Suzanne Vega - Up Close and Personal - Cardiff

SUZANNE VEGA

Close-up and personal in the Welsh capital with leading songstress.

Pioneering American singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega returns to the UK this Autumn with her gentle, yet powerfully political acoustic pop. With just a couple of UK dates announced, she stops off at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on Monday 1^st November. Suzanne’s career began with hit songs such as 'Marlene on the Wall', 'Luka', ‘Small Blue Thing’ and the hugely successful album 'Solitude Standing' which brought her unique style of music to a global audience. Her career received an extra boost in the early 90's when UK-based dance duo DNA released a remix of a cappella song 'Tom's Diner', which charted world-wide.

Suzanne was born in Santa Monica, California in 1959. She grew up in an Hispanic neighbourhood in New York City. As a teenager, Vega attended the High School of the Performing Arts, where she studied dance. Teaching herself to play the guitar, she began to write songs, fuelled by discovering the music of Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed. At the age of 19, she had abandoned her plans to become a dancer and performed her own songs in student cafes and the folk clubs of Greenwich Village.

In April 1985, her debut album, Suzanne Vega, was released, produced by Lenny Kaye and her co-manager, Steve Addabo. Its collection of self-penned literate and understated songs, showing only a passing resemblance to neo-folk, received universal critical acclaim, Suzanne came to be regarded as the vanguard of a new generation of female singer-songwriters. The album reached No. 11 on the U.K. album chart and provided her first major singles hit, "Marlene on the Wall." The release of her follow-up, Solitude Standing, was buoyed by the huge success of the single, "Luka," which broke new ground in the pop charts, written, as it was, from the viewpoint of a child abuse victim. The song was to bring her numerous awards from organisations, fighting child abuse, for the recognition it brought to the issue. It also garnered a Grammy nomination, and an MTV award for best female video.

Suzanne Vega has continued to inspire a generation of female singer-songwriters such as KT Tunstall, Tracey Chapman and Alanis Morissette and now with the release of a recent album 'Beauty & Crime’ and her second CD in her “Close-Up Series”, Close-Up Vol. 2 ‘People & Places’, in stores on October 12th, she is ready to inspire thousands more around the globe on her new tour and recordings.

"Story-telling was made for Suzanne Vega - perfection"
Manchester Evening News

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

SUZANNE VEGA

Cardiff St David’s Hall, The Hayes, Cardiff, CF10 1SH

Monday 1^st November, 7.30pm

Tickets: £25.00

How to Book: In person at Cardiff St David’s Hall or alternatively call 0292 087 8444 or click www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk

She also performs London’s Cadogan Hall on Tuesday 2^nd November.

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Radio 1 Big Weekend Clean up

Students can earn themselves a ticket to Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival in Gwynedd by helping clean up a beach.

This year's free event takes place at the Faenol estate on 22-23 May, with stars including Cheryl Cole and Dizzee Rascal.

Applications are expected to heavily outnumber the 40,000 tickets available but 50 are offered to Bangor University students who clean a beach on 17 May.

BBC Radio 1 DJs will drop in to see how the beach clean-up is progressing.

Radio 1 deputy controller Ben Cooper said: ''We're pleased to add volunteering to the programme of events around Radio 1's Big Weekend.

"For Radio 1 and the listeners to be able to give something back to the area that is hosting the Big Weekend is fantastic."

We heavily encourage volunteering to our students as a way for them to gain valuable employability skills...
Becky Ryan, Bangor University

The students, who will need to register their interest in the project by 5 May, will work with Bangor University, the Marine Conservation Society and Gwynedd Council.

Becky Ryan, work experience project manager at Bangor University, said: "The centre for careers and opportunities at Bangor University are delighted to be involved with this event.

"We heavily encourage volunteering to our students as a way for them to gain valuable employability skills, so to be involved with such a high-profile event that is not only promoting volunteering but also encouraging students to think about the environment is just brilliant."

The Marine Conservation Society said it was "vitally important" that young people were made aware of "the rising tide of litter" on beaches.

On Monday, Chris Moyles unveiled the festival line-up which features more than 30 UK and international artists who will be playing on the two main stages.

Other artists performing include Florence and the Machine, Rihanna and Alicia Keys.

There are 40,000 tickets available across the weekend. Tickets are free, but last year more than 350,000 people applied for them and demand is expected to be huge again this year.

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Stunning line-up announced for Radio 1 Big Weekend

CHERYL COLE, Rihanna, JLS and Dizzee Rascal will be just some of the acts to perform at what promises to be the music event of the year for the region.

Radio 1’s Big Weekend – the station’s annual music extravaganza – announced its line-up for the two-day festival which will take place at the Faenol Estate, near Bangor, on Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23.

And, within hours almost 130,000 music lovers had registered for the 40,000 tickets which are available free, but only online (see panel for details).

Chris Moyles, with a little bit of help from Zane Lowe, unveiled the comprehensive line-up of over 30 UK and international artists, which will include Florence & The Machine, Faithless, Paulo Nutini and Scouting for Girls, plus Welsh bands the Lostprophets, Kids in Glass Houses and Marina & The Diamonds.

