SHU Fest is our annual festival celebrating the talents and diversity of our staff and students. This year SHU Fest will be online so you can watch the performances from the comfort of your own home!
Performances will be uploaded here and our GoGlobal social media on a daily basis, starting on Tuesday 2 March until Thursday 4 March 2021.
Enjoy the show!
DAY 1 - Tuesday 2 March
3 Profs + Jim - Happy Hour
Professors Cranton, Eccleston and Sammon, along with Jim Priestly on Cajon, are regulars at the annual SHU Fest. This year, they have taken one of their favourite songs and had a go at a `lockdown performance’, from the comfort of their own homes!
Akshay Kumar
I am from New Delhi, India and currently studying Msc Logistics and Supply Chain Management. I have chosen to sing a song from a Bollywood movie “Hamari Adhuri Kahani”. The song is a romantic track called Hasi. I like this song and the emotions it accentuates through its melody, which is why I sang this. Singing gives me good vibes and puts me in a cheerful mood.
Cassandra George
The song is called “Ishq Sufiyana” which indirectly translates to “selfless love”. As you can guess it’s a romantic song and the reason I like it is because it celebrates love. In this current environment it's all the more important to celebrate the good things in life, love being one of them!
I was born in India and moved to the United Arab Emirates when I was a child. After graduating from high school, I moved to Hungary to pursue a career in dentistry. However, I realised that this career was not my calling and after spending 4 years there, with the support of my loving family, I decided to leave. I moved to Cardiff and pursued my BSc in Nutrition and am now at Sheffield Hallam enrolled in my first year of MSc Dietetics. Given this interesting journey, you can imagine it came with its challenges and that’s where music and my singing played a massive role. I have been singing for as long as I can remember and it’s definitely one of my happy places!
Jeremiah Abiola Fasipe
My name is Jeremiah Abiola Fasipe studying a Masters in Public Relations, I am from Lagos Nigeria and have been singing for 12 years. I have chosen to sing a cover of Asa’s ‘Bibanke’. Asa is a Nigerian singer songwriter and this song is about lost love, a tale when one of the two parties in a relationship senses danger but continues to fall deeper into the abyss. Sorrow is inevitable.
Jessica Widdowson
Jessica has performed at SHU Fest for the last seven years and has recorded a special version of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. She has performed in many venues including London’s West End. She also won ‘Britain’s most outstanding performance in musical theatre’ for two consecutive years. An alumni from Chesterfield, she has set up Jessica Widdowson Performance Arts to teach and encourage others to sing, find out more here
DAY 2 - Wednesday 3 March
Diana's Vibes - What’s It Like Not To Be Traumatised?
I am a solo singer songwriter creating music that genre can't be easily defined but it definitely has a touch of a personal Diana's vibes! Soon I will be releasing my new single called 'What’s It Like Not To Be Traumatised?' on the 17th March and you get to hear it fully at the SHU Fest for the first! Additionally, I have a motivational and cheerful album on Spotify as well as iTunes called 'Get A Grip!' to make your lockdown days filled with positive energy! (Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE on YouTube)
Faizan - Shayad Bollywood
Faizan is an alumni of Sheffield Hallam and was the Activities Officer at the Students’ Union last year. He has performed at every SHU Fest for the last five years and couldn’t miss this opportunity. The song is a Bollywood Romantic mash up and called Shayad Bollywood.
Rugved Shinde – My Heart will go on
I’m studying MSc Advanced Engineering and Management at SHU. I’ve been playing flute from last 4 years and I love to play variety of instruments like drums, synthesiser, Indian classical instrument Harmonium and few percussions. I like to travel and explore new places and culture as well as different food.
Vietnam Cultural Performance
Hello Vietnam tells a story about the sadness of Vietnamese who had to leave Vietnam due to the wars, living in foreign countries and missed their home country, missed the beauty of Vietnamese people and landscapes and hoped for a day to come back and visit the homeland. Through the elegant performance, we, Vietnamese students want to express how beautiful and rich Vietnamese culture and people are and that as international students, we share the homesickness with the song composer and singer.
Conversation Club - SHU Fest special!
Wednesday 3 March, 5 to 6 PM
Join us on Zoom for an hour of informal chat, quizzes and much more! It is important that you register on Unihub so we can send you the link to the Zoom chatroom.
DAY 3 - Thursday 4 March
Cocklebread - Water Bound
Cocklebread are a collection of Sheffield Hallam staff members and students. They got together at the 2012 University Carol Service and put on such an enjoyable performance they have been asked to play every SHU Fest ever since. For SHU Fest online Jim and his son Jonathan perform traditional song Waterbound. Their music is a lighthearted romp through world folk, blues, gospel, country and bluegrass. It’s guaranteed to get you singing along.
Nitusha Dominic - Listen before I go
I’m Nitusha Dominic, I’m currently pursuing MSc in Developmental Psychology. I love riding bikes, singing and sketching. The song that I’ve performed is “Listen before I go” by Billie Eilish. This song sheds light on the horrifying effects of depression. It is a real life issue, and this track will serve as an expression of what some individuals may be going through.
Sonal Mer - Thousand Years and Emptiness
My name is Sonal Mer and I am currently studying Msc Physiotherapy at Sheffield Hallam. I am originally from India and I have been singing since I was 3 years old I am interested in Bollywood and Hollywood music and this performance is a mashup of a the two. The song is a love song which I hope the crowd enjoy.
Surya Mannar Kaliyamoorthy - Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan
I am Surya from Chennai, India. I am currently pursuing my Master’s in Molecular microbiology. I am not a professionally trained musician; I have taught myself most of what I do, and I am an independent artist. I have sung the song ‘’Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan’’ from the Tamil film ‘’Gunaa’’ which is the local language of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is a cult classic song from the early 90s that expresses a form of divine love. This song was composed by the celebrated music director, ‘Padma Vibhushan’ Ilaiyaraaja. This is a feel-good melody, and the composition is on the lines of a love letter of a person, who describes the divinity of his love towards his lover. It is a very popular song in the region and is a personal favourite.
Nigerian Society performance
Nigerians are lovely-jubilee people albeit very hard-working. Dancing to our local music especially high-life music at weddings or child naming ceremonies is one of the ways we unwind. The first song by Ebenezar Obey is from the Yoruba tribe and the lyrics simply says 'don't worry so much about pleasing people because you can never please everyone no matter how hard you try, just live your life and be happy'. The next song is from the Igbo tribe, specifically used to welcome a new baby. It's a folklore and simply says " whoever hears the cry of a baby should hurry to come because the baby belongs to all'. Dancers: Korede (IT management MSc) Caleb (Business Analysis MSc) Chioma (International Business Management MSc) Cordelia (Adult Nursing MSc)