Play for Progress: Fundraiser Concert - reunifying families separated by conflict and persecution

Play for Progress: Allies in Art Fundraiser Concert - reunifying families separated by conflict and persecution

Come join us for a warm & eclectic evening of jazz, folk, songs & poetry from around the world - to support a cause very close to our hearts.

Some of London’s top musicians & songwriters from the jazz, folk and world scenes bring you an embracing evening of new and old music from around the world, in support of young people seeking asylum and reunifying with their families.

There will also be a raffle with prizes… and expect an occasional sing along!

Concert Line Up:

We are really lucky to have a beautiful and varied line up including folk & jazz musicians from the UK music scene and special guest, operatic vocalist Innocent Masuku, BGT finalist:

Innocent Masuku

Innocent Masuku, a South African operatic tenor, born in Secunda, Mpumalanga in 1990. He has emerged as a prominent figure in the world of opera. Known for his powerful voice and dynamic stage presence, Masuku's journey in opera is marked by a series of impressive accolades and performances.

He has received various accolades including a Merit award in the 2019 SAMRO competition, a Drake Calleja trust award, sponsorship by The Tillet Trust fund, The Oppenheimer International Scholarship, and The Countess of Munster Musical Trust Study Award. He is an ENO Harewood Artist.

Alice Mary Jelaska

Alice Mary Jelaska is an otherworldly multi instrumentalist & song writer who has performed across London, UK, Europe working with artists from many different genres including Gypsy swing, jazz ballads, Latin rhythms, folk music, tango, Turkish psych rock, Senegalese music, Eastern European dance. Her own songs reflect influences from many of these pockets, with sounds of Molly Drake, Ella Fitzgerald… her songs centre around family, land, love & loss.

Shem Fillmore

Shem is a multi instrumentalist (violin, mandolin, sarangi) with a deep love of traditional music from England and around the world. From the Black Shuck-haunted fenlands of East Anglia, he plays roots music for the 21st century. His debut EP Quincunx was released August 2024.

Djanan Turan

Djanan Turan is a London-based Turkish singer, songwriter and producer. As one of the main proponents of North London underground music, she performs her songs with various kind of musical influences from folk to jazz, disco to reggae, and psychedelic Anatolian folk.

To date, she has released a Turkish album (Düğüm), 2 EPs in English (Artigo and Maze) and 4 singles, as well as collaborating in writing and performing with The Egg, Voices of Nature, Stevie R. Her newest album, Love’s Company, has just been released in September 2024.

HAE

HAE trio met at a music & well-being residential in 2023. After an inspiring week of listening and sharing judgement free music they kept up the spirit of the course by meeting regularly and having long improvised jams. Described as “The sound of flight through the clouds and submersion in the clearest waters”, the trio will be providing high levels of floatiness.

Tonight HAE features: Alice Mary Jelaska, Hector Plimmer & Molly Astley

• Hector Plimmer Born and raised in South London, Hector is a designer, producer and DJ, who has been making some considerable waves over the past year. Following up an appearance on the most recent Gilles Peterson Brownswood Bubblers compilation, Hector proved his talent when he was selected as the winner of the PRS Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award.
  

• Molly Astley Molly Astley is an artist and musician who works with voice, somatics, drawing and poetry. Alongside her degree in Art & Ecology she has been working on beautiful meditative songs with voice and synth.

Lovell

Lovell is an incredible writer and musician creating lo-fi acoustic punk-folk with witty but weird songs about surreal dreams and domestic chores.

Gabriel Moreno

Gabriel Moreno is a singer songwriter and poet with more than 10 poetry books published in both Spanish and English Publishers and Annexe, London. Winner of the Introducing Stage at The Great British Folk Festival and hailed as "an offshoot of Leonard Cohen and Neil Diamond" By Cerys Mathews, Gabriel is a singer songwriter, perfomer and lyricist with strong links to the London alternative Americana, Folk and singer songwriter scene. Influenced by the likes of Cohen, Callahan, Cave and other poetical singers Moreno is known for powerful performances and endless streams of passion.

About the fundraiser:

Our fundraiser night focusses on supporting the vital needs of unaccompanied young people going through the long process of family reunification.
This is part of a wider fundraiser organised by Play for Progress to support specific young refugees to reunite with family members who are in countries challenged by conflict, war and persecution.

About Play for Progress:

Play for Progress is a Croydon-based charity that supports unaccompanied young people seeking asylum and promotes community resilience through trauma-informed creative engagement in the arts and education.

We tap into the healing power of music, the arts, play, and creative therapies to build healthy and resilient relationships that support and amplify the voices of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum.

About Family reunification:

The few family reunification schemes in the past gave opportunities to a limited number of people with refugee status to reunite with family members, once they proved that those family members dependent on them.

Although in the past, this opportunity had only exceptionally included young unaccompanied people, over the last few years these opportunities have minimised to practically none.

Even after separated children have been granted asylum in the UK, they often worry about family members who ran the same life threatening risks in their home countries, due to conflict, war and persecution, but didn't have the means to make that long dangerous journey themselves.

This fundraiser campaign is PFP's response to requests from young people in our communities who have exhausted all opportunities to apply for family reunification. We want to be able to support them to get the legal support needed from organisations and specialist legal agencies.

We invite you to an evening of arts, music and solidarity. We hope that with your help, we could offer hope in a situation of hopelessness.

Host or Publisher Play for Progress