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Wilberforce Weekender
The Wilberforce Cup yacht race, Hull Jazz Festival and the Sankofa Sunsplash festival create one of the biggest weekends of the year.
Some of world's biggest names in jazz will come to Hull next month for the 15th Hull International Jazz Festival.
Other, slightly larger attractions will arrive from overseas when ten 68ft-long clipper yachts visit Hull Marina, fresh from racing in The Wilberforce Cup.
The water-based action continues when Zapcat powerboats visit for two days of racing on the Humber off Hull Marina.
Around 40 high-speed vessels will race over a 500-sq-metre course – so expect plenty of thrills and spills.
Then there's the Sankofa Sunsplash festival, a free event in Queens Gardens celebrating African and African Caribbean culture, arts, dance music and food.
It promises to be a date for your diary, a real summer sizzler.
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Friday 27 July to Sunday July 29
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The Wilberforce Cup
Visitors to Hull Marina will be able to take a close look at the clipper yachts between July 27 and 29. The Wilberforce Cup forms a central part of the city's Wilberforce 2007 commemorations and is a warm up for the Clipper 07/08 round-the-world race which will last ten months and trace a route of 35,000 miles across the world's toughest oceans.
The clipper yachts will leave Hull on July 29 bound for Liverpool, from where the race begins in September.
Meanwhile, ten young people from the city are currently undergoing yachting training at Gosport in Hampshire, after which they will have the opportunity to sail in part of the race aboard the Yorkshire Forward Hull and Humber Clipper.
They are being sponsored by the ONE HULL partnership.
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Sunday July 29 to Sunday August 5
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All that jazz
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UK Sax and rap star Soweto Kinch and his band play Hull Truck Theatre on August 3, 8pm |
Last year 8,000 people attended the jazz festival, which has now established itself as one of the leading events of its kind in the UK.
Taking place between July 28 and August 5, the event will take place at a number of venues including Hull Truck Theatre and the Pave and Lamp café bars.
Among the big names there's the 'Grand Union Orchestra' who have written a specially-commissioned piece 'Can't Chain Up My Mind' to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade.
The festival, organised by Hull City Council, also pays tribute to the Godfather of British Jazz, pianist Stan Tracy, who celebrates his 80th birthday this year by bringing his octet to the city.
On Sunday July 29, the festival will feature the best of regional and local musicians in a free afternoon of classic, big band and Dixieland jazz.
A full programme of events can be obtained by phoning 300300. Tickets are now on sale from the jazz festival box office on 323638 and www.hulljazzfestival.co.uk |
Sankofa Sunsplash
The free Sankofa Sunsplash festival will kick off in Queen's Gardens on July 28, from noon onwards.
Part of Hull's Wilberforce 2007 commemorations, the festival features international performers including Khady Black, Sierra Leone's first and biggest female reggae artist, and Kasai Masai, a six-piece outfit that blends the sound of rural Africa with an urban beat.
Sankofa Sunsplash will also feature a live performance from Bristol-based Netsayi Chigwendere, a highly sought after new talent of Zimbabwean heritage.
And an exhibition of black music and culture will be held at the ARC centre, Castle Street, especially for Sankofa Sunsplash. The exhibition has been set up by the Black Atlantic Project.
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