More than 40,000 fans will be able to enjoy performances from four stages at the Faenol – the Main Stage; the In New Music We Trust Stage; the Outdoor Stage and the BBC Introducing Stage.

The Chris Moyles show producer, Aled Haydn Jones, from Aberystwyth could barely contain his excitement about the “stunning” line-up.

He said: “The line-up is brilliant, for me coming from Aberystwyth, I can’t believe we are taking this many stars and bands up to Bangor.

“I didn’t know beforehand because, as we were starting to build it up and trying confirm acts, I couldn’t take the tension any more, so I just found out this morning and I think it is brilliant.”

And unlike Huw Stephens and Zane Lowe – whose eyes will be on emerging acts like Stornoway and Bombay Bicycle Club – the Aber man’s attention will be on one of the most famous stars on the main stage.

“It’s got be Cheryl Cole for me.”

He will also be cheering on JLS who appeared on stage with Chris Moyles at last year’s Big Weekend in Swindon, “even before they had released a single”.

Radio 1’s live music and events editor, Jason Carter, said: “We’ve pulled out all the stops for our 10th BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend with an outstanding line-up of the best UK and international talent, along with new and emerging artists.

“It’s a great opportunity to put a national focus on North Wales as Radio 1 brings two days of distinctive programming encompassing the very best live music, fantastic sets and some original collaborations. And no-one has to miss any of it as it will be on radio, online, on TV and the red button.”

The local reaction to the festival and line-up was overwhelmingly positive.

Adam Isbell, the event manager of Bangor nightclub Amser/Time, said clubs, bars, nightclubs, hotels and restaurant would all benefit greatly from the festival.

“I think there will be more than 20,000 coming each day and that is got to be good thing not just for Bangor but the whole of the region,” he said.

“The Big Weekend coincides with effectively our last weekend (the club will close as work on a new university arts centre starts) and we are planning something big (linked to the festival) to mark that.

“I hope that the Big Weekend will leave a legacy behind which puts the Faenol site on the festival map for years to come because it has the potential to become huge.”

The chairman of the People of Bangor campaign group Nigel Pickavance was equally effusive.

He added: “It will boost the profile of the city and will provide a lift for the economy and community spirit. Nothing like this has happened in Bangor before – in fact ever – and in my opinion it is going to be absolutely brilliant.

“My partner has already applied for our tickets so fingers crossed we’ll be one of the 40,000 going to the Faenol.”

Gwynedd Council’s corporate director, Iwan Trefor Jones, said: “We’re very proud to welcome these talented artists to Gwynedd. Our unique combination of breathtaking mountains and coastline will provide a fantastic backdrop for Radio 1’s Big Weekend. We look forward to showing the world what makes Gwynedd a great place to live, work and visit.”

Welsh Assembly Government Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, Arfon AM, added: “I am delighted this major musical event is coming to Wales next month.

“This demonstrates our growing reputation as a venue for major events and shows that the facilities exist in all parts of Wales to host top class events.”

The line-up for the BBC Introducing Stage will be announced by Huw Stephens during his show tomorrow (9-10pm) while the line-up for the Outdoor Stage will be announced by Annie Mac on Thursday, while she deputises for Fearne Cotton (10am-1pm).

A truly multi-platform experience, Radio 1’s Big Weekend will be broadcast on Radio 1, with a major interactive presence online at bbc.co.uk/radio1 and many live performances available to watch on demand. There will be highlights on BBC Three and extended performances can be seen via the Red Button on digital TV during the weekend

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Bangor New Music festival

Bangor New Music festival, held under the auspices of the university's School of Music, celebrated its 10th anniversary with its most ambitious programme to date, and no concert signalled the event's energy and range better than the one given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and featuring three firsts.

The school boasts three notable composers – Pwyll ap Siôn, Andrew Lewis and Guto Puw – and works by them made up the challenging first half. Ap Siôn's Gwales, dating from 1995, pays homage to the late William Mathias, under whose aegis music flourished at Bangor. Building on fragments quoted from Mozart's Requiem, the work depicts a journey towards the mythical island of Gwales.

In the first of the new pieces, Andrew Lewis also took us on a journey, this time in and out of consciousness. Number Nine Dream explored the first movement of Mahler's Ninth Symphony through the hazy veil of the contemporary electro-acoustic sound-world, making for an absorbing aural experience.

Hologram, by Guto Puw, BBCNOW's resident composer, exists emphatically in the present, with his ascetic approach to structure balanced by a sensuous engagement with sound. It was delivered with startling clarity by the conductor Grant Llewellyn.

Wales is the spiritual home of the composer Adrian Williams, and the contemplative, questioning vein that its landscape has permitted him to articulate was reflected in his Cello Concerto, premiered here by Raphael Wallfisch. The concerto seeks to reconcile in its single long span an introverted, blues-inflected expressiveness with a freer, unselfconsciously flowing idiom. It was indicative of Williams's instinctive ability to communicate directly that this was so warmly received by the audience.

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