International Musicians Visit Accra In Educational Fieldwork With Trigmatic

As part of its partnership with The Global Leaders Program (GLP), an initiative of YOA Orchestra of the Americas, Spanish cellist Iris Jugo and a team of musicians of Arte Libre, a Spanish music organization, will visit Accra from March 23 – April 2 in a co-led fieldwork to collaborate with Matic Music Club, an organization aiming to engage growing children in the creative arts.

A native of Spain, Iris Jugo completed her Bachelor’s in Cello Performance in Holland and holds a Master’s degree from the Royal Northern College of Music (UK). Iris has received awards like the Dámaso (Spain) and Sir Charles Groves 2nd Prize (UK) in chamber music.

She has taken part in important European Musical festivals and played in many European orchestras, in addition to recording part of the chamber music of E. Homs (VERSUS). Currently, Iris does fundraising for social projects with ArteLibre.org, organization co-leading this educational fieldwork in Ghana.

During her time in Ghana, Iris Jugo leads general music lessons in the Saint Martin De Porres School, where nearly 40 students take part of Matic Music Club’s music program. Iris will work with local teachers to exchange pedagogical praxis and strategies, and will also work on musical arrangements for pop music with Matic music students and Trigmatic, renowned Ghanaian rapper.

On March 28, Jugo and Arte Libre’s team participate on the “Music Speaks – Music and its role on building the Next Generation” seminar at the Impact Hub. Iris and Arte Libre’s team will also perform in a community concert to collect funds for the project.

“GLP has given me the opportunity to find a group of talented and generous musicians working to improve society and overcome social injustice. It has also helped me to overcome my fears and my doubts about my own ability to make positive changes in people ́s lives.

I’m very happy to be now in Ghana helping Trigmatic and the Matic Music Club, his musical social project. Our presence here helps to spread the word about the important work of initiatives like this one, which are creating positive social change through music,” said Spanish cellist Iris Jugo.

Jugo is part of the 2018 Global Leaders Program Cohort, a nine-month Executive Certificate in Social Enterprise, Teaching Artistry, Cultural Agency, and Civic Leadership that empowers a rising generation of change-makers in music to transform lives and communities.

Trigmatic, founder of Matic Music Club, says the partnership with the Global Leaders Program is incredibly beneficial to both students and guest teachers. “GLP is recognized as leader in the work of promoting the use of music as a tool for social change,” he said.

“The more opportunities we can provide for both teachers and students in Ghana to learn, the better it is for our collective goal of creating opportunities for young people in this country and worldwide. We hope to effect great change with the club and we know that partnering with GLP will help to foster it. We also hope to engage much more international partnerships to bring this dream into inception”.

“This fieldwork allows Global Leaders to put learning into practice, all while assisting a local initiative,” says Mark Gillespie,General Manager of The Global Leaders Program.

“This partnership broadens their vision of the value of music as a tool in community development.”