Tag: Vijay Kishore

The West Midlands Pilots the first phase of the Birtish library’s New Music Network

Emerging contemporary artists from Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the West Midlands will be among the first in the country to have samples of their current work permanently stored in the British Library music archive. This is because they have been selected for a new website which showcases the very best new independent music from the West Midlands, as chosen by a panel of local music experts.

The PILOT PROJECT website – www.pilot-project.co.uk – goes live Thursday, November 18 in Birmingham, at 7pm.

The launch represents the first public step of an ambitious UK-wide scheme. It follows a six-month period of curation, working with a panel of West Midlands music experts. Music on the site will be accessible to stream, and the site database is fully searchable. The music and data will also be stored permanently in the British Library’s music archive as part of the British Library’s New Music Network. This aims to document contemporary British independent music of all types as it is made available through websites, blogs and other digital platforms.

Project co-ordinator, Birmingham radio veteran Robin Valk, said: “The Web has changed everything. Musicians now have access to tools that give them real control over the production and distribution of their work. They can exchange ideas and collaborate, instantly, worldwide, and this opens up huge new areas of experimentation and creativity. There is more good new music, more experimentation and more creativity than ever before, and most of it is online. This is a vital new part of the culture of our country. We owe it to ourselves to preserve it for future generations of music lovers.”

The launch will feature performances from West Midlands musicians Jo Hamilton, Vijay Kishore, and Friendly Fire Band, and representatives from the British Library and the Pilot Project advisory team (listed below) will be available for interview.

Andy Linehan, Pop Music curator for the British Library Sound Archive, said: “This is an important step in archiving new music at a local level for the national collections. So much new and innovative music is being made at grass roots level which bypasses the traditional business model, and it can be difficult to be aware of such activity.

“Successful local activity such as the Pilot Project means we will be able to provide a detailed picture of the diverse and creative output of West Midlands musicians for future generations.”

About the Pilot Project

The Pilot Project has been organised by Robin Valk, veteran radio expert and one of the founding members of staff at BRMB. Music for the project has been selected by a panel of regional advisors, broadcasters and music experts, including:

Chris Downing, Brumcast           brumcast.podomatic.com

Richard Elms, Herbert Media, Coventry    www.theherbert.org/index.php/home/herberrt-media?

Shelley Atkinson, Arts Deville        www.artsdeville.co.uk/?

Clare Edwards                   clareedwards.wordpress.com/about/

Marc Reck                www.marcreck.com/

Apache Indian                en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Indian

Tony Dudley-Evans, Birmingham Jazz    www.birminghamjazz.co.uk/

Kate Southall, Wolverhampton        www.myspace.com/katyjaywcrfm

This website will stay live for six months, showcasing the very best new music being developed in the region. Music selected for the site will be also be saved in the permanent British Library sound archive. Following a period of evaluation, the organisers hope to launch more regional pilots in 2011. The Pilot Project is supported by Digital Content Development at Arts Council West Midlands.

About the British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and one of the world’s greatest research libraries.

It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library’s collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages.

For further information, images, recordings and pre-launch interviews contact:

Birmingham coordinator:    

Robin Valk robin at radiotogo.com

British Library:       

Andy Linehan andy.linehan at bl.uk

www.pilot-project.co.uk
www.bl.uk

Musicians appearing at the launch
www.johamilton.com/
www.vijaykishore.co.uk/
www.friendlyfiremusic.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pilot Project website launch Birmingham, 18th November 2010

Radio To Go invites you to the launch of the Pilot Project website, a joint venture with the British Library. The site showcases new online music from the West Midlands for the next six months of web streaming experimentation.

Doors open for guests at 6.30pm, allowing you to meet Pilot Project and British Library representatives. At 7pm the Pilot Project website goes live, allowing guests to explore the site. The exceptional Jo Hamilton, the hugely innovative Vijay Kishore and 3rd generation Birmingham Reggae pioneers Friendly Fire band will all play showcase acoustic sets during the evening.

The Pilot Project site is the first public phase in a two–year long project, whose ultimate goal is to build a comprehensive archive (the British Library New Music Network), documenting and preserving the best British new music. This is a long overdue and welcome development – our music industry has changed beyond all recognition, and new media and web-based creativity has empowered independent artists as never before.

This website is a first step in acknowledging these changes. Supported by Digital Content Development at Arts Council West Midlands, the site is a test bed. In developing the project, the British Library and Radio To Go have experimented with curation to present a first sampling of material. We have worked with regional experts across the West Midlands, drawn from the local music industry and local media, most of whom will be in attendance (for more details, see the attached press release). The site repertoire will be accessible and searchable, with information and contacts for the musicians. Users can choose to stream the repertoire in various ways.

It is planned for the site to stay online for 6 months, while streaming experimentation takes place, yielding further technical research information for future projects.

