The Meanwhile in Manchester exhibition is half of an exchange between artists in Birmingham and Manchester, in collaboration with Eastside Projects and Extra Special People. Rogue Studios in Manchester show Meanwhile in Birmingham on 5-6 June before Meanwhile in Manchester comes to Grand Union and The Lombard Method with a private view on Friday 11 June, 6-9pm. The exhibition continues 12th to 20th June, Thurs – Sun, 12-5pm.
British artist Andrew Cross is to premiere his new film at Ikon Eastside 1-25 July. The Solo features a performance by Carl Palmer, legendary rock star drummer of 1970s ‘supergroup’ Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
The Solo considers the relationship between music and space by focusing on a much-maligned musical form: the rock drum solo. Popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, drum solos were a key feature of concerts at that time, combining extraordinary musical virtuosity and showmanship.
…Alongside The Solo a selection of colour photographs by Cross will be displayed, each showing an unassuming field that was once the location of the Knebworth Festival during the 1970s. Pictured at different times of day, the silent landscape holds memories of long summer days and rock legends. As with the film, Cross hones in on a specific moment and through intense scrutiny throws into question our relationship to places loaded with personal and cultural significance.
This is part of Ikon’s This Could Happen To You: Ikon in the 1970s, a retrospective exhibition that ‘surveys the gallery’s programme from 1970-1978′, with works also being displayed at Ikon Brindleyplace and the Pallasades Shopping Centre.
Created in Birmingham have posted flyers for two impending exhibitions – the first is Exhibit This at The Bond on Fazeley Street, 7th-8th June at 6pm-8.30pm, a showcase from final year Media and Communication students at Birmingham City University.
The second is for a photography exhibition ‘Emerging’ at the Custard Factory between 1-8 June, 10am-7pm.
Ikon Eastside’s 2010 programme opens with an exhibition by German artist Florian Hecker. Newly commissioned work continues Hecker’s investigation into sound with a trail of electro-acoustic pieces which become increasingly abstract as you move through the gallery space.
If you have any pictures of some protest posters that caught your eye, upload them to the Facebook group too! The Fight The Power exhibition opens with a private view on the evening of Weds 2nd and is on until 26th JUNE. The new Zellig Gallery is open 10AM – 5PM (Monday to Saturday).
Here’s a short video of artist Raycho Stanev talking to Simon Walker on a Bulgarian mountain about his installation The Great Excursion, an interactive artwork about the shocking mass expulsion of 360,000 Bulgarian Turks from the country in 1989 during the Communist regime. Raycho tells Simon the artwork was partly inspired by a visit to Birmingham, where he was struck by the diversity of out city.
The Great Excursion will be in Friction Arts’ home The Edge, Cheapside 3rd-19th June, and will kick off with a Critical Debate from 6pm this Thurs 3rd June, with a panel that includes Ammo Talwar (Punch), Paul Murphy (The Destroyers), Mukhtar Dar (The Drum) and Paradox (Munchbreak). Friction Arts highlight the relevance and need for discussion around the issues raised by The Great Excursion on We Are Eastside:
In a period of time when the BNP have been talking of repatriation policies, and belts are tightening, these issues are very relevant to us as we look for ways to come together, when external forces seem to be forcing us apart.
Irish Heritage Vice Chair John MacIntyre has written this month’s report ion the May event (below), whilst Chair Mike Walsh has provided the pics and captions. If you think the evenings sound kind of interesting (and they are – very) go along to the Irish Centre this Wednesday 2nd June at 7pm. It’s free of charge and everyone’s welcome. This month is the Collins 22 Society Heritage & History Evening and Bill Martin, Society founder & Historian from Ireland, is also in attendance.
Irish Ballads, Manuscripts and Poetry
Section of crowd at Irish Heritage Event on first Wednesday in May
This was the very emotional and varied content provided on the evening of 6th of May 2010 by the Birmingham Irish Heritage Group. A wide variety of material is staged by the Heritage Group at 7pm on the first Wednesday of every month, upstairs at the Irish Centre, where admission and refreshments are free and the general public are welcome.
The Event commenced with Ann Cullen reciting The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde. Ann explained that Oscar wrote it in exile in Paris, following his release from 2 years Hard Labour in Reading prison in 1897. It told the true story of a man who was hanged for killing his girlfriend “Each man kills the thing he loves, the coward with an unkindly word, and the brave man with a sword”.
Ann told us that following his failed Libel Suit against Marquis of Queensbury, who accused him of seducing his 20 year old son Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar was tried for male homosexuality (Queen Victoria refused to outlaw lesbianism) and on conviction spent two years in Berkshire County Gaol. This destroyed his health and he died in exile in France aged only 46. His last words were “either that wallpaper goes dear boy or I do.”
Two prominent members of the Irish Heritage Group and friends enjoying the May event.
The ballad Roddy McCorley was played by John McIntyre and sung by the Dubliners. John explained that there were 3 unsuccessful Irish Rebellions in 1798, 1st – an extremely bloodthirsty revolt in Wexford, 2nd- A French led invasion of Connacht, and thirdly the United Irishmen in Ulster. Roddy McCorley was a brave protestant, who led an attack on Antrim town, and was hanged on Toome Bridge on the Derry/Antrim Border.
Mike Walsh recited a poem about the Great 17th Century Savers of Irish Manuscripts, and explained that all empires try and destroy the Native Culture, in order to strengthen their foreign rule. The brave Irish priest Seathrun Ceitiin (Geoffrey Keating 1570-1644) left his native Tipperary and was ordained in Bordeaux, following the Flight of Earls 1607, and returned as a curate in the parish of Knockraffin near Cahir in Tipperary.
Later he had to spend 6 months in a cave in the Glen of Aherlow and a total of 6 years on the run elsewhere to evade capture. During his 6 years in hiding he composed “Foras Feasa Ar Eirinn” which was the complete Manuscript of Irish History and Gaelic Culture. He managed to smuggle this out to the Irish College in Louvain in Belgium, where he died aged 74.
John Costello wise choice of banner for May Event from the several held by Irish Heritage Group.
He was assisted by Red Hugh 0’ Donnell’s sister in law Rosa 0 ‘Doherty who later helped the Four Masters assemble the Annals of Ireland in 1618 at Lennox Bridge on the Bundrowes River which borders Leitrim in Connacht and Donegal in Ulster. Both Keating’s and the Four Master’s work survive to this day, but only 2% of the original ancient Irish manuscripts used as sources, escaped loss or destruction.
John McIntyre also played ‘The Holy Ground’ sung by the Dubliners, explaining that The Holy Ground was an area of Cobh County Cork where many hard drinking seafarers loved fine girls resided there in the 19th Century. Mike Walsh also played the Fields of Athenry sang melodiously by Paddy Reilly, saying that it was a 1840’s Famine ballad set in Athenry Galway, which had been colonised by the Norman, De Bermingham family, whose descendants transported young Michael to Australia for stealing corn in order to feed his family.
Vice Chairman John MacIntyre speaking on the history of his choice of Ballads.
Finally John Costello played the sad ballad Grace, explaining that Artist Grace Gifford married her doomed fiancé Joseph Plunkett in may 1916 at Kilmanim Jail Dublin. This was on the night before he was shot by the Crown Forces, for spearheading the Easter Rising. John’s talk included the information that she never remarried, but carried on her artistry dying in Dublin in 1954.
Birmingham Irish Heritage Group Events are held on the First Wednesday of every Month, upstairs in the sumptuously renovated Irish Club in Digbeth at 7pm. The general public are very welcome, admission and refreshments free.
Brummie band of the moment The Destroyers are to launch their UK and Ireland tour with a Summer Gypsy Ball in the new Digbeth music venue The Crossing at South Birmingham College on Milk Street. The gig this Fri 4th June will also feature a performance from East London’s Urban Vodoo Machine, live visuals from Syzygy and DJ sets from the Jibbering collective and Marc Reck.
