SEDGEFIELD NEWS - As a last minute and thrilling addition to the Slow Festival this year (April 14 - 16), festinos will have the amazing opportunity to see internationally acclaimed singer/ songwriter, Auriol Hays, performing live.
As an ambassador for The Living Cornerstone (TLC) in Sedgefield, a public benefit and non-profit organization that cares for Alzheimers sufferers, Auriol Hays has agreed to perform at 3 functions during the festival in a bid to raise awareness and a focus to raise funds for this vital charity.
Deep, delightful and a mirror reflection of life experiences, Auriol Hays is no mere musician. She is undoubtedly one of South Africa's best vocalists, a Musical Storyteller, blessed with a powerful, sultry thick-as-molasses voice that consistently unseats her audience.
With multiple accolades, she has sung at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, opening with the Gauteng Big Band at the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Zoo Lake Music Festival, Suidoosterfees, Lusito Land Festival, the Folk and Acoustic festival or the Cape Town International Jazz Festival alongside the Brand New Heavies, Buena Vista Social Club and Jill Scott. In support of Greenpeace, she also penned a song for the Arctic 30 titled “Come Home to Me”, which highlighted the plight of Arctic drilling in Russia and the impact on the environment. She also wrote and dedicated a song to TLC; A Million Years.
She will be performing live at the Slow Festival as follows (all in the Mitchell’s Tent on the Village Green in Sedgefield):
• Friday April 14 from 18:00 as part of the Mitchell’s Easter Music Experience (along with Rooted Souls and The Dandies)
• Saturday April 15 from 14:00-15:00 as a free TLC Benefit Concert
“Rather than asking for an entrance fee at the TLC Benefit concert,” said Hays, “I’d like to appeal to anyone and everyone who comes down to the Village Green- and by that I mean at any time throughout the Festival- to make a donation at the TLC stall. Donations can be made in cash or dropped off there. Blankets, old cd’s, tinned or fresh foods, rubber mattress covers would all be greatly appreciated. Cash donations will go towards wheelchair servicing and staff attending nursing courses at the Ukuphela College in George.”
Festival organisers anticipate these functions to sell out quickly, so be sure to book early and don’t miss out on this thrilling treat.
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