OxjamBrum have posted their own video of the The Boat That Oxjam Rocked, the canal-based gig they put on earlier this month.
OxjamBrum’s next charity event is The Takeover 2011 on Saturday 15th October that puts bands in several city-centre venues throughout the day. I went to last year’s Takeover and it was excellent, so I recommend you check it out. Advance tickets are still available.
As we prepare to bid farewell to Ikon Eastside ahead of it’s April closure, they’re gearing up for a rather special three night music festival, Rites of Spring, from 7 – 9 April.
Celebrating the venue’s five year contribution to Birmingham’s cultural scene, the festival welcomes headliners Modified Toy Orchestra, Martin Creed and his band and Fyfe Dangerfield, along with the first UK video installation from US band Matmos.
The full line up showcases a collection of folk, pop and electronic musical offerings, from local talent along with further afield artists.
Thursday 7 April
Modified Toy Orchestra
epic45
Shady Bard
Poppy Tibbetts
Friends of the Stars
Friday 8 April
Martin Creed and his band
David Cunningham
Matmos (video set)
Is I Cinema
Arc Vel
Saturday 9 April
Fyfe Dangerfield
Lulu and the Lampshades
Boat to Row
Young Runaways
Timothy Parkes
Tickets are £12 (£10 for students), or for the full festival £30 (£27 for students) and can be booked online or by calling O844 87O OOOO
Andrew Dubber, Jon Cotton, Robin Valk, John Mostyn and Lisa Meyer were all kind enough to share their perspective and ideas for this post – I’ll publish their comments in full on my blog so none are wasted. I also drew, with permission, on the Birmingham Music Network’s recent 10 Questions survey.
Unparalleled Riches
The comments on the current state of the scene were very encouraging, suggesting there’s more quality, active musicians in the city than ever before and a number of hardworking and creative promoters as well.
So what improvements might be made to encourage some of the many talented and dedicated individuals and groups to progress further on a professional and national level?
Venues and Noise Abatement
We picked out Kings Heath’s Hare & Hounds as an example of what a good local music venue can be (great location, facilities, standard of acts and size of audiences) but felt there’s too few live music venues around for a city and scene of our size.
Recent issues between property developers, the council and independent venues such as the Fiddle & Bone, the Spotted Dog, the Nightingale and most recently the Rainbow and Moseley’s Price of Wales are all situations in which the city and the community have had the opportunity to act clearly in favour of culture over profit – if we are to have the courage of our convictions going forward, common sense prevailing in any similar situation is of vital importance.
Jon Cotton suggests that these issues could very often be solved by small grants for acoustic improvements to venues – possibly around £1000 per venue for simple materials and an hour or two’s consultancy with an acoustician.
Annual Festivals
We are fortunate to have some small, quality festivals such as Moseley Folk and Supersonic and efforts should be made to support them as needed as well as identify other existing and emerging festivals and support them too. On the larger scale, Gigbeth was admired but perhaps fell short of its full potential, whilst the value of ArtsFest is questionable due to its very broad reach and the policy of not paying artists.
Organisational issues aside, a Festival lives or dies on the quality of its curation – there is a lot of experienced promoters in Birmingham and they are a resource that should be tapped as much as possible by any future large scale efforts. As valuable as good intentions might be, its quality that ultimately counts.
Media Support
It seems bizarre that our local radio stations do so little to engage with the local music community. This is both our loss and theirs, since, as little more than pale imitations of much bigger national operations, their audience figures are dropping rapidly. So its to the grass roots that we might best look to the future. Rhubarb Radio is steadily expanding with well programmed and sequenced automated play lists offering a variety of moods at different parts of the day combined with programmes presented by fast developing local talent and all using West Midlands music. Support for Rhubarb and the likes of South Birmingham Community Radio should be encouraged and need not be financial.
Likewise in the world of print media, the Birmingham Post is down to a weekly and the Evening Mail, whilst its news coverage is ultra local doesn’t seem to cover local talent until they are proven on the national stage. Fortunately, we have Indies such as Area, Brumnotes, Radar and Night Times taking up the slack.
Focal Web Presence
There’s good stuff going on the web such as Live Brum (for listings), review and photos from Brum Live, long running bloggers such as Russ L, The Hearing Aid, the directory and blog at Birmingham Music Network, a terrific playable online library of music at the Pilot Project and archive projects such as the Birmingham Music Archive and Home of Metal.