Tickets are £10 in advance from The Ticket Sellers or £12 on the door (though I suspect this may sell out beforehand). If you can’t make what promises to be a seriously cracking gig, the action will be live streamed via The Destroyers website. As I’m on me holiday, I’m going to be well lazy and copy and paste rest of the press release below. The Irish Post have also done a feature on the gig.
The Destroyers by Pete Ashton
The Destroyers’ Summer Gypsy Ball coincides with the beginning of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in the UK and will pay homage to a nomadic culture rich in both tradition and musical exploration. With careering Klezmer rhythms, Mariachi brass, Balkan strings, traditional Irish melodies, uptempo ska, gypsy jazz and punk-polka amongst other ingredients, The Destroyers have embraced this genre defying approach, and in doing so reflect the cultural and musical make-up of their home city as well as a love of gathering and interpreting new and established influences.
On debut album Out of Babel, the song Torregaveta paid tribute to two young Roma sisters, while the lyrics “Intorno al mondo la musica attraversa la frontiera (around the world music crosses the frontier)” sung in Italian by band member Leo Altarelli in Questa Canzone has become an unofficial mission statement for the group.
“Gypsy music has been a source of immense inspiration for us – the word gypsy itself conjures up many things. Firelight and painted caravans. Swirling skirts and stamping feet. Hand clapping and stirring guitars. A people for whom music is life-blood. I don’t have to be a fortune-teller to predict that The Destroyers’ Gypsy Ball with the Urban Voodoo Machine is going to be one whirling spectacle of a gig. Only the dead won’t dance!” Paul Murphy, The Destroyers
Urban Voodoo Machine, described by the Washington Post as “Nick Cave in a dark mood fronting a drunken Dexy’s Midnight Runners” supported veteran Irish folk-punk band The Pogues on their recent US tour, have recorded a cover of AC/DC’s Hells Bells to Classic Rock magazine’s Back in Black 30th anniversary tribute album and host the regular Gypsy Hotel night at Barden’s Boudoir in London.
Between them, Jibbering DJs and Marc Reck are responsible for programming and promoting some of Birmingham’s most eclectic and groundbreaking events, including the sell-out Mr Elephant nights at hip venues The Rainbow and Hare & Hounds and have brought internationally renowned artists such as Keith Murray, Horace Andy [Massive Attack] and The Black Seeds to the city.
2009 saw The Destroyers release debut album Out of Babel and embark on a 24 date tour, which took in single launch parties in London and Birmingham, five shows at Glastonbury in four days, an impromptu set at a tiny Norfolk village fete as well as triumphant shows at Trowbridge and Shambala Festivals.
Out of Babel was produced by influential recording engineer Gavin Monaghan [The Editors, Scott Matthews, The Twang] and Louis Robinson, a founding member of The Destroyers, at the Magic Garden Studios in Wolverhampton. Following its release the album garnered critical acclaim, including a four star review from world music bible Songlines.
YouTube – adam and eve slideshow – Becky Sharp creates a really nice slideshow , with an audio interview with the landlady of the Adam and Eve pub, chatting about how the pub has changed over the years and what makes it unique.
Not to be outdone by people of a spiky haired intent (see last Sat’s punk alldayer) this weekend sees a shed load of fun and frolics for those of longer haired persuasion. Black Scorpion promotions are putting on Three (yes Three!) days of impeccably sourced heavy metal and rock at The Old Wharf ale house. The aptly named Brumstock Underground festival line-up consists of ..Point Blank Fury, Tread the Blood, Warlord UK, Musta Talvi, Seregon Adust, I Hate You More, Leather Pig, Gusto Mativo, Morgue Orgy and MANY others (usual line-up and times subject to change disclaimer applies)…
Yes, you read that entry fee right, it’s Free in though it is a fundraiser for Birminghams Children’s Hospital so donations greatly received.