Doors open at 6.30 pm for welcome reception; the site launch is at 7pm.
Would you like to attend the launch? Would you like to know where the launch is being held? We would very much appreciate your RSVP  to:  robin at radiotogo.com

The Pilot Project website launch Fazeley Studios, Birmingham, 18th November 2010

M.A.C Arts Centre Reopens it’s doors Saturday May 1st 2010

MAC, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH

At 10 o’clock on Saturday May 1st, MAC finally reopens its doors after a two-year, £15m refurbishment giving everyone the chance to join in the fun and get to know the new MAC. With three days of activities, workshops events and performances, there will be something for everyone.

Saturday will see the first members of the public entering the new purpose-built gallery to see the opening exhibition plug in. Examining Birmingham’s changing role as a global city encountering change, exhibits include pictures and artefacts from Birmingham’s manufacturing heritage, including the sign from the now demolished HP Sauce factory in Aston, a Morris Minor and photos from Stuart Whipps’s series Ming Jue documenting Rover production moving from Longbridge to Nanjing.

Members of the public have also contributed to the show, with a newly commissioned sound piece from Peter Cusack examining people’s favourite sounds of Birmingham, and the Birmingham word cloud – a visual representation of words people associate with Birmingham submitted through social media site Twitter.

In the evening the refitted theatre is hosting its first ever standing gig with Misty’s Big Adventure, Vijay Kishore and Joe Broughton and Kevin Dempsey. Retractable seating means that the theatre is

Out on the relandscaped Terrace on Sunday, critically acclaimed dance troupe Motionhouse will be conducting open rehearsals for their spectacular new piece Cascade, commissioned by mac. One of mac’s associate artists, Motionhouse will be showing off their extraordinary dance and aerial skills as they adventure into a world of water, giving visitors the chance to get a sneak preview of the show developing and put questions to the dancers and choreographer Kevin Finnan.

Monday sees the grand finale of The City Sings, an anthem for mac composed by Helen Ottaway of Artmusic, which will ring out across the city throughout the day with trumpeters, a bus load of singing school children, the Bournville Carillon and many more all joining in. At 4pm the event will culminate in a mass performance as the various groups gather from across the park to celebrate mac’s reopening.

Throughout the weekend there will also be a host of free taster sessions covering the whole range of the Learning & Participation programme, trailers and short films in the refurbished cinema and performances and workshops hosted by South Asian arts organisation Sampad.

Dorothy Wilson, Chief Executive at mac said: “Over ten years in the making, the Building Project has created a dynamic and exciting arts centre that offers vastly improved spaces for audiences and artists alike, I can’t wait to show people around this May Bank Holiday Weekend.”

Highlights of the weekend include:

Amplifying the Map – Guided Tours
Enjoy a range of distinct trails; follow a fantastic audio trail adventure or stroll from bridge to bridge on a journey made for those who care for Cannon Hill Park.

Misty’s Big Adventure, Vijay Kishore, Joe Broughton & Kevin Dempsey
Sat 1 May, 8pm £14
Misty’s Big Adventure, bring their hip hop beats, screwy jazz, pop, scratching and electric toys. They share the event with rising start Vijay Kishore alongside virtuosi of guitar and fiddle, Kevin Dempsey and Joe Broughton.

Creating Cascade Open Rehearsals
Sunday 2 May
Take a sneak preview of Motionhouse’s next outdoor spectacle that promises to be a display of extraordinary dance and aerial skills. Watch how the show develops and put your questions to the choreographer Kevin Finnan.

plug in
Saturday 1 May – Monday 30 August
Plug in, guest curated by artist Simon Poulter, celebrates the opening of mac’s enviable new gallery space by exploring the changing role of our home city.

The Sampad Story
Saturday 1 May – Monday 30 August
A retrospective exhibition that takes you on a journey of South Asian arts in the region since 1990, told through the eyes of the artists, audiences and communities from the past twenty years.

The City Sings, a new work written by Helen Ottaway to celebrate the re-opening of mac
Monday 3 May
Join in as musicians and singers from all over Birmingham appear together to perform in the extraordinary event.

In addition, as part of the opening weekend you will be able to find out more about our Learning and Participation programme. With a wide range of free workshops, artists workshops and artist demonstrations you can take a sneaky peek and sample what’s to come!

What’s more, throughout the weekend there will be an opportunity to re-introduce yourself to our Cinema, see some trailers and shorts and catch up on some of the films that have been released while the mac has been closed. Highlights include A Single Man, It’s Complicated and I am Love.

MAC

Cannon Hill Park
Birmingham B12 9QH

www.macarts.co.uk

Registered Company no 718349
Registered Charity no 528979
VAT no 818 2851 16

Supporting Birmingham’s Bid to become UK City of Culture 2013