Ambitious musical project journeys through the Bradford district this weekend
If you are out and about in the Bradford district over the weekend, you might come across a wonderful musical surprise. It could be a lone classical cellist sitting on a rock in a remote piece of moorland, South Asian sounds on a park bandstand, a punk band in a museum, a Klezmer group on a canal boat or a virtuoso santoor player in a cemetery.
Those events are just some of the many elements that make up The Bradford Progress, an ambitious project created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and artistic director of the groundbreaking Paraorchestra Charles Hazlewood. Over the course of two days – Saturday May 17 and Sunday 18 – hundreds of local musicians and singers will celebrate the people and the diverse communities and musical traditions of the Bradford District.
Hazlewood and Deller have been friends for many years and had been looking for a project to collaborate on for some time. When they were approached by Bradford 2025 it felt like the perfect opportunity. “What was really interesting to us is that the Bradford district encompasses not only the city but also the surrounding countryside,” says Hazlewood. “We started to think about an experiential music project that would take the audience from the rural landscape right through into the middle of the city and would celebrate the multiplicity of musical styles that there are in Bradford. Then we started to meet with various groups making music and we began to put together a giant smorgasbord of different types of music.”
Both Deller and Hazlewood are interested in the concept of incongruity and the unexpected in the art they create. And neither are afraid of a challenge. The Bradford Progress is a large-scale piece of sonic choreography that will begin at sunrise on Saturday morning against the backdrop of the Cow and Calf Rocks on Ilkley Moor with a performance by Paraorchestra of Handel’s Eternal Source of Light Divine. From there the musical odyssey will continue unbroken over the entire weekend with the public invited to join the event, which is free, at different, unusual locations along the way. “We want it to be joyous, a spiritual experience and a collective celebration,” says Hazlewood. “Music is the most universal language we have. The idea that orchestral music only exists in concert halls doesn’t make sense to me. It should be the birthright of everyone, not the luxury of the few.”
Hazlewood has long been a champion of democratizing the classical music canon and breaking it free from its perceived boundaries. Since founding the Paraorchestra, a pioneering ensemble that brings together professional disabled and non-disabled musicians, over ten years ago, he been the driving force behind a range of immersive, playful orchestral music experiences presented in public spaces. Deller’s work often explores the intersection of art and music and much of his creative output is collaborative, made with and for communities. “I would like people to take away some good memories and maybe a different way of looking at their town or countryside,” says Deller. “This is about taking music out into the open and getting it into places you might not expect to see it – and that is exciting. I would love people to just come across it. For me it is slightly challenging the nature of reality – take a familiar place and change the soundtrack.”
Among the locations along the route of The Bradford Progress are Undercliffe Cemetery, Five-Rise Locks in Bingley, Bradford Industrial Museum, Roberts Park bandstand in Saltaire, the Broadway shopping centre and The Mirror Pool. The range of musical styles people will be able to hear or stumble upon includes folk, punk, Bhangra, gospel, Baroque, Bassline, Qawwali, brass band, Bollywood, electronic, jazz and Sufi. “I’m hoping that everyone who comes along will hear some music they haven’t heard before,” says Hazlewood. “It is like a roving festival that people can pop in to at any point. And the finale is going to be amazing.” The event culminates on Sunday afternoon at the Mirror Pool with 400 musicians playing simultaneously in dissonance and then harmony. “There will be 35 different groups playing, with the audience right in the middle,” says Hazlewood. “It is going to be a wonderful exercise in the plurality of music making; a beautiful, diverse thing.”
Both Deller and Hazlewood have been impressed by the way in which the people of Bradford have embraced the project. “Everyone has been incredibly welcoming and not at all phased by our idea,” says Hazlewood. “There is such a can-do culture in the city. Everyone has been really open-hearted and open-minded and said ‘yeah, let’s give it a go.’”
The Bradford Progress takes place on May 17 and 18. For full details visit bradford2025.co.uk