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BBC News
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Magical' 36-hour musical journey takes over Bradford
An unbroken 36-hour long musical parade through Bradford and its surrounding countryside, which has taken two years to plan, has got under event, known as The Bradford Progress, part of the City of Culture 2025 celebrations, began at dawn with the ethereal sounds of the Paraorchestra echoing across the famous Cow and Calf Rocks at Ilkley Progress aims to celebrate the district's diverse music with performances staged in unexpected places, including mills, museums, cemeteries, and even on boats, buses and Harper, the Paraorchestra's chief executive officer, said the start of the event had been "beyond our imagination" and "magical". The Bradford Progress, which is due to conclude on Sunday afternoon at the Mirror Pool in the heart of the city, was created in collaboration with the Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, artist Jeremy Deller and people in the Bradford Harper said: "The whole point of it is to have unfamiliar music in unfamiliar places, creating this journey across the districts."You might hear a Ukrainian choir on a train, perhaps, or you might be passed by an open top bus with a brass band on it." Later on Saturday, the Progress took to water for a four-mile mobile performance along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal from Bingley to featured artists such as Liza Bec, the Toby Brazier Quartet, Ey Up Klezmer, Flash Cassette, Steve Varden, Dean McPhee and Vijay the narrowboats, onlooker Sharon Rae said: "It's really interesting and a good use of the canal."We all know it's wonderful, but to bring other people here is a really special thing." Meanwhile, Janet and Keith Wilson, who said they lived nearby, also enjoyed watching part of the free said it was good to see the canal being put to use, adding: "It is great to see so many people have turned up." The Bradford Progress is expected to feature a variety of musical styles, including folk, punk, Bhangra, gospel, baroque, Bassline, brass band, electronic, Sufi, Indian Classical and well as Paraorchestra, a range of other musicians are taking part, including the Bingley Ukulele Group, Bradford Cathedral Choir, City of Bradford Brass Band, Bradford Accordion Band and the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Harper said: "Music is such a great, powerful unifier."I'd encourage people to get out and come to one of the events." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘An unbroken arc of music': Bradford prepares for 36-hour odyssey of sound
'The whole thing is chaos,' said the conductor Charles Hazlewood, before a weekend art project with the artist Jeremy Deller that will feature Handel on Ilkley Moor at sunrise, disco from a tractor, opera blasted out of modified car sound systems and much more. 'But it will be organised chaos,' added Hazlewood. 'An acceptance of chaos … which is what it's like to live in a city, isn't it? You have to embrace the chaos.' Hazlewood, the founder and artistic director of Paraorchestra, has teamed up with the Turner prize-winning Deller for The Bradford Progress, one of the highlight events of this year's Bradford city of culture. It has been two years in the planning, lots of 'chatting, visiting, talking to people' and is a dizzying musical odyssey involving about 500 musicians all celebrating the sound of Bradford. The idea is for an 'unbroken arc of music' for 36 hours, starting on Saturday at sunrise with a three-minute blast of Handel at the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor and processing along the moors, taking in canals, parks, cemeteries, the industrial museum, housing estates shopping arcades and more before concluding at the Mirror Pool in the city centre. There will be classical, bhangra, folk, punk, gospel, bassline, brass band, electronic, Sufi, Indian classical, and minimalist. Deller said music was a great way of telling stories. 'You find out about the city by the music that's made in it and who's here and why and what kind of music is made and who makes it. It will be storytelling without having to make it obvious.' The pair have been working on the project on and off for about two years and say they did not want it to be a musical relay race. 'It's so much more than that,' said Hazlewood. 'The music is continuous and it morphs from one type of music to another type of music. The edges are blurred. You get these bits of cross-fertilisation between musics that aren't meant to go together.' A big theme of the weekend will be incongruity and unexpectedness. Neither Deller nor Hazlewood wanted to give away all the surprises, although they did disclose the prospect of opera from the sound systems of modified cars. Have the young men involved enjoyed it? 