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Students enjoy musical delight!

Eastleigh College students were lucky enough to receive a visit from a group of young international musicians who performed an hour long set at lunch time in the College refectory this week. The visit was arranged by Peter Beadell , Director of Performing Arts at Portchester Community School, who is heavily involved with the charity Panjazz International. The aims of the charity include promoting health and social issues among disadvantaged people through music participation and performance, promoting education through music participation and promoting global citizenship through a celebration of cultural diversity.

The timing of the visit ideally fell a couple of weeks after students at Eastleigh College had participated in a variety of activities and discussions to celebrate Diversity Week.

The group of musicians were made up of an eclectic mix of people from as far afield as South Africa, Malta, India and… Portchester! The visit came about at the end of a recent project by Panjazz International that brought the group together, with sponsorship and support from Art Asia.

The musicians, whose ages ranged from 13 – 30, came from a variety of backgrounds and had not met before the project. They had spent the past 10 days working with students at Portchester Community College, rehearsing and performing at venues throughout the area. 13 year old Brandon Draper, who was selected to work with the project, thoroughly enjoyed the experience:

"We've been working for pretty much 10 days straight practising and performing for around 8 hours a day. It has been an incredible experience, it's so exhilarating when a performance comes together after so much time rehearsing."

The visit went down well with students at the College, with everyone seeming to enjoy the vibrant atmosphere that was created. Jess, Tasha and Shannon, students on the business administration course enjoyed the music over their lunch break and commented:

"We think they're really good and uplifting. The atmosphere makes it feel like you're on holiday, it would be good to have more similar things here in the future."

Future projects for Panjazz International include working towards having a presence at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, and the 2012 Olympics in the UK.

Release date 14/12/2009