Ramsgate Festival of Sound 2022
The Festival of Sound comes to Ramsgate once again, August 27th – September 4th.
After two years of complying with Covid guidelines, the festival team is thrilled to welcome everyone back to a restriction-free week of family friendly festivities, many of which are free to attend.
We asked the Festival of Sound team to tell us about their upcoming event and they couldn’t wait to fill us in! Scroll down to read what’s in store and for the 6 ticketed events, there are links included at the end of this blog to book your space.
Festival Director Andrew Gibson says ‘I’m delighted that the festival is happening again this year. Demand for funding has been huge and we are so grateful to all who have supported the event through our crowd funder and for volunteering. We literally couldn’t do it without you! We have a spectacular week of events planned, most of which are free for all to enjoy. We are also hugely grateful to our festival sponsor, La Marzocco who will be giving delicious coffee away during the festival’ (first come first served!).
As well as La Marzocco (makers of those superbly crafted and uniquely designed coffee machines) the festival was very fortunate to be funded by Ramsgate Town Council, Arts Council England, Kent County Council, generous members of the public via a crowd funder campaign and the festival’s Angel members.
See below for a run-down of the festival.
For the latest information and tickets please go to RamsgateFestival.org or drop in to Sugar Rush at 66 High Street Ramsgate August 22nd – 26th 11 am – 2pm and Sept 1st-4th, 12 – 5pm to talk to one of the festival volunteers and pick up a brochure.
The opening weekend begins on Saturday 27th August at Ellington Park with a day of family filled fun – Baby and Toddler Sensory Ramfamdisco, Taiko Drumming Workshop, Don’t Rain on My Parade featuring songs from much loved musicals and an array of fantastic performers including Olivier Award winner Leanne Jones (Hairspray) and the children of Stage Door Arts Academy, plus the festival debut of Boogie Booth – so don’t forget your dancing shoes! In the evening Screaming Alley Cabaret celebrates Britney Spears in ‘Oops We Did It Again!’. If last year’s homage to George Michael is anything to go by, this will be an evening not to be missed!
Sunday 29th August sees the festival classic, Busk at Dusk. In previous year’s this has been on the last day of the festival, a school night – this year it’s a bank holiday so no excuse not to come down to East Cliff promenade to hear a wonderful selection of musical artists performing in the shelters along the cliff face. The area can be reached along from Marina Esplanade car park, or by the east cliff’s chine steps. Artists include Wantsum Music?, Richie Triangle, Lynne Wallis, Benedict Welling, Annie and Geary, Wyatt Riot, with the headliner of the evening being provided by The Great Malarkey -if you’ve not seen this band perform live before, you’re in for a treat – brilliant music and joyously energetic. There will also be a chance to feel bass like you’ve not heard or felt it before courtesy of Bernie Gardner’s Bass Face – a Busk at Dusk special event. And festival favourites, The Thanet Intelligence Task Squad are back. Look for them as best you can, but you’ll never spot these experts of espionage. Fools Folly are delighted to be back for Busk at Dusk 2022 and can’t wait to stir up more nonsense for your entertainment.
Over the first weekend food and beverages will be supplied by Dirtee Feast, The Pub, Ramsgate, and La Marzocco.
The Ramsgate Society will once again host talks at Royal Temple Yacht Club; Maggie Gee on her new novel ‘The Red Children’ and Rob Kenyon (Heritage Lab) and Kevin O’Connor (Ramsgate Arts Barge) talking about their respective roles in renovation and regenerating unique heritage spaces. To register your space, scroll to the end of this blog.
Wednesday 31st August the festival has teamed up with Fools Folly Chuckle Club and expect a night of stellar stand-up comedy from the cosy, speakeasy surroundings of downstairs at The Bedford Inn. Grab a drink and get your laughing gear ready for a raucous night of thrills, spills, laughter, and Meerkats in Tutus. Follow Fools Folly on all social media to keep up to date with everything related to Chuckle Club including how to book tickets, and line-up announcements.
