TOWNSOUNDS

Mandy Samra, Sam Hodgson, Ant McGinley, Let's Go Yorkshire

TOWNSOUNDS explores the musical histories of Kirklees to uncover untold stories through the voices of local people living musical lives. This podcast is brought to you by Let’s Go Yorkshire, Kirklees Year of Music 2023 and Kirklees Council. It was hosted and produced by Sam Hodgson. The podcast has been supported by Kirklees Council, Kirklees Year of Music 2023, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information on this podcast, please visit musicinkirklees.co.uk

  1. Who Do You Love? Musicians as Parents

    01/15/2024

    Who Do You Love? Musicians as Parents

    After a successful 12 episodes in 2023, the TOWNSOUNDS podcast is back with another 3 episodes for 2024. This first episode of the year takes an intimate look into the personal stories of a topic that you might not associate with music at all - parenting. The podcasts’ host, Sam Hodgson, couldn’t help but notice that throughout the archive interviews, used for this podcast series, the musical parents couldn’t help but mention the huge impact having kids had on their musical lives. In this episode Sam has the opportunity to pick the topic apart and in doing so reveals topics that are rarely spoken about in public at all. This is a heartwarming, joyous episode overall but it also reaches places of great depth, personal achievement and struggle. Whether you’re a musician, a parent, or an expecting parent, or if you care deeply about your local community and the people in it, or if you are fascinated by the stories of real people, this episode is likely for you. The speakers for this episode are: Community musician and loop pedal wielding singer Jess Baker;  Music therapist and roots musician Emily Druce; Bob Lockwood, who has been the double bass player for the Graham Browning Trio, Edges Ensemble, Crooks and Claridge, Marsden Community Jazz Band, String Fellows, Sabrina Piggett and many more; The Hanson family, who run Hanson’s Musical Instrument; Shop and Hanson Community Arts; Organiser of Holmfirth Festival of Folk, Alex Bywaters; Member of the Mash It Up Parang Band, John Joseph; Singer, songwriter, Ruby Wood. All the music clips you hear come with the kind permission of our speakers.

    36 min
  2. Complex Harmony: The Kirklees jazz scene

    10/09/2023

    Complex Harmony: The Kirklees jazz scene

    Jazz does have a reputation for being a bit more complex than some other genres of music. Outside of trad-jazz, the genre tends to push the boundaries, and do things that most musicians can’t and most audiences probably can’t handle. Sometimes words can’t describe what you are trying to say about music. You have to feel it and see it and sing it and squeal it. And that is what this episode will attempt to bring to life. It’s not only Marsden jazz that has put Kirklees on the jazz map. One of the first residencies at the Batley Variety Club was Louis Armstrong. And Huddersfield has a Jazz Guitar Society and a Jazz Guitar Festival. There are a number of local jazz nights, jazz singers and professional jazz instrumentalists around the area. Jazz, for some reason, has a special place at the heart of Kirklees. And in this episode we’ll do our best to find out why. The contributors featured in this episode are: Laurie Stead - founder of Huddersfield Jazz; Stan Sagan - double bass player; Paul Smith - drummer and organiser of the Head of Steam jazz night; Paul Chamberlain - bass player and organiser of the Head of Steam jazz night; Michael Massey – singer; Pat Fulgoni - singer and organiser of the Sunday Blues Train; Sean M Corby - trumpet player. The episode also features excerpts of the following pieces of music with the kind permission of the copyright holders: Lay it Down Charlie Brown by Elements; Saratoga by Larry Van Kriedt; Roll Rizla Roll by Swing of Things; Caravan performed by Band of Jays; Pennies from Heaven performed by the Jazz Dawgs; Pat Fulgoni blues band, live in Prague.