'Well, it's not entirely clear if they've 'enjoyed' it, let me put it like that,' said Deller. Another possible highlight is a performance of Steve Reich's The Four Sections by the Paraorchestra in the Broadway shopping centre, which is a particular thrill for Hazelwood. 'I've always wanted Paraorchestra to play in a shopping arcade. A big part of our work is about rubbing out the fourth wall, rather than being an audience member on the outside looking in, they can be on the inside looking out.' Hazlewood said he wanted people to see the sweat on a trumpeter's upper lip, to be behind a double bass and feel its vibration. 'Orchestras do tend to be these rarefied beasts where, often, players walk on stage and don't even acknowledge the audience. 'That frustrates me because music is an act of love. It's an act of communication. It doesn't exist in a bubble.' There will be music through the night in the cemetery although people won't literally be able to get in, 'unless you're dead,' said Deller. The santoor and electronic music should though be hearable from the street. It sounds chaotic but is, in truth, meticulously organised by a large team. The plan is that sections will be filmed and put online for people who can't get there. On Friday, there was an early taster of what is to come as a lone tabla player, Qaiser Khan, walked through the blazing Saltaire sunshine to the Victorian bandstand in Roberts Park. There, between two 19th-century 10ft-cannons, singers from Song-Geet, Yorkshire's first south Asian women's choir, performed. They were followed by wind players from the Paraorchestra playing Mozart. Different people will get different things from the weekend but above all, Deller said, he wants people to just enjoy it. 'Enjoy the music in these very familiar and unfamiliar surroundings. It's quite straightforward really – people coming together and listening to music and participating. Often it is the simple ideas which are quite complicated to make. This is a simple idea but there are a lot of working parts.'
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Where to see Paraorchestra perform Bradford Progress this weekend
Hundreds of musicians and singers will perform a "musical odyssey" to celebrate the sound of Bradford as they move between several locations at the weekend - starting on Ilkley Moor at dawn. The Bradford Progress is a performance which will move from the countryside to the city on Saturday and Sunday, as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of is a collaboration between the artistic director of Paraorchestra, their artistic director Charles Hazlewood, and Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy free event will start at the Cow and Calf Rocks at 05:00 BST, before moving along the canal through Bingley and Saltaire and reaching Bradford, ending at Undercliffe Cemetery. The Bradford Progress will conclude on Sunday afternoon, when all the musicians involved unite to perform a piece inspired by the techniques of American composer Charles Ives. Where can I see the Bradford Progress? On Saturday 17 May, performances will be held at:05:00 BST, the Cow and Calf rocks in Ilkley, West Yorkshire 09:30 on narrowboats along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from Bingley to Saltaire 14:00 to 16:30 at Roberts Park bandstand17:30 to 19:30 at Bradford Industrial Museum 20:00 to 22:00 at Undercliffe CemeteryOn Sunday 18 May, performances will be held at:12:00 to 3:30 at Undercliffe Cemetery to The Broadway shopping centre 13:30 to 14:00 at The Broadway 14:00 to 15:00 at The Mirror Pool in Bradford for the finale Do I need a ticket? No, the event is free and unticketed, all you have to do is turn up and watch. What is Paraorchestra? Paraorchestra is a group of professional musicians who bring live orchestral music experiences to people in venues and public spaces around the ensemble, which aims to "disrupt and reinvent" the orchestra, brings together professional disabled and non-disabled is the only orchestra in the world that is pro-actively increasing representation of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent players, with a focus on their career group is a registered charity directed by Charles Hazlewood. What kind of music can I expect? The Bradford Progress will feature a variety of musical styles including folk, punk, Bhangra, gospel, Baroque, Bassline, brass band, electronic, Sufi, Indian Classical, and well as Paraorchestra, a range of other musicians will take part, including Bingley Ukulele Group, Bradford Cathedral Choir, City of Bradford Brass Band, Bradford Accordion Band and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Band. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
