Two hundred and fifty people sitting down to eat at Gallicano for the annual Solidarity Evening organised by the Kwizera organisation seemed like the perfect time for the Lake Angels (site here) to publicise their latest project to raise money for Rwanda – The Lake Angels Soul Concerts – to be held in July in the Barga Football Stadium. Three nights featuring some of the best soul bands in the area and each night a different menu ranging from roast pig, maccheroni and the famous fish soup dish from Livorno – Cacciucco.

For more information about Rwanda and the Kwizera group be sure to read Frank Vivano’s article here

The green fields of Nyinawimana rise in 50 acres of carefully sculpted terraces, abuzz with honey bees under a generous sun. This might be Tuscany instead of the hills northeast of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. And in a sense, it is. There’s a powerful story here, the kind of story you seldom hear at a time when news is mostly defined as catastrophe and the notion of spontaneous human solidarity is regarded as sentimental fiction. – Frank Viviano – Attention Bill Gates; under a Tuscan sun of Rwanda

Also present at the Solidarity Evening was the painter Keane who created on a 70×50cm canvas an oil painting of one of the Nuns of Barga – the continuing theme that he has been working on over the past 18 months. (article here)

The finished painting was raffled off at the end of the evening and was won by a resident of Fosciandora – a small village further up in Garfagnana where Keane spent 7 years painting landscapes in the 80’s (article here)

The kwizera video on you tube

The Kwizera site can be seen here

Friday 11th July
8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band
10.30 – Mr. Pitiful Soul Band
Menu – Roast pig

Saturday 12th July
8.30 pm – Soul Italian Community House Band
10.30 pm – Jacks Pack
Menu – Maccheroni

Sunday 13th July
8.30 pm – Joana pocket band
10.30 pm – La Ghenga – Ska Rocksteady
Menu – Cacciucco