That said, I still feel something is lacking which could be well filled by something modelled on Created in Birmingham. CiB rarely mentions music for the good reason that if it covered every decent new album, gig or video, music would completely swamp the other content. Is there a case for a sister Music in Birmingham site?
Facilitation, Not Control
Its very tempting to try and fix things with big, top down initiatives, but often they fail to deliver and given the current financial climate, there’s not likely to be much public money around for a while. Andrew Dubber suggests that the smartest thing that could be done now is to identify and support already existing and naturally forming scenes and connections, and draw goals and strategies from those communities’ own ambitions.
Proud to be Independent
A lot of very exciting music and events are happening through the efforts of people taking initiative and responsibility for their own success. We should be proud and encouraging of this rather than waiting for an authority figure from either the public or private sector to come along and validate our efforts with an official seal of approval. John Mostyn goes so far as to suggest that a small pot of public funding should be used to encourage the term ‘Unsigned’ to never be used within the City in any way, shape or form by anyone… ever.
Cherish Diversity
The diversity of our music and culture may have slowed progress towards a cohesive and structured scene or community, but maybe that very diversity has the capability to power us forward to a time of unparalleled musical output and cultural harmony.
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By Rich Batsford
Rich Batsford is a booking agent and a composer/performer of meditative solo piano music and reflective songs www.richbatsford.com
Being a classical musician, I have often found that contemporary music is met with extreme unnecessary prejudice from most audiences, and even from the musicians themselves. However, we have come a long way since Arnold Schoenberg and his band of merry Serialist pranksters.
We are lucky to live in city so diverse that there is music and art of all types so readily available to us. In the music scene, some artists aren’t just available, they are begging for audiences to experience their music. I have sourced some excellent music that is being performed in Birmingham in the next month, alone. This is just a tiny snapshot into the world of music and performance that is not achieving quite the audience members that it rightly deserves.
With the news of the cuts happening in the next few years in Birmingham, it is now that we should be celebrating what we, as artists, have to offer. The best way, I feel, to do this, is to see everything. Go to concerts and experience what has been provided to us, show the people in charge of money in this city what, we, as music fans need.
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring – contemporary, classical, dance, technology
One of the the CBSO’s (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) biggest projects of the 2010/2011 is it’s performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. A formidable and excellent piece in it’s own right, the creators at the CBSO and Symphony Hall have fused together music, dance and technology :
Experience an astonishing interplay between reality and fantasy as dancer Julia Mach’s extraordinary live performance interacts, through the magic of digital wizardry, with real-time, computer generated stereoscopic projections, translated into a virtual reality space with the aid of 3D spectacles for the audience.
- THSH
The 30-minutes piece is preceded by Varese’s Tuning Up and Ligeti’s Lontano for large orchestra, a distant and warm piece which plays with with the make-up of unconventional diatonic harmony.
For more info and for the special Rite of Spring micro-site, please visit http://riteofspring3d.thsh.co.uk
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group – contemporary, classical
The BCMG is the city’s orchestra dedicated entirely to the performance of contemporary and new music. Made up of players from the CBSO, the flexible organisation has grown in the one of the world’s most fore-thinking ensembles of new music. They play regular concerts at the CBSO Centre on Berkley Street, B1, as well as touring all over the city.
The percussion players are performing what promises to be an excellent concert of Varese and Xenakis on the 25th March at Yardley Old Church as well as this Sunday (13th March).
Oliver Knussen conducts his own memorial work Requiem – Songs for Sue as well as pieces by Morton Feldman and Harrison Birtwistle
Steve Reich and Thomas Ades. – contemporary, classical
This week, Friday 11th March, Symphony Hall have also included another excellent performance of contemporary. The London Sinfonietta, one of the world’s leading orchestra for contemporary classical music are visiting Birmingham, performing Steve
Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, complete with 4 grand pianos and 5 marimbas. The minimalist style of Steve Reich is used in many sources of media, films, adverts and television, purely for the fact it is accessible to both musician and audience alike. Conductor Thomas Ades? starts the concert with his own In Seven Days, a collaborative project with filmmaker Tal Rosner and is based on the Creation.
Tickets start from £10 (or £5 on the day for U25s)
The Irrepressibles: Mirror Mirror – contemporary pop, performance art, collaboration, crossover
Another gig at the heart of Birmingham, the Town Hall, The Irrepressibles are a 10-piece orchestra committed to stretching the boundaries of conventional performance. Lead by singer, Jamie McDermot, they perform hearty indie music with a set up of orchestral musicians as accompaniment.
