Makar To Makar Thursday 23 July

Thursday 23 July Makar To Makar Episode 11 with host Jackie Kay, Suzanne Bonnar, Ross Wilson and Colin McGuire. 
In this episode I sing Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotten and original by Suzanne Bonnar entitled Dunoon (The Alchemy of a Nautical Star)

http://www.makar2makar.com/

Mandela Day 2020 - Nelson Mandela Scottish Memorial Foundation

UN Nelson Mandela Day Glasgow 18 July 2020.

Virtual celebration on UN Nelson Mandela Day in drive for a Scottish people’s statue

Date: Thurs 16 July 2020

The Nelson Mandela Scottish Memorial Foundation (NMSMF) is marking United Nations Nelson Mandela International Day on 18 July with an online celebration and is calling on people in Scotland to join the push to fund a statue of Mr Mandela in Glasgow along with a long term education project in Scottish schools.

Covid-19 restrictions mean that the usual event at Glasgow City Chambers is being replaced by an online event at 1pm on Saturday 18 July - on YouTube at https://youtu.be/QiA3cTciQjohttps://youtu.be/QiA3cTciQjo and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MandelaScottishMemorial/videos/3205095452903966/ - featuring contributions by Brian Filling, Foundation chair and Honorary Consul for South Africa, with Foundation patrons Philip Braat, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, and Nomatemba Tambo, the South African High Commissioner.

Other patrons, including Billy Connolly, Sir Alex Ferguson and Andrew Mlangeni, the last surviving Rivonia trialist, will also feature alongside a tribute to veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Denis Goldberg who died earlier this year.

The event will feature music from Scottish singers Suzanne Bonnar and Iona Fyfe and video clips of Nelson Mandela’s visit to Glasgow in 1993.

The Foundation is also grateful to world-renowned saxophonist Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra for their support for the Foundation as they go online earlier in the day to celebrate Mandela Day with Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ at https://snjo.co.uk/mandela/

Following its launch in 2017 by Sir Alex Ferguson, the Foundation has been steadily raising funds, planning permission for the statue is in place and an education programme for schools is already under way.

Fund-raising has included major events but also individual donations and initiatives like kilt walks and birthday and retirement donations. The push is now on for the £30,000 needed to reach the target to commission the statue.

Brian Filling, NMSMF Chair and Honorary Consul for South Africa in Scotland, said: “While Mr Mandela was in prison, many ordinary people in Scotland organised and acted to make sure the world would know about him and the fight against Apartheid.

“That’s why we want today’s generation to join us in raising the funds to make this statue one that they can see as theirs – a ‘people’s statue’ to remind future generations of the key part Scotland played in taking action for human rights and challenging racism, and on taking action for a better world.”

Scotland was at the centre of the campaign for Mr Mandela’s release from prison. The first ever freedom of a city for Nelson Mandela came from Glasgow. It kick-started 2,500 mayors from 56 different countries eventually signing a declaration to the UN in 1981 demanding his release.

The pure Glasgow gesture of renaming the home of the Glasgow South African Consulate as Nelson Mandela Place in 1986 won worldwide acclaim – and Mr Mandela never forgot it as he told the 15,000 crowd in Glasgow when he visited the city in 1993.

Donations to the to the campaign can be made online at https://mandelascottishmemorial.org/donate

Queen Marks 20 years of the Scottish Parliament.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48790983/page/2

Love these images on the BBC website of a most momentous day.

We're taking the long view' says Scots Makar Jackie Kay

Lewis McCaskill performing in  Gaelic, Suzanne Bonnar sings and BSL performer Moira Anne McAuslan all join the Makar to perform We're taking the long view'.

Makar To Makar Episode 8 Thursday 2 July 2020

Tonight! Clear your schedule. At 7pm, Nadine Aisha Jassat and Hannah Lavery appear on #Makar2Makar. Get ready for a warm and intimate hour of poetry, chat and music hosted by

@JackieKayPoet

plus music by

@SuzanneBonnar3

.

The events will stream via the National Theatre of Scotland’s YouTube channel every Thursday at 7pm for 16 weeks, each show lasting approximately 40 minutes, finishing in time for people to clap for the NHS at 8pm.

​Audiences can tune in directly via the National Theatre of Scotland's YouTube channel or by clicking the button on the home page link of this website at 7pm every Thursday. The events are free to enjoy.