Sharrrow Festival

Mark | 05.07.2009 07:51 | Sheffield

The diverse community in Sharrow come together for an unexpectedly sunny festival

Welcome to Sharrow

Beauty Treatment

break dancing

mechanical bronco

craft stalls

drum workshop

the hip hop zone

Sajid Ahmed Kahn Qawwali group

Grooving to Qawwali

graffiti in the hip hop zone

ice creams for a sunny day

local choir with body popping accompaniment

parachute games

street dance workshop

strawberries and cream in the tea tent

Abelwell reggae band

Sure Start dome and kids area

Sahaja yoga

African Drumming

Keeping an eye on proceedings

Sharrow Festival turned out sunny again despite predictions of rain all week the day went well and the rain held off to allow everyone to have a great day in Mount Pleasant park. The festival was really well attended with 2 music stages, a hip-hop zone, kids play area a bouncy castle and slide, a mechanical bronco, craft, theatre, dance and circus workshops, craft stalls, clothes stalls, henna tattoos and loads of great food a teat tent and a coffee stall. Music included Blues, Reggae, Qawwali, African Drumming, Italian Rap and more.

Right at the end some muppets tried to start a brawl but it got shut down by by the police and the only shower of the day. The message is clear don't start trouble at the Sharrow festival you get rained on.

The shower and the trouble passed and the folk that stayed were treated to a fantastic finale by Robert Maseko and his Congo beat.

Support your local Festivals if you missed it be there next year it will be even better, or you could try Abbeyfield Park this afternoon which will also be good.

Mark

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

It had been Brewing all day..

05.07.2009 10:21

2008 Sharrow Festival was awesome, despite the white Middle Class and their over drinking to excess, seems their search for oblivion come back this year, we left early due to vibe going very ugly around 5.30 as we left we noted some people why we was going, some people in The Community do not drink as they're Muslim, we noted a lot of people other than just this group of people was displaced from going down to the area with music, due to the drink and we have to say drugs, the white Middle Class like to speak of inclusive diversity, not only Islam teaches us the wrong of western culture and selfish values, anarchism also informs us of this, it was not anarchy but just ignorance rudeness disrespect to come to an event and get wasted in the way a few did it ruined our day and we have no doubt speaking to olders and others before we left it did much the same for a lot more people.

Anarchism is more than just seeking nihilism, and likewise if you understand nihilism and hedonism it is far more political than your crass selfishness you once again displayed.

An Anarchist from Sharrow:

images

05.07.2009 11:26

more images from the day:

underclassrising.net

Trouble, but not brewed

05.07.2009 16:49

Given that the trouble was started by people too young to have been (legally) drinking perhaps Sharrow Anarchist could reassess what actually caused it. "Young boys posturing" was how a police man contemptuously described it. Sure there was drinking but it caused no harm except to the imbibers livers.

Mark

@ Mark

05.07.2009 17:35

To drink alcoholic beverages, at a community event one where there is such a cultural diversity is crass and there was no need, can they not enjoy the vibe with out being imbibers? We had gone and we know Mark so we do trust his word on this, this dose not negate aspiration, in our minds there is no doubt the trouble was started by people too young to have been (legally) drinking, but the fact people was being imbibers and it is fact they was white and Middle Class, did to perturb people from going into or taking part in the main music area it has been the case for a few years now, there is no doubt this knowledge has empower such people, a change in the layout next year?

Ie the main music lorry being in the top field, lower one just a chill out music vibe, and nothing more then so if the white Middle Class desire to seek oblivion and think such action is anarchism they do not stop people enjoying the music stage, we missed without doubt some good music but we was not staying around with such an ugly vibe, no matter where the trouble come from, it was going to happen, sad reality a lot of working class people have the aspiration to be like The Middle Class only to there detriment, they lack some of the social privileges of the middle class, who also are the first ones to come out with names like chavs.

Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another. Emma Goldman

An Anarchist from Sharrow:

more to the attack

05.07.2009 17:51

Mark,

Why are you making light of a man being visciously attacked , it is not the first time either: a well known elderly leftist was attacked in broad daylight in Nether Edge last week by a gang on youths no more than 14! This is rapidly becoming a very dangerous area, maybe Sheffield Indymedia can report on that as well or doesn't it fit with your agenda..

visitor

@visitor

05.07.2009 18:15

If one of there own or it had been them who had caused the trouble it would not have been reported, like all media it will only report what is of interest to itself, will make out the actions of The Middle Class was inconsequential, therefore the demonstration of the working class, when the working class up rise they will use words such as imbibers and chavs, the claim of indymedia to be a wire where we can all report our own news is no longer fact either, it was honest of Mark to report something had happened, we can not remove this fact but the positive spin on an event spoiled by the white Middle Class, perhaps more working class people need to write and comment so the limited few are not inconsequential, demonised by those who run this wire, shall we all ask for admin status, but this would mean them trusting us, and they wonder why we do not trust them?

An Anarchist from Sharrow:

usual bullshit

06.07.2009 08:45

Funny any time there is an article mentioning "The community" it always seems to be shorthand for ethnic and religious groups. But then these are the tactics of state control and the meal tickets of the liberal middle classes. Are most 'communty festivals' based around African drumming, indian head massage and Brazillian food stalls? Who runs these community festivals, really? Are you excluded? The emotive bullshit betrays a deeper problem with activism and the realtionship with the majority of excluded people on this island whom you do not speak for nor will ever probably meet. ( nonw of your fake working classses too )

harmony diversity

why all this classist talk?

06.07.2009 19:11

First, Visitor I'm sorry that you think I was making light of an event that resulted in someone getting hurt, I didn't mean to belittle the injury simply point out that it wasn't as a result of drinking but rather young fools posturing because they haven't the sense to realise that injury really hurts people.

Sharrow anarchist, why have you got to reduce the whole thing to a to a class based rant. There were lots of folk at the festival and I suspect that they represented a cross section of the people who live in Sharrow. I didn't ask them what class they were from and I didn't make any assumptions. You are right it is a bit crass to brink heavily in front of people who do not drink but I don't think I saw seriously heavy drinking, by that I mean I saw no offensive drunks. Bear in mind we do not allow the sale of alcohol on site and have in the past stopped people trading when we found they were selling alcohol. In a public space how do you propose we stop people doing perfectly legal activities ie. having a drink. Is it also crass to consume meat in front of vegetarians of which there were many on the site some who may well have beliefs held just as passionately as the most devout believer of any faith.

Mark

@ Mark

07.07.2009 08:27

Some animal right people would say it was wrong to eat meat in front of people full stop, back to the drink and drugs you can not stop it (though it be cool if it somehow did happen) agreed, however this is about respect and it is an issue of class due to the fact those drinking to excess was The white privileged Middle Class this is not being classit to point this out, but when a dominant class of people displace another then it very much becomes a problem one we hope can be resolved, i.e. the moving of the music to the main area and letting the lower area becoming just a chill out area, as a local I was displaced by a dominant group of people, there drinking did create an ugly vibe this as locals together we need to resolve for next year I do not desire for the wonderful event this is to become just but a moment I would like it to go on.

An Anarchist from Sharrow: