Arts in Birmingham

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This article is about culture and the arts in the city of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Contents

[edit] Popular music

Music of the United Kingdom
History Nationalities
Early popular music England
1950s and 60s Scotland
1970s Wales
1980s Ireland
1990s to present Caribbean and Indian
Genres: (Samples) Classical - Folk - Hip hop - Opera - Popular - Rock - Jazz
Timeline: 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003
2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007
Awards Mercury, BRIT Awards
Charts UK Singles Chart, UK classical chart, UK Albums Chart
Festivals Glastonbury Festival, The Proms, Homelands, Creamfields, Cambridge Folk Festival, Eisteddfodd, Download Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals , V Festival, T in the Park, Isle of Wight Festival
Media NME - Melody Maker
National anthem "God Save the Queen"
Regions and territories
Birmingham - Cornwall - Man - Manchester - Northumbria - Somerset

Anguilla - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Gibraltar - Montserrat - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath

Although its music scene is not as renowned as those of Liverpool or Manchester, Birmingham has had a vibrant and varied musical history over the last half-century.

Fifties bands such as Billy King and the Nightriders, Pat Wayne and The Deltas and The Dominettes gave rise in the following decade to the Brum Beat era featuring early progressive rock and bluesbands such as The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, The Fortunes, The Rockin Berries, The Idle Race, The Moody Blues and The Move (members of the last two going on to form The Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard).

The city is often cited as the birthplace of heavy metal music in the late 1960s, with Judas Priest and Black Sabbath coming from Birmingham. Robert Plant and John Bonham, later members of Led Zeppelin and being local to the city, played in bands which were part of the Birmingham music scene, they performed and rehearsed frequently in the city.Rob Halford of Judas Priest attributes the band's success to 'Birmingham having that [...] tough, working-class feeling [...] We weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths. We had to go to work and work really hard. Some people that work in a coal mine or work in the car industry might argue and say, 'These guys haven't worked a day in their lives.' That's not true. To be in a band – to be in a worldwide, successful band – is incredibly hard work.[1]

In the 1960s, the "Brum Beat" era featured blues and early progressive rock bands such as the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, The Move and The Moody Blues.

In the 1970s members of The Move and The Moody Blues formed the Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. In the 1970s, Birmingham's large West Indian population contributed to the popularity of reggae, with Steel Pulse's ground-breaking album Handsworth Revolution leading the way. Later Musical Youth, UB40, the first truly mixed-race UK dub band, and Pato Banton found commercial success, as did 2 Tone bands such as The Beat who drew their influences from Jamaican ska music. Artistes from the city continue to contribute to reggae in the UK such as Rasta MC Chesire Cat who rapped on the Leftfield album Rhythm and Stealth. Singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading had many hits during this decade. Pink Floyd recorded part of Ummagumma at the venue Mothers in Erdington, where Traffic staged their debut gig.

Duran Duran
Duran Duran

As the 1980s arrived, the Rum Runner nightclub played a significant role in rock music in the city, particularly in the case of New Romantic supergroup Duran Duran. Dexys Midnight Runners, Stephen "Tintin" Duffy and The Bureau also emanated from the city's music scene at this time. Later in the decade, Grindcore music, a blend of punk and heavy metal, was pioneered in the city by Napalm Death. The Charlatans, Dodgy, Felt, The Lilac Time, and Ocean Colour Scene were other notable rock bands founded in the city and its surrounding area in this period. Pop Will Eat Itself formed in nearby Stourbridge and consisted of Birmingham band members as did Neds Atomic Dustbin.

Birmingham-based tape recorder company, Bradmatic Ltd helped develop and manufacture the mellotron. Over the next 15 years, the mellotron had a major impact on rock music and is a trademark sound of the era's progressive bands.

The city went on to embrace acid house (see Birmingham House music scene) supported by local figures such as the late Tony De Vit, Steve Lawler and Scott Bond. Birmingham has given birth to some of the UK's most influential dance nights Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Atomic Jam, and later, Gods Kitchen. The city's cultural diversity also contributed to the blend of bhangra and ragga pioneered by Apache Indian in Handsworth. Many varieties of electronic and dance music continue to cross-fertilise in the city with acts such as Bentley Rhythm Ace, The Streets, Rockers Hi-Fi, Editors, Surgeon, Mistys Big Adventure and Broadcast.

Successful Birmingham singer/songwriters and musicians include Astro, Joan Armatrading, Steve Gibbons, Mike Kellie (of Spooky Tooth), Jeff Lynne, Phil Lynott, Carl Palmer (of Emerson Lake and Palmer), Roy Wood, Jamelia, Kelli Dayton of The Sneaker Pimps, Martin Barre (guitarist with Jethro Tull), Bev Bevan, Ali Campbell, Steve Cradock (guitarist for Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller), Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Jamelia, Denny Laine, Fritz Mcintyre (keyboardist of Simply Red), Christine Perfect (of Fleetwood Mac), Robert Plant (born in West Brom and played in Brumbeat bands), Nick Rhodes, Ranking Roger, John Henry Rostill (bass guitarist/composer for The Shadows), Dave Rotheray (songwriter/guitarist for The Beautiful South), Matt Skinner, Dave Swarbrick (of Fairport Convention), John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Ruby Turner, Ted Turner (guitar/vocals, Wishbone Ash), Peter Overend Watts, Steve Winwood and Dave Mason. Nick Mason of Pink Floyd was born in the city and was brought up in London.

[edit] Dance music

Birmingham embraced house music in the late 1980s. Acid house nights such as Spectrum took place at the Digbeth Institute (now the Sanctuary) and the Hummingbird (now the Carling Academy Birmingham).

Early acid house nights in Birmingham included C.R.E.A.M. (not associated with the Liverpool night of similar name), Chuff Chuff and the early events of the influential Gatecrasher. Subsequent nights included Gods Kitchen, Fun, Miss Moneypenny's, Sundissential, Shaanti, House of God, Atomic Jam and now there is a new breed of dance music nights such as Toxic City and Underground City

The Que Club, based in what was the old Methodist Central Hall, opposite the Victoria Law Courts on Corporation Street, was one of the biggest clubs the city has ever had. It had a capacity of about 4000. It housed some early raves as well as a succession of techno, drum and bass and old school techno events. The club is now closed for conversion to other use.

Stores in the city selling vinyl records include Swordfish Records, Tempest Records, Summit Records (which now sells mainly reggae and doubles as an Afro Caribbean barbers), Jibbering records, Punch Records, Old School Daze, Dance Music Finder Records, Three Shades Records and Hard To Find Records, which is the original dance music finder in the UK and now trades as one the largest vinyl record and DJ stores in the world.

Electronic artists include electro dub music creators Rockers Hi-Fi, Big Beat musicians Bentley Rhythm Ace, garage/house act The Streets, and Electronica bands Broadcast, Pram, Plone, Surgeon, Add N to X, Electribe 101, Mistys Big Adventure, The Editors and Avrocar.

Successful house musicians and DJs include the late Tony De Vit, Steve Lawler, Steve Kelley, Scott Bond, Jem Atkins, Al McKenzie, Colin Dred, The Ryan Brothers, Mark Jarman, Patrick Smooth, Tall Paul and Jeremy Sylvester.

Notable dance music record labels include Network records (of Altern8 fame), Different Drummer, Urban Dubz Records, Badger promotions, Jibbering records, Iron Man, Earko and Munchbreak records.

See also: List of songs about Birmingham

[edit] Hip hop

Hip hop culture in Birmingham also enjoyed a thriving electro, graffiti art and hip hop scene, and dates back to at least 1980, and has produced popular performers like Moorish Delta 7 and Brothers and Sisters. The city had a pirate radio station called 'Fresh F.M.' which broadcast from the city. The station played hip hop and breakdance records and inspired a rap crew called Jump who released two records, 'We Come to Jam' and 'Feel It', as early as 1985.

In 1980 a Birmingham rapper 'Sure Shot' appeared on a UK breakfast show, followed in 1985, a hip hop collective named Jump (which included Sure Shot) released two records;'We Come to Jam' and 'Feel It'. The crew formed 'The Audio Kings' and 'The Black Prophetz'.

When hip hop performer Afrika Bambaata visited Britain he inspired new rappers and hip hop DJs including Moorish Delta 7 Elements, Roc1, Mad Flow, Creative Habits, Lord Laing and DJ Sparra (twice winner of the DMC mixing championships).

Brothers and Sisters took place in the 'Coast to Coast' club in the old ATV television studios on Broad Street in the early 1990s. Then came Fungle Junk, held for many years beneath House music club 'Fun'., and bringing The Psychonaughts, Andy Weatherall and the Scratch Perverts to the city.

As of 2005 The Medicine Bar (situated in the old Bird's Custard Factory) continues the city's hip hop connection and is home to two of the longest running Funk and hip hop nights in the UK: Substance and Leftfoot, both featured on BBC Radio 1. They fuse Acid Jazz, hip hop and funk artists from across the Globe.

Munchbreak, a live hip hop collective, host a regular session in the old Rainbow pub in Digbeth which is part owned by Fuzz Townswend, a former member of Bentley Rhythm Ace and Pop Will Eat Itself. Punch Records, in the Custard Factory, run street dance and Hip Hop DJ courses.

[edit] Music festivals

Jazz is popular in the city. Many venues support a jazz scene in the city, often promoted by Birmingham Jazz. Jazz musicians associated with the city include Soweto Kinch, Julian Arguelles, Ronnie Ball, Tony Kinsey, Douglas "Dougle" Robinson and King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys. Jools Holland backs the Jam House in St Paul's Square.

The busiest promotor of contemporary jazz in the city is the voluntary organisation Birmingham Jazz, which mounts dozens of concerts every year featuring local, national and international artists in venues such as the CBSO Centre, the mac arts centre, the Glee Club and Symphony Hall. It enjoys the support of the city council and the Arts Council of England and also commissions new works from both local performers and performers of international standing.

Party in the Park is Birmingham's largest music festival, at Cannon Hill Park, where up to 30,000 revellers of all ages enjoy popular chart music.

The newest music festival that Birmingham has to offer is [Gigbeth], first piloted in March 2006 and now set to be annually on the first weekend of November. Gigbeth is a music festival celebrating all genres of music with a strong emphasis on local music from the West Midlands. It runs in the Digbeth area of Birmingham utilising a range of music venues including the Barfly, local pubs, the Custard Factory,the Bullring and the Glee Club.

[edit] Venues

Birmingham's music venues large and small include The National Indoor Arena (NIA), Carling Academy Birmingham, the National Exhibition Centre's Indoor Arena, Scruffy Murphy's, the Custard Factory, Edward's No. 8, mac (Midlands Arts Centre), the Drum Arts Centre, the Jug of Ale, the Jam House, a branch of Barfly and the Hibernian.

[edit] Classical music

Singers of Ex Cathedra, the flagship early music ensemble for Birmingham and the West Midlands, photographed by Adrian Burrows.
Singers of Ex Cathedra, the flagship early music ensemble for Birmingham and the West Midlands, photographed by Adrian Burrows.

The Birmingham Triennial Music Festival took place from 1784 - 1912 and was considered the grandest of its kind throughout Britain. Music was written for the festival by Mendelssohn, Gounod, Sullivan, Dvořák, Bantock and most notably Elgar, who wrote four of his most famous choral pieces for Birmingham.

Albert William Ketèlbey was born in Alma Street, Aston on 9 August 1875, the son of a teacher at the Vittoria School of Art. Ketèlbey attended the Trinity College of Music, where he beat the runner-up, Gustav Holst, for a musical scholarship.

The internationally-renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's home venue is Symphony Hall, which in acoustic terms is widely considered to be one of the greatest concert halls of the twentieth century and also hosts concerts by many visiting orchestras.

Other professional orchestras based in the city include the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, a chamber orchestra specialising in modern music with an impressive record of world premieres; the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, who give concert performances under music director Barry Wordsworth in addition to playing for the Birmingham Royal Ballet; and Ex Cathedra, one of the country's oldest and most respected early-music and Baroque period instrument ensembles.

