The countdown is on to a Durham festival that's billed as a summer highlight and which this year will be supporting County Durham's bid to be named UK City of Culture 2025.
Durham Brass Festival will be making a comeback in July - bigger and better say organisers - and will include world-renowned artists alongside local talents in a programme featuring lively street bands as well as free concerts in schools, communities and care homes. Among the highlights will be brass music covering "from Britain to Bollywood", a free party in Wharton Park and a festival debut by an ensemble described as the most famous brass band in the world.
This internationally-known Black Dyke Band will be adding to the musical mix of the bigger and extended festival which is to have a week-long run from July 10-17, making up for its two Covid cancellations and including performances in Gala Theatre and Durham Cathedral as well as the city streets themselves - where the likes of Loud Noises will even get spectators involved.
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Durham City councillor Elizabeth Scott said: “Streets of Brass brings such an eclectic range of feel-good music to the city centre and to Wharton Park, bringing everyone together for a fantastic celebration of music. It also helps to share the joy of music with people who might not engage with it otherwise, which is a key aspect of our bid to be named UK City of Culture 2025.”
Adding an international flavour to the festival will be the likes of Italian ensemble Bandakadabra; the 'first and only all-female Italian street band' Girlesque and Spain's Artistas del Gremio, while UK’s pioneering Indian-style band Bollywood Brass will be joining the party too. Also topping the bill will be double MOBO Award winner YolanDa Brown; Mercury Music Prize and Brit Award nominee Richard Hawley and the LYR band fronted by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.
If all that sounds impressive then there's plenty more to come from the festival, run by Durham County Council - which describes it as one of the highlights of its annual events programme - and, inspired by the area's brass band heritage, there will be a mix of traditional and contemporary music, free and paid-for concerts and events and workshops throughout the community.
It even will be providing a musical backdrop to the Durham City Run which also will be making its return this year from July 15-16, coinciding with Brass and meaning that live music from street bands will accompany hundreds of competitors as they race through the city centre. The Black Dyke Band, from Yorkshire, initially had been due to make their festival debut last year with a performance along the banks of the River Wear but following the cancellation of 2021's planned five-day festival their postponed show will now take place on July 17, this time at Gala Theatre.
Many others due to take part last year are also following suit, including singer-songwriter Hawley with his one-off highlight slot at Durham Cathedral being scheduled on July 16. The 55-year-old, who was in Britpop band Longpigs in the 1990s and later in Pulp with Jarvis Cocker before he embarked upon a 20-year solo career, earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination for his breakthrough soulful solo album Cole’s Corner.
He also has collaborated with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and Paul Weller and said of his upcoming Durham visit: “I am genuinely excited; I think it’s going to be one of the most memorable gigs I’ve ever played.” Joining him will be Durham's Nasuwt Riverside Band, formerly known as the Newcastle Brown Ale Band, whose traditions date back to 1877 and who over the years of rehearsing at Pelton Fell in Chester-le-Street have regularly appeared in concerts and contests taking them to the national finals at the Albert Hall.
On the same date that they play the cathedral, saxophonist YolanDa Brown will be performing at Gala Theatre - twice: first with a live version of her CBeebies TV show then with a concert fusing reggae, jazz and soul. Ahead of that, the cathedral will host LYR and The Easington Colliery Band on July 15 for the premiere of Firm As A Rock We Stand: A Commemoration and Celebration of County Durham’s ‘Category D’ Villages.
The band, which besides Simon Armitage includes musician Richard Walters and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Pearson, will be performing the EP live and in full for the first time, raising awareness of those villages which in the early 1950s were categorised as being unworthy of investment.
Nick Malyan, chief executive of Redhills Charity which commissioned the work with both the festival and Durham Miners’ Association, said: “We are delighted that the culture and heritage of Durham’s mining communities, in all its depth and richness, is at the heart of this year’s Brass Festival.
“One important chapter of our story will be told in the words of the Poet Laureate, accompanied by brass band music in the setting of Durham Cathedral. It’s sure to be a powerful experience that raises awareness of the Category D story.”
Also among the festival treats will be Sunderland's Mercury Award-nominated duo Field Music - brothers and Pete and David Brewis, who will show off another special festival commission: Binding Time - Songs & Stories from the Durham Coalfields.
Others to look out for include Ibibio Sound Machine, an eight-piece band made up of players from around the world and Nigerian singer Eno Williams; tweed-clad contemporary brass powerhouses Old Dirty Brasstards; award-winning Sunderland composer Ben Lunn who helps champion disabled artists; and Back Chat Brass whose sound is rooted in pop, funk and hip hop.
Coun Scott added: “Brass is famed for bringing the party to the people of our wonderful county. Having had to pause the festival because of the pandemic, we cannot wait to see our communities once again embracing the music and mayhem of this year’s festival.” For tickets to Brass see here. from July 16-17
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