Oxjam Takes Over Aberdeen

 Articles, Charity, Events, Gigs and Concerts, Information  No Responses »
Oct 222010
 

With thanks to Andy Kite.

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A fantastic opportunity to catch up with some of the best musical talent the city has to offer will take place this Saturday [23rd]  in venues across the town as part of the Oxjam Takeover music festival.

Oxjam is a UK wide event with festivals taking place in around 30 cities.

With 25 local bands performing across five city centre stages this Saturday, there has been a huge amount of preparation to get things ready for the Aberdeen gigs.

Andy Kite, Marketing Coordinator said;

“We’ve been working at getting the festival in place since May and there has been a great deal of planning to put it in place.  From arranging line-ups, venues, timings, promotion and fundraisers things have been very hectic but we’ve all enjoyed every minute.

“The bands have all been great and seem really keen to get involved so we are really confident of putting on a great event so we urge everyone to come along and have a great time.  We really want to contribute to the charity and raise as much money as possible while using the festival as a showcase of the talent we have in Aberdeen.”

An eclectic line-up ensures there is something for everyone.

Both rooms in the Tunnels will be used with performances from Weather Barn (formerly Cast of the Capital), Le Reno Amps, The Deportees, Turning 13, Marionettes, Cuddly Shark, Eric Euan, Duke, Carson Wells and Katerwaul.

The Blue Lamp will serve up a party atmosphere featuring The Lorelei, The Gerry Jablonski Band, The Oxbow Lake, Chris Carroll and Flora Cook.

For those looking for something more reserved and intimate Enigma will host an acoustic night with the vocal talents of Jo McCafferty supported by The Kitchen Cynics, Craig Davidson, Sarah J Stanley and The Scandal Extracts.

Finally there will be a night of rock and roll on display at Cafe Drummonds with The Wildcards, Kashmir Red, Energy!, Emerald Sunday and Talking Sideways.

Tickets cost £5 and allow unlimited access to all stages and can be bought at One Up and www.wegottickets.com as well as on the door of each venue on the evening.  Doors open at 7pm with the first acts taking the stage around 7.30pm and there is an aftershow party at the Tunnels.  All money raised on the night is donated to Oxfam and contributes to Oxjam’s overall fundraising targets.

More about Oxjam nationwide –

Oxjam Takeover events take place on 23 & 24 October in the following locations:

Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brecon, Brighton, Bristol, Canterbury, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London (Brixton, Leadenhall Market, Brick Lane, Kilburn, Kingston), Manchester, Neath, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Stirling, Stoke-on-Trent and Wiltshire.

  • More than 600 Oxfam shops across the country sell second-hand music – double the total number of independent record shops in the UK.
  • Oxfam shops sell around £6 million of music every year, which equates to around 1.8 million CDs and records every year, all donated by the British public. The largest single donation was of 4,000 vinyl albums to an Oxfam shop in Devon in 2008.
  • Oxfam has been one of the lead charities at Glastonbury since 1993, raising £2.7 million through stewarding the festival and signing up more than 400,000 people in support of its campaigns at the festival. Oxfam works at seventeen music festivals across the summer, stewarding, campaigning and selling festival fashion.

Oxjam Tuning Up For A Night To Remember

 Aberdeen City, Articles, Charity, Events, Gigs and Concerts  No Responses »
Oct 012010
 

By Andy Kite.

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The Oxjam Music Festival is really hitting a note across Aberdeen.  With just over a month remaining till the big day, activities are starting to pick up with a view to raising funds and awareness for Oxfam.

Having already generated over £1,000 in the city through events such as a music quiz and a guitar hero tournament confidence is high for breaking targets in the run up to the festival, titled “The Takeover”.

Taking place on the 23rd of October, the festival will showcase some of the top artists from across the city with 25 bands performing across five stages.  Headlining The Tunnels will be Weather Barn and Le Reno Amps with both acts hugely popular with music fans in the north east.  The Wildcards and Kashmir Red will rock Cafe Drummonds while Jo McCafferty and The Kitchen Cynics will bring ambience to Enigma.  Finally, local favourites The Lorelei and Gerry Jablonski and his Electric Band will light up the Blue Lamp.

Oxjam Music Programmer Shawn Skinner declared “We are absolutely delighted with the quality of acts we have playing The Takeover and feel there is something for everyone.  We aimed to capture a cross section of the music scene in Aberdeen and believe we have that.  We’ve booked some local big hitters, renowned acoustic acts, blues and folk bands for a party atmosphere and encapsulated the spirit of rock and roll.  The best part is we can make a difference to people’s lives by listening to some of our favourite bands.  It’s incredible to think that around a billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water and while we can’t rectify this issue, we can certainly attempt to raise awareness and play our part in changing it.”

Tickets can be bought for £5 and provide unlimited access to each stage.  Hopes are high that each venue will be full to deliver a night to remember with every penny going to Oxfam with the money used to fight poverty and climate change.  A little money can go along way as, for instance, £429 is enough money to build a library and fill it with books and £720 can supply clean water for a village of 800 people.

