Words by Leni Remedios / Pics supplied by Erdington Arts Forum
Forrό Tempo will be the headliners of the next Evening of Creativity (EoC), to be held on Friday 17 February at Oikos Café, Erdington High Street.
Formed in Birmingham, Forrό Tempo defines itself as: “A Eurofusion of Brazilian folk dance music.”
Known by their Erdington’s audience after the bans 2022 performances both at Oikos and an outdoor festival held on the High Street, people are looking forward to listening to them again and dancing to their notes.
But the musicians have a long history of performances across the Midlands and beyond, from pubs and festivals to big venues such as the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre.
The theme of February’s Evening of Creativity will be the triangle – the three sided musical instrument will be accompanying all acts on the EoC bill, including the evening’s non-music performances, such as the reading from Writers Without Borders, a Birmingham based group founded in 2000.
Originally, Writers Without Borders started to meet up at the Central Library, then from 2021 they moved to the Hippodrome.
“The initial idea was for it to be a mouthpiece for refugee writers,” explains Fiona, one of the group’s members, “this was soon extended to writers from a variety of backgrounds, such as the Caribbean, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria, and India, to name but a few.
“We meet every month, sharing our writing and giving constructive feedback. Several times a year we invite guest speakers. Sometimes one of our members will organise a workshop for us. Until lockdown we often participated in local events.”
The triangle will also accompany The Ukulele Allsorts. “We are a group of friends who met through a ukulele class in Sutton,” the band told us, “we have different musical backgrounds and experiences, but we all enjoy making music and sharing it with others.
“We are called The Ukulele Allsorts because we play all sorts of music on all sorts of Ukuleles, although on Friday night our bassist is playing an upright bass not a uke bass.”
Last but not least, The Erdington Monkeys, an all-local brand new project, will be joined by Recardo from Forrò Tempo… playing the triangle.
The Erdington Monkeys consists of four people at the moment but, like in the case of the EoC, it is ready to extend to new members and/or collaborations. It all started last month at the Musical Hub – an event hosted every Wednesday evening by the RCCG Church on Orphanage Road, Erdington, where people learn to play their favourite instruments and socialise.
The Erdington Monkeys formed spontaneously, sharing a common passion for music exploration, from folk to pop to indie rock.
Mignon and Nathan from the band explain, “we love exploring the richness that different genres have to offer us. We are quite flexible, especially considering the variety of instruments we play: ukulele, cello, violin and bass guitar, occasionally joined by other instruments.”
February’s EoC will also feature visual arts from Benny Semp, alongside more music from solo artists Zach at the piano, John Stachula playing classic guitar, and Stefan Stefanov again playing the guitar.
The evening won’t lack visual arts, with Benny Semp and his artwork. Other artists might join the event last minute, so for any updates visit www.facebook.com/ErdingtonArts
The event will also be broadcast live via the Erdington Arts Forum Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ErdingtonArts
The Evening of Creativity is founded and hosted by the Erdington Arts Forum – who engages people with workshops, exhibitions, training programmes, and music performances.
This month’s Evening of Creativity will be held at Oikos Café, on Erdington High Street, from 6:30pm on Friday 17 February, with advance tickets costing between £5-£6.13.To book your advance tickets, click here.
For more from Oikos Café visit www.oikoscafe.co.uk
Hi are The Ukulele Allsorts still performing in Birmingham.