Welcome
Official event of the Japan Season of Culture
(Click on image for poster)
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IN CONCERT: Kazue Yanagida (violin) with Akiko Murakami (piano) An 'Early Summer Concert' of the Pro Musica 'Four Seasons Salon Concert' series, presented at the Rudwig Hall, Shizuoka, Japan by Mr Akihisa Ogawa (organiser and proprietor) 24th May 2014 Editing and re-mastering from the original video presentation (2014) by Godfrey King for the www.ajsw.org.uk 26th May 2018
FULL LENGTH FEATURE FILMS
(Free...no registration. Just click and go)
*enlarge screen by clicking on the panel at the bottom right hand corner of the video
from week to week we will build up a program of eg Japanese films / documentaries as well Hollywood musicals
(Click on the three bars in top left of frame for selection of films)
'CLASS JAZZ'
with
CLASS JAZZ TO-DAY (2017)
'Where Are They Now'
CLICK HERE FOR APPRECIATION by Godfrey King (Text)
A POT POURRI OF VIDEO PLAYLISTS
Featured artists and music of all kinds.
Click above to play our playlist 'THIS IS SUMI JO'
(Sumi Jo web site: http://www.sumijo.com/)
Click above to play our playlist 'THIS IS SARAH COLLINS'
("Keep the Faith Band" web site: http://www.keepthefaith.band/)
Click above to play our playlist 'THIS IS STEVE TEMPO'
(Steve Tempo web site: http://www.stevetempo.com/)
Click above to play our playlist 'CHINESE / JAPANESE TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS'
Click above to play our playlist 'JUST CLASSICAL - From soloists to orchestral'
Click above to play our playlist 'CONCERT ALL-SORTS - All kinds of pop'
Click above to play our playlist 'THIS IS MUSIC FROM JAPANESE FILMS (or inspired by!)'
Click above to play our playlist 'THIS IS Godfrey King - Composer, Arranger, Pianist'
Compiled by Godfrey King for the AJSW
THIS IS AJSW AT CHRISTMAS' PAST
AJSW Christmas Playlists from 2014 to 2018
THIS IS AJSW CHRISTMAS 2018
Keeping It Traditional
2017 / 18 AJSW 'ALTERNATIVE TOP OF THE POPS'
'WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR'
Godfrey's 2017 Facebook Favourites For Christmas
Click above to play our 2017/2018 Christmas Playlist
Click above to play our 2016/2017 Christmas Playlist 'Alternative Top of The Pops'
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If you missed last year's playlist...
Click above to play our 2015/2016 Christmas Playlist 'Alternative Top of The Pops'
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Or even 2014's playlist...
Click above to play our 2014 Christmas Playlist 'Alternative Top of The Pops'
Have a listen to a sample from the CD...
The AJSW's Christmas mini-CD with The Pascal's:
Steve & Aska Holtz
Great songs -- Great Music as Steve and Aska sing for us
to share and express all our 'CHRISTMAS HOPES AND WISHES'
(Click image to show contents)
£8 plus £2 postage (£10)
Cheques payable to 'Anglo-Japanese Society of Wessex'
Order from: godf...@btinternet.com
Address: AJSW, 18 Ronald Buckingham Court, Kenning Street, Rotherhithe, London SE16 4LL
AUDIO SAMPLER:
A SELECTION OF PAST EVENTS FROM OUR ARCHIVES
(Click on image for PDF)
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Please find below piano solo from Kumi Matsuo, "Franz Liszt: Au lac de Wallenstadt, from Annees de Pelerinage BK1."
(Click on image for PDF)
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(Click on image for PDF)
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AJSW STRING QUARTET LONDON DEBUT
The AJSW Presents
Friday November 17th at
St. Botolph without Bishopsgate Church
Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3TL
www.botolph.org.uk
an Evening Recital 7.30 to 9.00pm : Tube - Liverpool Street
By Ticket Entry £15.00 (concessions)
Tickets and Information 0207 237 4445
godf...@btinternet.com
http://www.ajsw.org.uk
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The London Debut of
The AJSW String Quartet
Ed McCullagh (leader) - Ayako Yamazaki (violin)
Katya Lazareva (viola) - Marta Tobar (cello)
PROGRAM
'Dances of St Gregory' - composer / arranger Jeff Manookian (b 1953 - )
1. Adagio misterioso 2. Energico 3. Largo rubato 4. Andante Appassionato 5. Allegretto Vivace
F. Mendelsshon String Quartet No 2 in A Minor Op 13
1. Adagio Allegro Vivace 2. Adagio non lento 3. Intermezzo Allegretto con motto - Allegro di molto 4. Presto - Adagio non lento
Click on the arrow to hear AJSW String Quartet play the 3rd Movement of S. Coleridge-Taylors 'Fantasiestuke' - Humoresque
AJSW Copyright Recording at St George's,Bristol for the AJSW's June 24th '7 Sins and Virtues' concert evening....usage permission restricted.
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Click here for poster.
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An AJSW 20th anniversary concert http://www.ajsw.org.uk/ |
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(Click on image for PDF)
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Have a look at our promotional video...
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Our Wessex Title Explained
Our title and what inspired it is often assumed to cover the region described in Thomas Hardy's novels based on the Wessex Region.....but he was a novelist not an historian and his geographical outline of Wessex described to suit his novels within a defined area and names he used of towns and villages pseudonyms for real places within that area. The real history of Wessex and the area it covered is more complex and over a variable area of the country as its fortunes ebbed and flowed. Our oft asked question "What are you doing in London" sometimes wearisome to answer as little can be explained in a few sentences to a half interested listener and especially the Japanese!
Wessex simply means 'West Saxons' and Sussex (South Saxons), Essex (East Saxons) and Middlesex (Middle Saxons). Wessex, unlike those counties, was never enshrined in the name of a county. The Saxons came from an area of Germany and our present Monarchy are only called the family name of Windsor due to a name change from Saxe-Coburg because of its Germanic connections and the concerns within the UK about the Royal Family's loyalties during World War I due to its relatives within the German Royal Family.
Surpressed post 1066 after the Norman invasion took over the Monarchy of the United Kingdom (s), the region of Wessex shone dimly through the ages almost as a folk memory until Hardy revived interest in it albeit with a novelist's interest to 'tell a good story' but not necessarily a factual one.
But it was the only Monarch called 'Great'...'Alfred The Great'....who established the region of Wessex as a crucial element to everything we now think of as 'English'....the 'Anglo-Saxons' (the English Saxons). Defeated by the Danish forces he hid on what we know as The Isle of Athelney close to Glastonbury in Somerset and from there rose again to defeat the Danes including taking London. Alfred believed the best way to establish national stability was to educate its people. And so began the process that grew into the British Empire that covered nearly the whole world which is why, whatever history's twists and turns may cause, there is some corner of a foreign field 'Forever England'.
Let us say then our title is symbolic of what one man can dream of and bring to a reality 'from a swamp in Somerset'.
Here is a visual explanation explaining some of the history by Ryan M. Reeves:
Alfred and Anglo Saxon England
Further info may be gained from myriad sources and Wikpedia a good place to embark on an expansive and interesting historical quest (see here).
Godfrey King 15.7.14
