East meets West in the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival on November 28 when the distinctive but diverse sounds of a Yorkshire brass band fuse with the music of India.
The concert at Bates Mill is the culmination of a number of cross-cultural workshops held by virtuoso bass guitarist Shri Sriram, which have brought together students from the Leeds-based organisation South Asian Arts and Bradford Music Service with the aim of creating new music from two different cultural backgrounds.
Shri, who is half of the successful UK drum and bass duo Badmarsh & Shri, has become known for his ability to blend Indian and western musical styles.
He wrote and performed the promotional music for the movie Life of Pi; has performed at Glastonbury and on Later With Jools Holland; and is currently composing the soundtrack for his third Indian film.
His Just A Vibration Learning and Participation Project brought him to Yorkshire back in September when he played alongside the Skelmanthorpe Brass Band at the Hull Freedom Festival. Music for the project was composed by Shri and bass-clarinettist Ben Castle, younger son of the late Holme Valley musician and entertainer Roy Castle.
This month Shri has been working with young brass players and Indian music students and the concert on Saturday (28th) in Bates Mill will also feature the famous Hammonds Saltaire Brass Band.
Shri says the students have learned four pieces from Just A Vibration. “This is really exciting,” he added, “as we will have about 72 musicians on stage, led by me and conducted by Morgan Griffiths.
“I hope that the project will inspire the participants and others involved to explore the multi-cultural world that exists around them.
“Music education is certainly alive in the UK, but it is a bit compartmentalised and I would like this project to help create an atmosphere of open-mindedness.”
The free concert in the Bates Mill Blending Shed is at 11am, no booking necessary.
Just A Vibration is one of the closing events of this year’s festival, which has showcased 25 world and 79 UK premieres in a series of 50 performances at venues around the town. The festival is now the largest event of its kind in the country.
For details of performances this coming week visit www.hcmf.co.uk