This show is in conjunction with Fierce Festival and is at Town Hall, 22nd March, £15
SOUNDkitchen – contemporary, sound, experimental, collaboration
SOUNDkitchen is a new group made up of music graduates from the University of Birmingham. Their “STONEsoup” concert at the MAC was met with rave reviews and are following up with a collaborative event with Balkanic Eruption, promoters of Klezmer and Balkan music within the city. Playing at the Hare and Hounds, B14, the concert focuses on expanding sound using technology and live instruments, it will be followed by a live laptop performance from Garfield Benjamin.
Birmingham Conservatoire – classical contemporary, premieres, fusion
Like the Uni of Birmingham, the Conservatoire has one of the most developed composition departments in the country. The students are exceptionally talented and lucky for us the concerts are generally very cheap and on a regular basis. This month as well as a student showcase of new music (held on the 18th March and conducted by the great Edwin Roxburgh) we see the Frontiers department of Conservatoire play host to world-renowned electronic violinist, Barbara Luneberg. This young talent has worked with some of the world’s best contemporary composers. On the 14th March, Luneberg is to perform works written for her by young composers from all over Europe, this will also include a premiere of work by VT of the Conservatoire, Ed Bennett.
For more info on any of the above please visit
www.thsh.co.uk
www.bcmg.org.uk
www.soundkitchenuk.org
www.theirrepressibles.com
www.bcu.ac.uk/pme/conservatoire/events-calendar
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Sound it Out run a project called VOLume (VOLunteering Using Music to Engage), aimed at 16-25 year olds in Sandwell and Birmingham who are passionate about music.
The programme offers numerous voluntary opportunities, which enable a diverse group of young people to work with others and get involved in their communities. Volunteers will also be provided with specialist training, induction, support and advice throughout, plus the chance to gain an Arts Award and attend music masterclasses and workshops.
Opportunities available on the scheme include peer music advisers, apprenticeships, shadow artists, office volunteers, youth advisory board, youth consultants and event volunteers.
For more information about VOLume, contact Tim Jones at Sound It Out on 0121 772 8655
Topshop are putting on a series of picnic gigs in London, Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham for Teenage Cancer Trust and the Birmingham one is this Sunday (20 June) at University of Birmingham’s Vale Village from 12pm.
Topping the bill are my old Cardiff University chums done good Los Campesinos!, with support from I Blame Coco, Eliza Doolittle and Summer Camp, as well as DJ sets from Broken Hearts, Blonde Ambition and special guests.
Tickets are £10, with all profits going to the Trust, and are available from this link here and the Bullring Topshop store. They’re limited to 500, so get your skates on if you want to go.
BASS Festival is the UK’s only month-long celebration of Black Music and Art. The festival is now in its fifth year and this year’s line up of events, produced by Punch Records, includes new commissions, gigs, exhibitions, master classes, showcases, club nights, theatre, conferences and film.
Handily, you can check out the brochure and browse what’s on right here:
There’s also a theme for this year’s festival, which is explained here:
The theme for BASS 2010 is DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) forms the building blocks of life and controls the development and functioning of all known living organisms. But what does DNA mean to us individually in the 21st century? Identity, test tubes, control, heritage, science, ID cards, family, databases, samples, genomes, protest? The fifth BASS festival will explore how DNA varies and develops, whether caused by external forces, or by personal development, enabling us to rethink our evolving identities.
If all that hasn’t satisfied your needs, you can get more details on the BASS Festival website here.
The CBSO‘s summer programme has landed in front of me, so here’s a little round-up of what you might expect to see in the next couple of months. This won’t be comprehensive, so check out the CBSO listings for yourself here for more performances and details.
In May, there’s a mini concert for 3-5 year olds and families called Notelets – Shake, Rattle & Roll, Gwilym Simcock Quartet courtesy of Birmingham Jazz, the CBSO cellos, and more. While June serves up the Neil Cowley Trio, Most Simply… Mid Summer, the annual CBSO Young Voices Rock and Pop concert, and El Ultimo Tango. In July, the SHOUT Gospel choir will be performing as part of Birmingham Jazz Festival.
There are also a selection of free events for young people, including Music Maze and Zigzag ensemble.
All in all, there should be something to tickle your fancy or give a go this summer.
English folk music has never had it so good with Town Hall and Symphony Hall providing an annual showcase for the best traditional folk and contemporary singer-songwriters around in English Originals. This year’s folk weekend is 14-16 May and features the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Beth Orton, Graham Coxon, Scott Matthews, and more.
