Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Trending
    • Interview with the Vice-Chancellor
    • Country Highlight: The Netherlands
    • If You’re Moving Back Home After Uni …
    • Jane Austen in Lockdown: How her six novels are more relevant than ever
    • All About … Period Poverty
    • My Veggie Journey: How not being strictly Vegetarian is OK
    • Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month
    • Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Flickr
    Seren
    • News & Politics
      1. Local News
      2. UK News
      3. Uni News
      4. World News
      5. Politics
      6. Comment
      7. Business
      Featured

      SABB Election: The Full Result Breakdown

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Interview with the Vice-Chancellor

      May 23, 2022

      Retro? Chip shortage may bring vintage tech to your car.

      May 6, 2021

      Manizha – the artist causing a stir as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2021:

      May 6, 2021
    • Arts & Culture
      1. Books
      2. Games
      3. Film
      4. Music
      5. TV
      6. Creative Corner
      Featured

      Bangor alumni podcast earns Hollywood cameo & BBC features

      By Amelia SmithMarch 7, 20210
      Recent

      Jane Austen in Lockdown: How her six novels are more relevant than ever

      July 7, 2021

      Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month

      May 17, 2021

      Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021

      May 16, 2021
    • Lifestyle
      1. Fashion
      2. Food and Drink
      3. Social
      4. Health and Beauty
      5. Travel
      Featured

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      By Emily ShoultsMay 6, 20220
      Recent

      Country Highlight: The Netherlands

      May 6, 2022

      If You’re Moving Back Home After Uni …

      August 3, 2021

      All About … Period Poverty

      May 17, 2021
    • Discovery
      1. Science
      2. Environment
      3. History
      4. International
      Featured

      Brewing up a Storm: The History of Guinness

      By Emily ReadMarch 20, 20210
      Recent

      Manizha – the artist causing a stir as the Russian representative for Eurovision 2021:

      May 6, 2021

      Japan plan to release radioactive water into the ocean

      May 6, 2021

      The link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots

      April 29, 2021
    • Sport
      1. Varsity 2019
      2. Varsity 2018
      3. Varsity 2017
      4. Varsity 2016
      5. Varsity 2015
      6. Varsity 2014
      7. Varsity 2013
        • Varsity 2013 Results
        • Varsity 2013 – In tweets
      Featured

      Bangor Muddogs’ American Football: a young woman finding her place

      By Jade HillMarch 23, 20210
      Recent

      The 48-hour rise and fall of the European Super League

      April 27, 2021

      The European Super League is announced

      April 19, 2021

      Formula 1’s ‘Drive to Survive S3’ is released

      April 7, 2021
    • Students’ Union
      1. Union News
      2. Societies
      3. Volunteering
      4. Clubs
      Featured

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      By Caroline CartmillMarch 17, 20210
      Recent

      Bangor University Feminist Society

      March 30, 2021

      INTERVIEW: Be Period Positive

      March 17, 2021

      LGBT History Month in Bangor

      March 4, 2021
    • Issues
      • Current Issue
      • This year’s issues
      • Last year’s issues
      • Seren Archive
      • Seren Teams
    Seren
    Home»Entertainment»INTERVIEW – Kaya festival
    Entertainment

    INTERVIEW – Kaya festival

    Becki WatsonBy Becki WatsonMay 23, 20131 Comment5 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Kaya Festival kicks off in Bangor this weekend, a month back Becki got the chance to talk to organiser Thabani to find out a little bit more.

    What inspired you to start up your own festival?

    I’m a musician myself, so it’s something I am passionate about. I’ve been going to festivals for years, and thought I could add something to the market by creating Kaya, a world music festival with good vibes in a beautiful part of the world.

    What made you choose Bangor as the location for Kaya?

    I’ve been coming to Bangor for years for student gigs in places like Hendre Hall, and I’ve got friends in North Wales, so I’ve known about the location for many years. I thought Vaynol was just a really lovely location for a festival, so here we are.

    Can you tell us a bit more about the acts that will be performing at the festival?

    We’ve got Finley Quaye, who’s a MOBO and Brit award winner, the brilliant The Selecter and Pauline Black, who are legendary ska performers, Afrika Bombaataa, who’s the pioneer and inventor of hip hop and electro funk, as well as Mad Professor, a legendary DJ in dub music. Another thing we’ve got going at Kaya is that we’re putting legendary artists alongside local heroes, like Freedom Sound System and Stacey Cohen. We also have artists and students performing and Bangor comedy students putting acts on. It’s a real mixture; we’re basically bringing people together under one umbrella for one weekend, students, the community and outside artists.