    34 min
  3. It All Sounds the Same: Modern popular music in Kirklees

    09/11/2023

    It All Sounds the Same: Modern popular music in Kirklees

    Over the course of the series, we have heard from music projects that continue to run, but up until now, the episodes have been filling in the gaps of what music in Kirklees used to be like. Many of the people who we interviewed no longer have a connection to the local music scene. Instead, they look back fondly on the music scenes of the past. But in this episode we look at what has been happening throughout more recent years in modern popular music. We’ll go as far back as the early 90s, but try to stay even closer to now than that. The episode covers musicians that are still on the scene right now, making music, performing, touring, writing, playing, and organising. The speakers for this episode are: Ruby Wood - Submotion Orchestra, Extra Curricular and Ruby Wood; Martin Chung - Jah Wobble, Nu Popes, Ruby Wood and Extra Curricular; Rob Bradley - Jack Flash, Extra Curricular and Rob Bradley; Nigel Cudjoe - Savvy, Asaviour and The Saving Grace Collective. As well as the show theme by Sam Hodgson, this episode features excerpts of the following tracks which appear with the kind permission of the copyright holders: 02:10 - MUSIC: Woodwork by Samh; 05:50 - MUSIC: Martin Chung guitar improvisation; 07:25 - MUSIC: Martin Chung guitar solo on Wadcutter Blues track; 11:40 - MUSIC: Funked Up and Freaked Out by Kava Kava; 13:05 - MUSIC: Hour of the Wolf by Savvy; 16:05 - MUSIC: Huddersfield to Hollywood by Savvy; 25:26 - MUSIC: My Favourite Song by Ruby Wood; 27:50 - MUSIC: As One by Keeno, featuring Pat Fulgoni.

    30 min
  4. Instruments in Suitcases: The influence of migration on Kirklees' music scene

    08/14/2023

    Instruments in Suitcases: The influence of migration on Kirklees' music scene

    Over the course of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast series, host Sam Hodgson has already interviewed a number of people who have migrated to Kirklees from somewhere else or who are second-generation migrants. As listeners have heard in Episode Two (choirs), Episode Three (rock and roll), Episode Four (South Asian music), Episode Five (folk) and Episode Seven (reggae soundsystem), migration is a vital part of the story and the history of Kirklees’ music. In this episode Sam dives into the migration stories themselves. How did the musicians get here? How did they end up in Kirklees? And what music did they bring with them? The stories and the reasons people arrived here are fascinating, diverse and sometimes very challenging. The speakers for this episode are: Dieudonne AKA Didi Manirakiza - Burundi drummer; Emira Husarevic - Bosnian accordion player and singer; Fatima Hama - Iraqi singer; Hussain Suliman - Iraqi saz player; Frank Grombir - Czech singer of Polish church songs and historian of migration to Kirklees; Supriya Nagarajan - Indian singer; Thomas Benjamin - Trinidadian steel pan player. The original music in this episode appears with the kind and express permission of the artists: 00:00 - MUSIC: ‘TOWNSOUNDS theme music’ by Sam Hodgson 03:20 - World Within Yorkshire - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers 06:15 - World Within Yorkshire - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers 07:40 - Love Over Light Years’ by Foxglove Riot 12:48 - Hussain Suliman demonstrating saz 13:00 - Fatima Hama & Hussain Suliman 13:49 - El Pollito by Fransico Canaro, performed by Max and Alessia 18:30 - Czerwone Jagody performed by Sam Hodgson 20:10 - Hallelujah Chorus performed by North Stars Steel Orchestra 21:45 - Mira’s Bhakti from Posse of Fireflies 24:55 - Geamparale performed by Klonk 32:53 - ‘TOWNSOUNDS theme music’ by Sam Hodgson

    29 min

About

TOWNSOUNDS explores the musical histories of Kirklees to uncover untold stories through the voices of local people living musical lives. This podcast is brought to you by Let’s Go Yorkshire, Kirklees Year of Music 2023 and Kirklees Council. It was hosted and produced by Sam Hodgson. The podcast has been supported by Kirklees Council, Kirklees Year of Music 2023, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information on this podcast, please visit musicinkirklees.co.uk