Friday 14th May brings N.O.M.A.D to Symphony Hall, followed by Grace and Danger: The Songs of John Martyn. On Saturday there’s an afternoon of free music at Symphony Hall in Folk4Free and The Graham Coxon Power Ensemble perform at Town Hall later. And Sunday bows out with Bellowhead and Jackie Oates at Town Hall.
For more info, check out the THSH website here.
Mother India weekend at Town Hall and Symphony Hall Birmingham will be a journey through the musical heritage of India over 9-11 April, taking in the mystic heights of classical traditions via Anglo-Indian classical fusion to cutting-edge contemporary Asian remixes.
The weekend’s musical journey starts at the pinnacle of Mother India’s classical tradition, with a rare UK recital by santoor maestro and living legend Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Then we encounter a younger generation of Indian musicians, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan. These gifted sarod players come from a distinguished classical lineage, but here they take the ancient classical tradition of Mother India on an East-West cross-cultural journey in collaboration with young British cellist Matthew Barley. Finally, we come right up-to-date in a cutting-edge event when young British-Asian artist DJ Tigerstyle explores his heritage and re-visions Mother India, a classic of Indian cinema, in contemporary idiom.
For tickets and more information check out the Town Hall & Symphony Hall website here.
After contact from a group drawn from Birmingham City Council and Arts Council England, The Music Network has asked 10 open questions to begin to determine an overview of the current state, needs, and potential of the independent music industry in Birmingham.
I’d hope there’d be lot of strong views in this area, so if you’ve got something to say, you’ve got until 24th January to respond. Below are the 10 questions, which are also available in a handy Google survey here.
1. In your view, what is the current state of the region’s “Independent Music Industry?”
2. What do you think are it’s immediate needs with reference to the areas that you are most familiar with?
3. As far as the region’s “Independent Music Industry” is concerned, what do you think shows the greatest potential for the next few years?
4. In recent years, there has been a range of initiatives and projects designed to support the development of music in Birmingham. Can you list 5 projects or initiatives that you think have proved beneficial to the “Independent Music Industry?”
5. Can you list any projects or initiatives that you think have proved “of little use or benefit” to the “Independent Music Industry?”
6. With regard to your answers to questions 4 and 5, do you think Birmingham should continue to pursue the idea of more initiatives and projects designed to support the development of music in Birmingham?
7. If you could make any changes to, or include any new ideas for, any “strategy for supporting the development of music in Birmingham” what would your top priorities be?
8. If you were given the task of evaluating whether a project or initiative had been successful, what would you suggest as the best indicators of success, failure, benefit or disaster for the “Independent Music Industry?”
9. As far as your knowledge or understanding of the region’s “Independent Music Industry” is concerned, what are it’s greatest strengths, and what are it’s greatest weaknesses?
10. If you could do anything to “support the development of music in Birmingham” what would you do and why would you choose to do that?
The Music Network would also like you to send any comments, links, articles or opinions that may be useful toinfo@birminghammusicnetwork.com. Otherwise, they say, “a decision will be made on your behalf without any reference to you, and you may not benefit from any strategy that gets agreed and put into action”.
I’ve just had an email from Heather at Forerunner Records saying:
I’m currently compiling an article for FEED industry magazine about female fronted bands in Birmingham.
I’d like to interview (via email) as many female fronted Birmingham bands as possible to feature and maybe review for this article I’m writing. They should contact me at forerunnerrecords@hotmail.com
So if that’s you, or someone you know, or a local band you know of then get in touch with her.
Incidentally, Forerunner Records’ MySpace tells that they are:
the official record label of Matthew Boulton College in Birmingham. We currently offer our services to existing students, and have special events to search for emerging talent in the 14-16 age group
Which is interesting. It looks like they’re going to get going in time for the start of the new academic year (that’s Sept 08).
Also, apologies for the childish and obvious title of this post.
A testament to the passion and drive of Soweto Kinch, the award-winning jazz saxophonist/MC/producer/poet/writer/whatever he wants:
For one day only the entire area beneath the Hockley flyover will be alive with inspiring sights and sounds, ground breaking art and music.
For the line-up see the flyer, for other info see the Flyover Show on Myspace.
Soweto can explain the motivation behind the Flyover Show much better than me and that’s exactly what he does in this video:
For a taste of how much he’s putting into the project, check the second video where we takes he message to the (Broad) streets:
