Bring the Noise Fest
BRING THE NOISE FEST
On Saturday 16th February I attended ‘BRING THE NOISE FEST’ at the Old Grammer School in Coventry. The programme was an eclectic mix of musical genres which was both entertaining and surprising. From singer songwriters to DJ live sets, to electronic synth to Samba. The event was opened by the Lord Mayor of Coventry – proudly shown around the set-up and stage area by one of the young members of the project and he even had a go on the turntables. His opening speech strongly supported this project and talked about it’s importance especially at this time as Coventry will become UK City of Culture in 2021. Coventry is very proud of it’s musical heritage and projects like this ensure it’s continuation.
The programme started with some of the youngest members of the project - it was great to see how confident they were and how undaunted they were performing live.
It was great to see how far all the young people had developed in terms of their confidence, their musicality and their performance skills. What was also visible was their genuine support for one another – they have become a real community!
What I really enjoyed was the fact that so much of the material was new and not covers – this was real evidence of the development of the skills of the participants and also of their confidence to actually perform their own material in front of an audience. There was some moving songs, some innovative electronic composition and mixing, and even some humorous lyrics.
The final part of the programme saw the majority of the performers all coming together in a ‘magaband’ – a mix of instruments, vocalists, selection of percussion and even some audience participation. It was a great finale to an uplifting event.
The event attracted a diverse audience and was well managed. It felt very professional and the participants seemed to relish this and rise to the occasion.
Young people attend the project for a wide variety of reasons and I have had the privilege to get to know some of them over the last few months as the project is based in the same building as the company that I work for. I have watched the participants really develop over the months due to the very supportive atmosphere and environment created by the project leaders and also the support, respect and belief that the participants in the project show to each other. It is such an important and positive project which creates access and opportunity for young people to be creative and to follow a musical path many of whom would not be able to afford to or would necessarily not know how to.
Bring the noise – Brilliant!
