The People’s Music Network Winter Gathering is a musical event that is not to be missed! This national organization is joining the Lawrence, MA, Community in its celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Bread & Roses Strike. With the Occupy Movement, songs for social change will be more in demand. Come join the network that has been promoting music for social change since 1977.

The Concert will take place on Friday January 27 at 7:30 PM at the Lawrence High School Performing Arts Center, 70-72 North Parish Road, Lawrence, MA 01843. The Gathering on Saturday and Sunday, January 28-29, will be at the Lawrence Senior Center, 155 Haverhill St., Lawrence, MA 01840.

At the gathering, Charlie King and Karen Brandow will present an historical, multi-media show of song, video and spoken word about the Bread & Roses strike in the plenary. The Friday night concert will feature labor singer-songwriters: Anne Feeney, Bev Grant, Jon Fromer and Tom Juravich. Also appearing are Rebel Voices, Back to the Roots (Spiritchild & Evan Greer), Nathan Baez, Bread & Roses, the Lawrence H.S. Girls Ensemble and the PMN Chorus.

There will be workshops Saturday and Sunday. A sampling of them:

Labor:

Songs for a Changing Labor Movement (Tom Juravich): brief review of changing context of labor organizing and a song-swap of contemporary labor songs.

All The Other Miners: Musical diversity in the coal fields (Saro Lynch-Thomason of Blair Pathways): Through recordings, performance, and lecture, this workshop will explore Blair Pathway’s research into West Virginia’s diverse coal mining music and its relationship to the Coal Wars.

Activism:

New Songs from the Occupy Movement (Chris Nauman)

Fracking, Pipeline, and Mountaintop Removal Struggles: Song Swap (Bev Grant)

Music2Life (Liz Sundee) Introduction to Music2Life–it’s mission, projects, results, and relationship to PMN

Nueva Cancion (Colleen Kattau)

Hip Hop:

Back To The Roots (Evan Greer and Spiritchild): A workshop illuminating the connections of hip-hop and folk music as the music of people’s struggles and the music of poor and working class people.

Hip Hop Culture (Maurice “Soulfighter” Taylor)

Skills:

Chords To Fan the Flames of Discontent:(Reggie Harris & Jon Fromer) Guitar techniques that enliven the songs we sing.

Making A Living Through Political Music (Anne Feeney)

Teaching and Leading Songs in Community Settings (Verne McArthur)

Vocal Arranging (Ben Silver) Bring in your songs and explore different approaches to interesting arrangements.

Others:

Rounds (Sol Weber) For CAUSES or for FUN or for both–rousing, beautiful, silly

Choral Singing Workshop (Karen Mihalyi)

South African Songs and Dances (Sharon Katz & Wendy Khethiwe Quick)

Plus a Round Robin Saturday night, Songs of the Spirit on Sunday morning, and lots of fun and impromptu jamming

Register online now at PeoplesMusic.org