The Ha Orchestra Story
Starting from Glasgow 2014, The Commonwealth Games
…in January 2014
Ha Orchestra
was founded by Dr Gameli Tordzro with funding support from Creative Scotland and Glasgow City Council.
To create a welcoming environment for the pan-African contingent to Commonwealth Games, Ha Orchestra provided an African symphonic orchestral experience to the Cultural Festival ‘Glasgow 2014’
Ha Orchestra performed Gameli Tordzro’s compositions on all the major stages of the cultural festival during the games. They were featured on the stages of BBC at The Quay, Glasgow Green, Merchant’s Square and the newly refurbished Kelvingrove Band Stand and at the Queen’s baton relay finishing line.
Copenhagen 2016
In 2016 we were supported by the Danish cultural fund Statens Kunstfond to meet and recruit more musicians from Europe. In an enriching programme of rehearsals, performance workshops and showcase concerts we met and engaged with new members based in France, Belgium, Ghana and Scotland
Inverness 2016
KLM commissioned the Orchestra to perform at the launch of its new route from Inverness to Amsterdam. The Orchestra presented an outdoors concert and open free workshop in the centre of city to a large excited participating crowd
Dodowa Ghana 2017
Ha Orchestra was involved in the University of Glasgow’s UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK AHRC) research project Researching Multilingually at The Borders (RM Borders). The orchestra worked with community artists at Dodowa from the NOYAM African Dance Institute as part of the Creative Arts and Translating Cultures Hub of the project to translate academic research into a co-devised production of music dance and textiles ‘Broken World, Broken Word’ (BWBW). Subsequently the orchestra was invited to perform at the University of Glasgow as part of the inaugural lecture of the first UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration Through Languages and The Arts (UNESCO RILA)
Glasgow 2017 UNESCO Chair Lecture
The orchestra was invited and joined NOYAM African Dance Institute young people in Glasgow and Perth to perform at the Inaugural lecture by Prof. Alison Phipps newly appointed by UNESCO to Chair the work in creating safe environments for refugees to settle and rebuild their lives without losing their connection to their languages and cultural art forms. The invitation included participating in the SOLAS Festival in Perthshire Scotland.
…in 2019
Ha Orchestra Celebrated its 5th Anniversary with a commission from the European Conference on African Studies ECAS, and further support from the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration Through Languages and The Arts (UNESCO RILA) at the University of Glasgow School of Education. Dr Tordzro was invited by ECAS to present two Keynote concerts of his compositions and a series of workshops in Edinburgh. The concerts were popular and overflowing with enthusiastic audiences at the oldest concert hall and music museum the St Cecilia’s Hall. Our key aim is to make available and share the wide-ranging cultural arts of African origin with as many people as possible, across the world, showcasing the rich musical traditions of Africa and the African diaspora. We are determined to work to create relevant contributions and alternative positive narratives around migration, cultural justice, cultural exchange, enrichment and understanding to promote peace and wellbeing across the world. The disruptions of COVID-19 and the recent global economic downturn present us with new multiple challenges globally. We support the roadmap to full recovery with our music.
Gameli Tordzro Founder/ Director
Since May 2022, Dr Gameli Tordzro has been working with newly recruited Ha Orchestra musicians on the MIDEQ research production Dami, Mini Kuraaa Ji Dami? in Dodowa in Ghana. The production treats the difficult issues around access to justice for who disadvantaged communities of migrants in global south migration corridor.
Covid-19posed serious challenges from which we are still struggling to recover. At the same time it presents us with new collaborative opportunities we would not have thought about.
Mission
We are on a mission to demonstrate and create a new narrative about Africa and value of music and music making.
We are ready
…this year in 2023, at Ha Orchestra, we are ready to respond to invitation as we develop new programmes in Scotland, Denmark, France, Belgium and Ghana where the orchestra’s musicians are based.
, we have been part of the MIDEQ Hub’s work in Dodowa, creating music for the Hubs research translation of the research on access to justice for migrants into performance with the Noyam African Dance Institute and newly recruited young Ghanaian musicians.
Aim
Our main objective is to create and share unique authentic musical experience for as many people as possible.
Alfred Tamakloe Projects Director
The Team
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