The UNCRC Participation Rap
Swoosh was recently graced with the presence of some fantastic young people from the Vale Of Glamorgan's Welsh medium school, Bro Morgannwg, at a mini-launch event of a UNCRC participation rap video.
This project was funded by the Vale Of Glamorgan Children And Young People's Partnership.
Community Focussed Schools’ worker Leonie Horton had advertised the project in the school, and these budding young stars expressed an interest in taking part to create and star in this bilingual rap music video for the UNCRC.
UNCRC stands for United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child, and this energetic bunch had the job of promoting the UNCRC and helping to highlight young people’s rights in Wales.
To get the creative ball rolling, a number of workshops on the theme of the UNCRC, participation and standards were organised by Ve Van de Voorde. Ve is the Vale Of Glamorgan's Youth Participation Officer.
The pupils from Ysgol Gyfun Bro Morgannwg kindly volunteered their time to take part in all the workshops, with assistance from Community Music Wales tutors to write the lyrics. And the twist? This rap had to feature both the English and Welsh language!
Once the lyrics were ready to go, the excitable group headed to Studio41, Barry during the Easter holidays to record the music and song with Vibe Experience.
This lucky group were also filmed for two days on location by local film company Vibe Creative, using the Vale Of Glamorgan's brand new, shiny V-Pod, single decker bus spectacularly transformed and kitted out with the latest multimedia. Pimp My Ride comes to mind!
Following lots of hard work, fun and laughter, the participation rap was completed and aptly named Choices/Dewisiadau. I met with the young people and the organisers at a mini launch hosted in May 2010. The music video was showcased to parents, family and friends. From the screams of laughter, I think the Bro pupils quite liked it! The parents were pleasantly surprised too.
Ve Van de Voorde told us: "The young people have created an excellent resource which will be used in training sessions and workshops locally and all over Wales to introduce the topic of participation to young people and practitioners.
"They have worked really hard and have put in a lot of effort into this. I am sure that the Children’s Commissioner For Wales, Keith Towler, who is launching the rap in Ysgol Gyfun Bro Morgannwg on Wednesday 14 July, will really enjoy the rap and fully appreciate their work."
THE INTERVIEW:
I'm sat with here with Bethan Yapp, Ffion Evans, Scott Bevan, George Connelly and Callum Harding. unfortunately Corey Beavis and Liam Beavis couldn't make it here today.
All are pupils from Ysgol Bro Morgannwg and are twitching with excitement having just watched the final cut of their music video for the first time.
So what was the best bit of being involved in this UNCRC music video project?
Bethan: I
loved all of it. The recording, being on location, feeling famous. The
whole experience.
Ffion: Being able to use the V-Pod bus
to film on was pretty cool too.
Callum: Yeah, the equipment on that
bus was amazing - made the filming so much fun.
Bethan:
I did really enjoy creating and writing the lyrics for the music video
as well.
So have you got any juicy gossip you want to share with us from making the music video?
Scott: One of the funniest things was George trying to do handstands and
kicking Liam in the head. And Liam cried!
Ffion:
Ha ha, George was definitely after the limelight the most.
Scott:
Yeah, but Corey farted all the way through the whole project.
Bethan:
I thought everyone was quite shy to start with, but it didn't take long
for us all to get used it (being on film).
It sounds like you had a lot of fun! What would you say the best bits were of being involved?
George:
All of our friends will be so jealous. It was brilliant fun - and I now
know who Keith Towler is.
Scott: I think everyone will think it
is so funny. It will get the message across too.
All:
It was just brilliant being involved. Nerve racking - but good.
So what does the future hold for you? Would you like to continue as a group and make more music?
Scott:
Maybe we should keep going... To be continued!
Ffion:
I would definitely like to carry on and make more music and films.
Callum:
I think we need a name... Rapmaster... 50 pence... The Ones!
(At this point Callum kept making up new band names. Maybe he should become their manager.)
Bethan: I hope to continue writing
lyrics at least, but it would be awesome to do it all over again.
Ffion:
Yeah me too, it was an unforgettable experience.
Sum it all up for me then in three words...
George:
Absolutely, positively excellent.
Ffion: Funny,
unforgettable experience.
Callum: Extremely exciting
experience.
Scott: IT. WAS. AWESOME.
Bethan:
Honourable. Fun. BOOM!
LINKS
Children's Commissioner For Wales
3 Comments – Postiwch sylw
SwooshMe
Rhoddwyd sylw 22 mis yn ôl - 14th July 2010 - 16:45pm
This is so good!! I laughed the whole way through. You should all go into televsion with talent like that. Well done, looks like you all put alot of hard work into that.:o)
Snow..
Rhoddwyd sylw 22 mis yn ôl - 22nd July 2010 - 11:49am
They showed this at the Funky Dragon AGM. I represent the Vale, and loads of people were coming up to me and the other reps for the Vale saying it was really good, and I have to agree with them. Well done guys, you did a great job (:
CLICryan
Rhoddwyd sylw 22 mis yn ôl - 22nd July 2010 - 15:42pm
This is going to be in the next issue of CLICzine - look out for it in September!