These Lands Are Your Lands

A host of artists, including Mariza, more than just the leading Portuguese fado singer of her generation, will be showing why they are so highly regarded during the run of This Land Is Your Land, a weekend celebration of British and International Traditional music, dance and ceremony as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Festival of Britain with MasterCard.

A global icon who has seduced worldwide audiences with her awesome singing, charismatic stage presence and powerful blend of traditional and contemporary song forms, it's a case of ‘once seen-never forgotten', in the case of Mariza.. Across four spectacular studio albums she has breathed new life into fado. Now, for her fifth studio album, she returns to her roots. Fado Tradicional (out this spring on EMI) finds Mariza triumphantly exploring the origins of the genre, proving her mettle as a true fado singer and as an artist without peer.

Inspired by Woody Guthrie's most iconic song This Land Is Your Land, recorded in 1944, Southbank Centre curates These Lands Are Your Lands.

Since 1951 the Centre has played host to traditional music from all over the world through landmark festivals and concerts by some of the world's greatest artists, including from Ravi Shankar, Youssou N'Dour, Taraf De Haidouks and Baaba Mal, whose 1988 Royal Festival Hall concert was recently voted as one of the best world music concerts ever by Songlines magazine.

Musical highlights as part of the These Lands Are Your Lands series include Artists in Residence Bellowhead and their guests in The Great Folk Jukebox, with artists including Marc Almond, Bishi, Green Gartside, Bella Hardy, Robyn Hitchcock, Lisa Knapp and June Tabor and the Oysterband paying homage to the much-celebrated Singing Englishmen folk concert curated by A.L. Lloyd for the 1951 Festival of Britain (7 May); new Real World signings Syriana (7 May), and a triple bill of UK-based bands Kosmos, Paprika and She'koyokh exploring Balkan, Gypsy and Jewish music afresh (8 May).

See This Land Is Your Land on Thur 5 - Sat 7 May at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. Adm: £10-£35. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Shows during These Lands Are Your Lands include:

Sat 7 - 8 May
CULTURA OBSCURA
Ancient celebrations and ceremony burst forth in atavistic celebration, as part of the These Lands Are Your Lands weekend, across the site we celebrate the ancient customs, songs, stories, dancing and art, parades of Hobby Horses, Rush Carts, Wandering Minstrels, Sword, Clog, Morris and Step dancers, Gypsy Travellers, Wassailers, Horn Dancers, Tellers and Songsters, and the like. Curated by The Magpie's Nest - promoters of quality new, traditional and roots music - Cultura Obscura reveals a feast of treasures for all the senses. Venue: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sat 7 May
CULTURA OBSCURA: DAY 1
A thrilling range of ancient customs, songs, stories, dancing and art, animated through impromptu gatherings and processions, displays, workshops and performances including Cornish musicians and dancers Kemysk and Scoot dancers, Karen Ryan's Irish Trad Gathering, Wandering Minstrels, the Minehead's Hobby Horse, and much much more. There will be an Old Vardo gypsy caravan and visitors to the site can learn craft-making with Chris Penfold and marvel at Doc Rowe's extraordinary photographic survey of British customs and folklore, plus Simon Costin's Museum of British Folklore. Outdoor festivities will climax with a procession and beating of the bounds at 4.15pm. In association with The Magpie's Nest. Venue: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 11am-7pm. 5.30pm-7pm. Adm: Free. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sat 7 May
CULTURA OBSCURA: THE SHINDIG
The revelry continues in the Ballroom with Cornish social dancing, alongside music sets including Jeff Warner's Songs of the British High Seas, and Thomas McCarthy's Traveller Songs. In association with The Magpie's Nest. Venue: The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 5.30pm-7pm. Adm: Free. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sat 7 May
SYRIANA
Five-piece live band Syriana, complemented by projections put together by filmmaker Niccolo Piazza and backing tracks featuring the Pan Arab Strings of Damascus, inhabits a space where imagination and reality overlap. Syriana is more than just a band. It's a concept. Imagine a dialogue between East and West, of hopes and fears, similarities and differences, histories and futures - a conversation charged with emotion and balanced with respect. Think of ancient civilisations and Eastern aspirations vying and blending with iconography from spy novels, 1960s television themes and Cold War film soundtracks. A space where boundaries are dismantled, where coming together feels effortless, significant and inspired. Venue: Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 7.45pm. Adm: £15. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sat 7 May
CULTURA OBSCURA: THE SATURDAY WORKSHOPS
A packed programme of dance, music and craft-making workshops to take part in, with the opportunity to then take part in the big procession across the site towards the end of the day. Workshops include: Irish set dancing (11pm); Cornish broom dancing (12pm); Northumbrian rapper sword dancing (2pm); Irish tin whistle (2pm); and, Cornish scoot dancing (3pm). In addition, Junk Orchestra instrument-making and Hobby Horse-making workshops take place at 11am and 2pm. Venue: The Clore Ballroom and surrounding foyers at Royal Festival, Southbank, London SE1.11am-4pm. Adm: Free, but spaces may be limited.

Sat 7 May
CULTURA OBSCURA: THE LUNCHTIME GATHERING
A lunchtime performance, featuring The Trad Gathering performing 'Recollections of Camden Town', alongside stories and tales from lyrical Irish tonguester Racker Donnelly and Debs Newbold, currently Storyteller-in-Residence at Cecil Sharp House. In association with The Magpie's Nest. Venue: The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 1pm-7pm. Adm: Free. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sat 7 May
CULTURA OBSCURA: THE MIDNIGHT CEILIDH
Audiences are invited to extend the party and soak up the atmosphere with a late-night ceilidh, featuring the East Anglian Concert Party with Racker Donnolly and other special guests. In association with The Magpie's Nest. Venue: The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 10.30pm-midnight. Adm: Free. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sat 7 May
THE GREAT FOLK JUKEBOX
1951 saw a major celebration of English folk music at St Pancras Town Hall in the shape of the Festival of Britain Singing Englishmen concert. In tribute to this much-celebrated concert, special guests including Marc Almond, Robyn Hitchcock, Lisa Knapp, Bishi, Bella Hardy, Green Gartside and June Tabor and the Oysterband are joined by a house band featuring Bellowhead members Andy Mellon, Pete Flood, Benji Kirkpatrick, Brendan Kelly, Ed Neuhauser, Justin Thurgur, Rachael McShane and Sam Sweeney to perform some of the great folk songs from the last 60 years. Venue: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 7.30pm. Adm: £14 - £22.50. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sun 8 May
BREAKING BOUNDARIES!
Traditional, folk and world music and dance sees three of the UK's internationally acclaimed world music ensembles come together: Kosmos, Paprika and She'Koyokh. This exhilarating triple bill conjures up a heady mix of Balkan and Latin grooves, Jewish and Gypsy passion, and soulful Arabic improvisations. Sixteen world class musicians: one unique, unforgettable evening. Venue: The Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 7pm. Adm: £15. Info: 0844 847 9910.

Sun 8 May
CULTURA OBSCURA: THE FINAL SHINDIG
All paths lead back to the Ballroom to a final concert of the Cultura Obscur extravaganza, featuring Bartram, Brookes and Weatherall performing Shropshire tunes and songs. Venue: The Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX. 4 - 6pm. Adm: Free. Info: 0844 847 9910.