Avtor: Peter Podbrežnik
Legendarni klaviaturist Yes kritizira angleške politike in vse tiste, ki sprejemajo odločitve povezane z uničevanjem vaškega življenja v njegovi vasi Scole na regijski meji Suffolk-Norfolk. Wakeman je razložil glavni razlog zakaj je prevzel vodilno vlogo pri organiziranju tedenskega festivala v podporo lokalnim cerkvam.
Mr. Wakeman, 57, ki je sosed župana vasi Scole, Trevora Riessa, je izjavil da je večino življenja živel v ruralnih območjih. Menda že od leta 1971. Tukaj je nekaj njegovih izjav v katerih ne skriva ogorčenja nad postopnim izginjanjem angleških podeželskih idil:
“I have watched what I consider to be essential to village life slowly be eroded by decisions made by people who have no idea what they are doing to small communities”, he said. “Village shops are disappearing fast, recreational land and village halls vanishing and now their next target is rural post offices.
“Bus services in many areas have disappeared as well – so what we have left we have to fight for.
“Regardless of whether you have a faith or not, everybody loves to see a church in a community. It has a feelgood factor as well as being a service to the community.
“The church is trying really hard to open up these wonderful buildings for other uses – anything from an art exhibition to yoga classes, folk clubs to concerts.
“I have done a lot of church concerts over the years and I feel it is important to do what we can to help as in the long run it’s not just helping the churches but the communities as well, and as I live in a small community I know how important that is,” Mr Wakeman said.
Wakeman in njegov sin Adam, prav tako izvrsten glasbenik (tu je še Oliver, ki pa ne sodeluje zraven) bosta ta teden nastopila na festivalu imenovanem The 4 Churches Festival, poleg številnih drugih znanih in manj znanih osebnosti iz angleške pop kulture (med njimi komedijanti Don Maclean, Jimmy Cricket in Syd Little, igralec Ian Lavender, operni pevec Ramon Ramedios in angleški zborovski orkester). Festival naj bi bil namenjen zbiranju denarja za cerkve v Scoleu, Billingfordu, Thorpe Abbottsu ter Brockdishu.
Mr. Wakeman je poleg tega izjavil, da bo imel naslednje leto vsaj še eno turnejo skupaj z Yes (okrog njihovega novega albuma pa še vedno nič!) ter da bo nadaljeval s svojim delom za televizijo in radio, toda da si želi najti več časa da bi ostal doma ter se lotil snemanja in komponiranja glasbe (močno upam da je imel pri tem v mislih njegovo težko pričakovano novo delo z Yes).
Prav tako je bilo objavljeno, da bo imel mr. Wakeman in njegov pevski kolega iz Yes, Jon Anderson, nastop v Ipswich’s Regent Theatre, 22. oktobra letos. Wakeamnovo sodelovanje na festivalu je dobilo široke pohvale njegovega organizatorja Davida Casea, češ da se je rock glasbenik zavzel za pravice sovaščanov “z dobroto v svojem srcu”.