Thursday 1st September we have a powerful night of female led work.
At The Bedford Inn Alpha Femme, written and performed by Megan Garrett-Jones. Don’t miss this all singing all twerking queer feminist opus as it returns to Ramsgate, hot from the Edinburgh Fringe …Later that evening get yourselves over to the Ramsgate Music Hall for ‘FLESH’ by Olivia Suki Squier and Pete Wareham. A vocally explosive exploration of our relationship with FLESH. Come hungry and ready to move.
Thursday – Sunday 1st – 4th September the Sonic Trail features another eclectic mix of sound installations at various venues and locations around Ramsgate featuring the work of Ruth Rollason, Caitlin Osborne, Bernie Gardner, Andrew Waterworth, Paul Naudin and Julian Hand, Project Motor House’s ‘Treasures’ and Harbour Lights, created by Mischievous Theatre. Addington Street Community’s jolly yellow caravan Cozi Van Tutti will be the venue for festival Producer Gemma Dempsey’s ghostly smuggler’s tale, written for Ramsgate Through the Senses, and The Radiophonic Institute’s The Estuary Sound Ark.
For the first time in the festival’s five-year history, it will present not one but two events at our much loved St George’s Church.
Saturday 3rd September ‘Crying Out Loud’ sung by Neptunes Choir. Created by Naomi Hammerton, this new choral work was inspired by the work of artist Rose-Lynn Fisher, The Topography of Tears which showed how tears look different under a microscope depending on the emotion that has created them.
Sunday 4th September is the festival’s last night and it will go out with a cosmic big bang!
‘From the Sea to the Stars’ will featuring new and original work and is headlined by violinist extraordinaire Anna Phoebe. She, along with her band, will play music from her ‘Sea Souls ‘album which she wrote during 2020, inspired by the sea near her home in Deal.
Ramsgate based composer and producer Nicholas de Carlo has teamed up with the Modulus Quartet to launch seven new string quartet pieces for 2022, The Gargarin Quartets. Charting the first orbit of earth by ‘starman’ Yuri Gagarin during the height of the cold war.
The show will open with Penguin Cafe double bass player Andrew Waterworth andhis project ‘The God Particle’ ; he’ll perform to a specially edited version of ‘The Infinity Room’, a film about the Atlas camera in the Hadron Collider. ‘From the Sea to the Stars’ promises to be a wonderful night of music, resonating and activating the stardust within us all!
From the Festival Team, Andrew, Gemma and Darryn
https://www.facebook.com/ramsgatefestival
https://twitter.com/ramsgatefest
https://www.instagram.com/Ramsgatefestivalofsound/
Nearly every event is free but for those that require tickets, head over to https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ramsgatefesivalofsound/ or click on the links below for each event.
Alpha Femme: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ramsgatefesivalofsound/736832/
FLESH: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ramsgatefesivalofsound/742060/
Crying Out Loud: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ramsgatefesivalofsound/735330/
Anna Phoebe – From the Sea to the Stars: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ramsgatefesivalofsound/734684/
The Ramsgate Society talks at the Royal Temple Yacht Club have a suggested donation charge of £3 per talk but you can register your place at:
31st August doors open at 6.30pm for 1 hour talk from 7pm The Red Children by Maggie Gee: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/maggie-gee-to-talk-about-her-latest-novel-the-red-children-tickets-394234555167?aff=erelpanelorg
2nd September doors open at 6.30pm for 1 hour talk from 7pm A Talk on Visions to Create two new Community Assets in Ramsgate: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-talk-on-visions-to-create-two-new-community-assets-in-ramsgate-tickets-394308646777?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
To find out more about the Sonic Trails that are an integral part of our festival, head over to https://ramsgatefestival.org/sonic-trail/
Rebekah Smith
Ramsgate Town Promoter