    Aside from the music, what else have you got going on at Kaya?

    We’ve got tonnes of workshops going on for all ages, such as steel pan workshops, arts and crafts workshops for kids, as well as ones where children can learn about science, singing and drumming workshops, a walkabout workshop, bouncy castles for kids, as well as a baby chamber, which is a quiet area for parents and young kids, so families can come along, We’ve also got some fantastic foods from around the world, with people preparing and selling food from Argentina, Brazil, India, Africa and the Caribbean.

    One of the taglines for Kaya is ‘Celebrating diversity, music and arts in beautiful North Wales’; how have you linked the international flavour of the event to the local setting?

    What we’ve done is that we’ve linked the international world to North Wales, as it’s a great hotspot for international students; students form a large majority of what happens in North Wales because Bangor is a student city. The whole thing of an international festival coming to Bangor provides a great opportunity for those students, and we thought linking it to the local community, and to other students as well, was something that could be very powerful. The university is very behind it, we have international students coming along to perform, and why not? It doesn’t have to stop at Liverpool and Manchester, we have a really lovely and diverse landscape to stage this kind of international event in North Wales.

    Kaya are supporting two local charities through this event, can you tell us a little bit more about that?

    We’re supporting the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research for Wales Charity, who’ve got a base in Cardiff, and it supports people who have suffered or who are suffering from lymphomas, that’s a big charity that we’re looking to support. It’s a disease that people have to live with every year, and we’re hoping that through Kaya we can raise some much needed funds to combat the illness. We’re also working with SOS Children’s Village, which supports children from Africa and other places around the world who are in need of food, books and other educational resources, which is fantastic cause. The reason for this support is because we believe that all children have value in society, which is why children up to the age of 13 go free to Kaya, as we try to make it a great place for them to hear great music, and learn about cultures from around the world.

    What is it about Kaya that you think will appeal most to students?

    Great price, tickets are £35 for students for the weekend, I don’t think you can get a better deal than that. Great experience, world food, world music, world culture, and bringing students together with the community, and also bringing them together with a large audience. I think you can get quite isolated as a student and too integrated into your own little world, but this way you get to see the community on a bigger scale. There’s great pricing, great culture and music, beautiful scenery (some students have never been to the Vaynol estate and its right down the road), so it’ll hopefully open up a new experience for them right on their doorstep. Plus, it’s just after the end of term exams, so they have the chance to come down and celebrate while supporting their local community.

    How are you planning to develop Kaya in the future?

    We just want to keep it as diverse and as competitively priced as possible. We want to grow it to a reasonable size and then cap it, as we don’t want it to stop being a personal festival. Kaya is the people’s festival; we want to promote local artists, we’re bringing the community together through international artists and local artists, as well as students and the local community. We’re still learning, we’ll always make mistakes, but in the long run, we’re trying to stay price competitive. You won’t see many festivals operating and giving people such great value for money on the ticket deals, especially in the local community. So come along, buy your ticket and come to Kaya, it’s going to be great!

    Bangor bangor comedy community kaya Kaya Festival local students thabani nyoni world world music
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Becki Watson
    • Twitter

    Editor 2013/14

    Related Posts

    Interview with the Vice-Chancellor

    May 23, 2022

    Watch with Pride: Your Top TV Picks this Pride Month

    May 17, 2021

    Globe Trotting on Screen: Your Guide to Summer 2021

    May 16, 2021

    1 Comment

    1. Harry Welshman on September 10, 2013 9:02 pm

      The organisers of kaya festival should be banned from providing any further festivals. After all ticket sales and funding, they still duck and dive from paying for the services provided by contractors. 4 months after the event we are still waiting to be paid. Obviously the directors of kaya ltd are shady.

      Reply

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    MORE INFORMATION
    • ABOUT
    • ADVERTISE
    • CONTACT US
    • GET INVOLVED
    • MEMBERS
    Links
    • Bangor University Bangor University
    • Google+ Google+
    • Undeb Bangor Undeb Bangor
    About

    Seren is Bangor University Students’ Union’s English Language Newspaper

    We have editorial independence from both Bangor University and Bangor Students’ Union. Seren is written by students for students and we’d love you to get involved!

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.