Grand Union Orchestra All-Stars fire up Woolwich Works

The Grand Union Orchestra AllStars fired their first broadside at Woolwich Works on Friday 1st September at 8.00pm at the close of Rhythm Passport’s remarkable Arsenal of Sounds season, featuring the whole range of music and musicians flourishing in London today.

They took a capacity audience on a journey from East to West, first along the Silk Road with gu zheng (Chinese harp) virtuoso Zhu Xiao Meng playing beguiling ancient melodies, and Lucy Rahman’s poignant Bengali songs and classical Indian ragas; then the voyage of the African diaspora across the Atlantic to Latin America and the Caribbean, led by Ghanaian master-drummer Abass Dodoo, with percussionist Carlos Fuentes and Andres Lafone on bass guitar.

Adding fiery jazz improvisation and lyrical solos from Shanti Jayasinha (trumpet/cello) and Louise Elliott (tenor sax/flute), supported by hot-shot multi-instrumentalist Gerry Hunt with visionary composer/arranger Tony Haynes (piano/trombone) in command, this invincible force in the international battle for musical hearts and minds took the audience by storm!

Promoter Marco Canepari of Rhythm Passport was thrilled: “It was an absolute delight to have such charismatic musicians with us for the closing event of the series… The event was a hit with everyone from the audience to the sound engineers and bar-staff!”