The Royal College of Organists is based in Digbeth and is shortly to move into new premises built around the grade 1 listed former Curzon Street Railway Station.

Birmingham is an important centre for musical education as the home of the UCE Birmingham Conservatoire, founded in 1859.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet resides in the city as does the Elmhurst School for Dance, based in Edgbaston, and which claims to be the world's oldest vocational dance school.

Birmingham's professional opera company - the Birmingham Opera Company - specialises in staging innovative performances in unusual venues (in 2005 it performed Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria in a burnt-out ice rink in the Chinese Quarter). Its artistic director, Graham Vick, has also directed at La Scala, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Royal Opera House in London.

Visiting opera companies such as Opera North and Welsh National Opera perform regularly at the Hippodrome.

Birmingham's other principal music venues include The National Indoor Arena (NIA), CBSO Centre, Adrian Boult Hall (ABH) at Birmingham Conservatoire, the Barber Concert Hall at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Birmingham Town Hall, currently closed for refurbishment. Concerts also regularly take place in churches around the city including St Phillips Cathedral, St Paul's in the Jewellery Quarter, St Alban's in Highgate and The Oratory on the Hagley Road.

[edit] Literature

Many famous literary figures have been associated with Birmingham:

The city also has literary publishers such as Tindal Street Press and hosts The Young Book Reader UK festival as well as an online literary community called Birmingham Words.

[edit] Theatre

Kenneth Peacock Tynan is possibly Brums most famous character linked to the Theatrical scene.

There are many theatres in Birmingham. The four largest professional theatres are the Alexandra Theatre ("the Alex"), Birmingham Repertory Theatre ("The Rep"), the Birmingham Hippodrome and the Old Rep. The Mac and Drum arts centres also host many professional plays. The actors in the long-running Radio 4 serial The Archers live in and around Birmingham, where the supposedly rural programme is recorded.

For ten years, Birmingham's Fierce Festival has presented one of the most innovative and compelling performance art series in Europe. Featuring artists including Ron Athey, Franko B, Lydia Lunch, Nicole Blackman, Velvet Hammer, The Red Ladies and hundreds more, the Fierce Festival has become an annual "must see" event for performance art fans and curators from around the world. The Fierce Festival is known for presenting performances, dances, films, installations and other events at theatres, galleries, clubs, outdoor spaces, and re-appropriated locations (such as dis-used offices etc), and has recently begun commissioning new works from British and international performers.

[edit] Comedy

Famous comedians from Birmingham include Sid Field, Tony Hancock, Jasper Carrott and Shazia Mirza. The local evening newspaper sponsors an annual autumn comedy festival in the city, and the Glee Club and Birmingham Jongleurs are both prominent comedy venues. The Drum Arts Centre and the mac also host monthly comedy sessions.

[edit] Visual art

[edit] History

David Cox was a famous Birmingham watercolour artist and President of the Associated Artists in Water Colour in 1810.

An "Academy of Arts" was organised in 1814, and an exhibition of paintings took place in Union Passage that year. A School of Design, or "Society of Arts," was started Feb. 7, 1821; Sir Robert Lawley, Bt (the first Lord Wenlock) presenting a valuable collection of casts from Grecian sculpture. The first exhibition was held in 1826, in a building on New Street.

The first Ballot for pictures to be chosen from the Annual Exhibition of Local Artists took place in 1835.

Birmingham has one of the largest collections of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world at The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Edward Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham, spent his first twenty years in the city, and later became the president of the Birmingham Society of Artists (which dates from 1826). He strongly influenced the Birmingham Group, which formed the link between late Romanticism in the visual arts and the Birmingham Surrealists who were prominent in the city's arts in the early and mid 20th century.

David Bomberg's first well known works date from the 1910s. They are rather complex geometric compositions built over relatively traditional subjects, and typically use a limited number of striking colours with humans being turned into simple, angular shapes. Some have likened these works to 70's New York Graffiti. Bomberg travelled France, where he met Modigliani and Picasso.

The Birmingham Arts Lab at Gosta Green was an important centre for alternative comic art in the late 1970s.