At present the Aberdeen team at Oxjam have already raised enough funds for both of these initiatives.  Those attending The Takeover can also take part in “signing” a visual petition by having their pictures taken with the Oxfam “Fair Deal” handstamp with the photographs being put together in a collage and sent to world leaders.  Tickets for The Takeover can be bought at One Up on Belmont Street and at www.wegottickets.com.

Oxjam Takeover – Acts Announced

 Aberdeen City, Charity, Events, Gigs and Concerts  No Responses »
Sep 172010
 

By Andy Kite.

Musicians in Aberdeen play their part in the UK’s biggest ever charity music festival

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Local bands are set to take to the stage in support of Oxfam next month as part of Oxjam, the UK’s biggest music festival. On the 23rd of October, the Oxjam Takeover festival will see around 25 acts play across five stages in the city centre with all proceeds going to fight poverty around the world.

The show forms part of Oxjam’s Month of Music which runs through the whole of October. Oxjam is a festival with a difference.: Thousands of fundraising music events are put on by ordinary people – from large-scale festivals to local sponsored busks – making it the biggest line-up of any music festival in the UK.

Among the artists playing include Weather Barn, Le Reno Amps, Jo McCafferty, The Wildcards, Gerry Jablonski, The Deportees, The Kitchen Cynics and Turning Thirteen. For just £5, wristbands for the event can be purchased allowing access to any of the stages in The Tunnels, Cafe Drummonds, Enigma and The Blue Lamp.

Laura Darnell, regional manager for Oxjam Aberdeen, said:

“We’re really excited to be playing our part in making Aberdeen part of a month-long musical celebration right across the country. Even more importantly, this gig is all about showing that the best in local music can have a global impact too – for example, just £7 could feed a family, and £10 can buy five bags of seeds. So everyone who comes along can rest assured that as well as having a great time, they’ll be helping to change lives around the world too.”

During October, more than 950 venues, 2,000 volunteers, 6,000 bands and musicians and 135,000 audience members nationwide will enable Oxjam to raise £500,000 to help Oxfam fight poverty.

It’s exciting to think that anyone can get involved and every single gig will help to raise loads of money to change lives around the world

Since 2006, more than 36,000 musicians have played to an audience of over 750,000 people at almost 3,000 Oxjam events, raising in excess of £1.2 million to fight poverty around the world. Oxjam 2010 is expected to take the total past £1.5 million, enough to buy safe water for 1.6 million people, 750,000 bags of seeds or 60,000 goats.

From 27th to 30th September, a diverse range of the biggest names in music, including pop princess Diana Vickers, Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, and Britpop legends The Charlatans performed their most unusual shows to date – inside an Oxfam shop – as the official launch events for the Oxjam month of music.

Former X-Factor star Diana Vickers, who headlined the Oxfam shop show on 28th September, said:

“The best thing is that everyone who takes part – from singers like me to musicians, promoters and audience members – is the real star of Oxjam. It’s exciting to think that anyone can get involved and every single gig will help to raise loads of money to change lives around the world.”

Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, whose new band performed for Oxjam, said:

“Our gig is only the beginning of a movement of thousands of gigs, club nights and events right across the country, all raising money to fight poverty. ”

In the lead up to the festival, there will be a campaign night held at The Belmont Cinema on the 15th September between 6pm to 8pm. Campaigners from Oxfam along with representatives from the Aberdeen team will be present to answer questions and demonstrate what funds will be going towards.

To find out what Oxjam events are going on in Aberdeen and the full line-up for the Takeover festival visit www.oxfam.org.uk/oxjam. Tickets can be bought at www.wegottickets.com and donations made at www.justgiving.com/oxjamaberdeen.

Oxjam Takeover events take place on 23rd & 24th October in the following locations:

Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brecon, Brighton, Bristol, Canterbury, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guildford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London (Brixton, Leadenhall Market, Brick Lane, Kilburn, Kingston), Manchester, Neath, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, Stirling, Stoke-on-Trent and Wiltshire.

  • More than 600 Oxfam shops across the country sell second-hand music – double the total number of independent record shops in the UK*.
  • Oxfam shops sell around £6 million of music every year, which equates to around 1.8 million CDs and records every year, all donated by the British public. The largest single donation was of 4,000 vinyl albums to an Oxfam shop in Devon in 2008.
  • Oxfam has been one of the lead charities at Glastonbury since 1993, raising £2.7 million through stewarding the festival and signing up more than 400,000 people in support of its campaigns at the festival. Oxfam works at seventeen music festivals across the summer, stewarding, campaigning and selling festival fashion.

Oxjam – A Feast of Fun(draising)

 Articles, Charity, Events, Gigs and Concerts  No Responses »
Aug 202010
 

bjposter
By Fred Wilkinson, with thanks to Andy Kite

Aberdeen music fans can look forward to a wealth of entertainment in October, whilst contributing towards efforts to tackle poverty.

Oxjam is a national event which hopes to raise money for Oxfam whose aim is to improve conditions for those living in poverty. It will take place at a number of venues in Aberdeen on the 23rd October. Continue reading »