interested in developing a career in the music industry.

The course will be run by MC Trey, a respected Aussie hip-hop artist and youth arts worker. She will be assisted by DJ Nick Toth and by young African dancer Nicholas Goerge-Cocker.

Since 2006 Trey has been supported through the Vodafone Australia Foundation ‘World of Difference’ program to work at ICE and run urban music programs for young people in Western Sydney.

Trey, who grew up in the Parramatta area, has seen how urban music programs like this one can help young people to connect with others in an unfamiliar environment:

“I know what it’s like to be a new face in a new country. Music is a good way for young people to express themselves and this can make the settlement process a bit easier. Participants will also get to meet other African youth in the area and have the opportunity to share and document their stories through songs, which, in turn, can be shared with the wider community.”

As well as teaching participants how to make beats, DJ Nick Toth expects to learn a great deal in return: “I am looking forward to listening to indigenous African music from the different regions, especially since a lot of the new urban sounds are still being taken from traditional African rhythms.”

The eight-week program will encourage participants to write songs about themselves and their experiences, to create music using computer programs, to record their songs and learn new hip-hop dance techniques. They will also be able to showcase their music and have the opportunity to perform alongside other emerging and established artists from Western Sydney at a launch.

The African Soundz 2 Information Day will be held at 11am on Saturday 14 July at ICE’s SWITCH multimedia digital arts access centre, which is located on the Ground Floor of 133 Parramatta Road, Granville. The course will run every Saturday until September 1st, 2007.