The Midlands is a weird place for music. Whilst the underground has always been tight, with local promoters pushing some of the best nights to be found in the UK, the regions never really got the recognition it deserves and this strong reputation has remained a bit underground.
Birmingham based events maestros Punch reckon the region deserves a better rep and are aiming to put Central England on everyone’s musical map with a hugely ambitious black music festival this June, entitled BASS (which stands for British Art and Street Sounds) and comprising around 30 events across the cities Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester & Manchester!
It features some serious artists in unexpected places, as one of the organiser’s aims for the project was to challenge ideas of where music events happen. So, the festival features scratch DJs in a classical concert hall, music producers in an art gallery and MCs in museums.
Additionally Punch with partners including 2 funky, Baby J and Natasha Foster have put together a seriously strong line-up for the festival featuring leading artists in Grime, DnB, Hip Hop, Future Jazz, Reggae, Broken Beat, NY Disco and Gospel as well as a hip hop exhibition and a new project featuring some of the Midland’s finest grime MCs.
Nice. It sounds like one way or another it’s going to be hard to miss and should put the midlands slap bang in the centre of the musical map this summer.!
For all the details check out the festival website at www.bassfestival.co.uk
