1. What are carnival arts?
Carnival is a representation of the joy people create when they are together, the cultural heritage of these people in a way that can be both shared and enjoyed. The arts involved is anything that can be used to create this effect While we focus on the music, costumes, storytelling and theatre side it can also involve, revelry dance, magic and anything that can be made collective with the emphasis of creating communal joy.
2. Who is Xi-mali? Heritage, history, background?
Xi-mali Kadeena-Guscoth is the creative director of Pumpkin Jigsaw. He aims to connect people and build communities through theatre workshops and performances. As well as bring the brilliance, the performance and heritage of: theatre, carnival, and music to the cold streets of London. He has a passion for theatre and music that create beautiful community spaces which stemmed from and undergraduate in Theatre Studies to a master in Music Performance, all with the intention of making our everyday streets a more enjoyable place and a space where local stories are heard. With Paracarnival he has won awards at Hackney Carnival including Winner of Best Theme Interpretation (2019), Judges Choice (2018), 2nd Band of The Year (2018) and has performed with his company Pumpkin Jigsaw at the Hayward Gallery, Royal Academy of Art and Secret Garden Party.
In the community excellence arm of his work he has taken young people from Action For Refugees in Lewisham to the Greenwich Maritime Museum, writing a piece inspired by the 50th anniversary moon landing. Brought youth samba workshops to The Baytree Centre in Brixton, a women’s refugee centre which at the time had no music and performance workshops for the young people. Taken drumming workshops to make community parade with Prospex Youth in Islington, a charity that aims to dissuade youth violence by providing workshops for teenagers. And weekly music workshops online with Paracarnival for people with disabilities in centres and care home. All of these workshops have a theme they use elements of carnival, joy and heritage to co-create celebratory and connected spaces.
3. What do we do and how?
We do costumed parades with drums and with the intent of bringing joy to audiences and communities. We do performances, workshops in drumming and storytelling either through carnival. Our drumming performances typically last 20-45 minutes and our workshops can last between 30 minutes and two hours. Here are some testimonies!
“Your team is always on time, smiling, flexible, eager to play well and always deliver excellent music, plus it’s the most diverse and vibrant band we know! 5 stars from us.
The more we work with Pumpkin Jigsaw the more we like to working with Pumpkin Jigsaw” – Bettina Fernandez, Paracarnival
“Pumpkin Jigsaw are amazing. An eclectic group of talented individuals brimming with lots of fun, energy as well as professionalism.
Keep up the good work. Looking forward to booking you for all our future events.” – Clayton & Jacqui Brown, Caribbean UK Community Group
4. What are our performance rates?
For rates and booking enquires please contact us at pumpkinjigsaw@gmail.com
5. When are your workshops?
We have weekly workshops for our performance group at Mildmay Community Centre, N16 8NA. Sundays 2:30-4:30pm. Anyone is welcome.
6. How do we contact you?
The best way to get in touch is through email: pumpkinjigsaw@gmail.com