Waitati performance is a prelude to workshops

There will be a free performance of folk music from Latin America this Friday, 5 December, 6.30pm at Waitati Hall.

Musicians Sophia León de la Barra and Miguel Molina Lagos say they are particularly excited about playing for Waitati. "We would like to run a community music workshop on Saturdays starting in 2009, primarily working with zampoñas (also called Pan pipes).

These are a good medium for learning music for people of all ages." Sophia thought a free recital would be a good way to attract interest in the workshops."We were heartily welcomed into Waitati, and rapidly integrated into the community life of the small village we now call home." Miguel has been a musician for the past 21 years in Chile, working actively to revive the folk tradition of music from Latin America through community workshops and recitals.

Sophia comes from a Public Health and Community Development background, and is currently studying carpentry at Otago Polytechnic.

Together, the two are happily piecing together the framework for a community-organised and communally-facilitated Saturday workshop, focused on sharing the wide world of arts with local kids from Waitati.

Through grant applications, they hope to gain resources for enough instruments to run a full-scale music workshop in 2009.

In the mean time, there will be weekly backyard workshops called 'Art in the arvo' on Saturdays from 4.30-6pm, exploring the fine arts of drawing, painting, theatre, music, mask and piñata making and other crafts.

All ages and artistic abilities are welcome, and other community members are encouraged to join as facilitators to share their artistic skills and help with the children.

Weekly workshops are held in the back yard of 12 Harvey Street, Waitati, two doors up from the nursery and across the street from the fire station.