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The sound of music will ring out across Huddersfield this weekend as a bumper bill of live events get underway to sing the praises of the area’s musical talent.

A total of five free gigs will put the town on the map as the epicentre for community music events from Friday to Sunday, which are being held alongside hundreds of others around the UK as part of the Our Big Gig.

Inspired by the 2012 London Olympics, the concerts have been organised by local people and organisations to bring people of all backgrounds together to meet each other and encourage people to have a go at making music themselves.

The Huddersfield Carnival will be the weekend’s biggest event, which hopes to attract around 30,000 people to celebrate its 30th anniversary in the town.

Local residents will bring a flavour of the Caribbean to the streets when they showcase their talents in a vibrant procession through the streets before taking over Greenhead Park from 2pm to 6pm.

And visitors will be able to try their own hand at making the sounds of African beats when they take part in workshops in drumming, percussion & traditional instruments or take part in jam sessions.

The party will continue over at Bar Maroc in New Street the following day from 2 to 6pm, when the audience will be able to join Sengalese drummer Ibou Badji in a drumming circle and listen to performances by the renowned Thabo & The Real Deal and Big Wave.

Meanwhile, Hoot Creative Arts will prove the value of using art to ensure better mental well-being and help everyone realise their creative potential when they put on an all day mini-festival outside the Media Centre from 10.30am to 11pm.

Workshops in music, singing and even comic book writing will take place until 5.30pm before bands take to the stage late into the evening.

And rock, folk and pop will take over Kirklees College’s New North Road site from noon to 4.30pm to encourage more people into making music.

Our Big Gig is organised by not for profit arts organisation Superact, and receives sponsorship from the Department for Communities and Local Government to give out grants to help make the gigs happen.

Director of Superact, Katharine Lane,said: “Just as football is uniting thousands of people this summer at the World Cup, so too will music and we hope Our Big Gig will again offer a unique way for communities to come together.”

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