[edit] Contemporary artists

Contemporary African Caribbean artists and photographers who have exhibited internationally include Pogus Caesar, Keith Piper and the late Donald Rodney.

Graffiti (or "spraycan art") culture appeared in the early 1980s, with the area featuring in Channel 4 documentary Bombing. Local artists to use urban Birmingham as their canvas (this is illegal, and regarded by some as vandalism) have included Chu and Goldie (see Birmingham Hip Hop scene. Graffiti art competitions are still regularly held.

[edit] Current galleries

  • The Waterhall gallery in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery displays a regular showcase of modern art which includes local artists and others sometimes from the city's own extensive collection.
  • The old Bird's Custard Factory is now one of the largest media and arts villages in Europe, with exhibitions and modern sculpture and water features.
  • The mac hosts theatre performances, concerts, literature and poetry showcases, courses, film screenings and small art exhibitions.
  • The Drum Arts Centre features works of African, Asian and Caribbean contemporary artists.
  • The Big Peg is a large complex of studios for artists and designers, based just outside the city centre in Hockley.
  • Selly Oak ball park is home to many graffiti murals that change on a regular basis. Other graffiti art can be seen across the city on disused buildings and canal tow-paths as well as subways.

There are a variety of other small and private galleries in the city.

OOM Gallery online art gallery representing artist and filmmaker Pogus Caesar. The OOM Gallery archive has over 8,000 photographic images covering politics, culture, art, sport and music from Britain and throughout the world.

Birmingham ArtsFest is an annual citywide event which incorporates many venues and public squares, the events celebrate the West Midland art scene.

[edit] Festivals and shows

Birmingham is home to many national, religious and spiritual festivals including a St. George's Day party and the third largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world, after New York City and Dublin.

The Birmingham Tattoo is a military show that has taken place in the city for several years. The currently biennial Caribbean- style Birmingham International Carnival was originally the Handsworth Carnival, held in Handsworth Park from 1984, but now takes place in Perry Barr Park. Birmingham Pride takes place in Birmingham's gay village and attracts up to 100,000 visitors each year.

[edit] Film

The Electric Cinema on Station street is the oldest working Cinema in the UK and was once reputedly a haunt of George Bernard Shaw.

Albert Austin (born 13 December 1881 or 1885) was an actor, film star, director and script writer, primarily in the days of silent movies. He was born in Birmingham. He worked for Charlie Chaplin's Stock Company and played supporting roles in many of Chaplin's films, and working as his assistant director.

In the 1920's Oscar Deutsch opened his first Odeon cinema in the UK in Perry Barr. By 1930 the Odeon was a household name and still thrives today.

In 1930 the Birmingham Film Society was set up.

Brummiewood is a name given to the film industry in Birmingham. The Birmingham School of Acting recently won a Royal Television Society Award for their short film 'Soul Boy'. Moseley dance centre also contributes to the city's drama and dance talent.

The Birmingham Film Festival takes place annually at various Broad Street venues. It highlights local talent as well as a wide spectrum of international productions.

[edit] Media

In 1742, 'Aris's Gazette' was established as Birmingham's first newspaper. Modern local newspapers include The Birmingham Post, Sunday Mercury and Evening Mail [5].

  • The BBC has a regional headquarters in the Convention Quarter, and many TV and radio programmes are produced in the city, including the long running The Archers radio soap, BBC ONE daytime series Doctors, Dalziel & Pascoe, The Afternoon Play and the new drama shorts series Brief Encounters.
  • ATV had its headquarters in Birmingham for many years, recording television shows in the city. ATV later became Central Independent Television, eventually merging with Carlton, which is now part of ITV plc and now broadcasts regional news, sport and CiTV for the Central Region from their Gas street HQ in the city.
  • Sky TV has its own news team bureau based in the University of Birmingham's Aston Campus.
  • Birmingham Cable and Satellite broadcasters include the Natural Health Channel and Asia 1 TV.
  • Local legal radio stations include BRMB, Galaxy, BBC WM and Heart FM, and Kerrang! 105.2, Birmingham's first dedicated rock station.

[edit] References

Konow, David. Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal (New York: Crown, 2002) ISBN 0-609-80732-3

[edit] External links

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