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“Soho Road”: The North (used in Harrowgate)
Image by Sch01ar
What does the panel say?
"Leeds, Yorkshire, Bradford and Manchester were the Industrial Revolution’s boom towns. Local people are famously hard workers; the nation demanded coal, machines and textiles to stoke the engine of British progress. To the Victorians, Manchester was “Cottonopolis” – the Silicon Valley of its day – and it was Northern entrepreneurs who devised revolutionary weaving machines and schemed futuristic canals to navigate their goods to market. The mills and mines of the North wanted workers – all they could get. In the 18th century it was the men, women and children from the Ridings. Later – after the East India Company taxed to destruction the Indian textile industry that had made it rich – it was those from the sub continent. The North was not openly cosmopolitan, but faiths and tradition were respected. There were many denominations of Non Conformist Churches, some with Chartist aspirations, working to better the lot of common people. Synagogues and Mosques found a place in this landscape, as did Gurudwaras, such as Leeds Road in Bradford and this was the background in which Bhangra developed in the North of England – devotional, nostalgic, celebratory and communal.
Since the 1950’s, instead of courting controversy by mixing sounds and styles, as in the Midlands, Northern Bhangra musicians developed their showmanship and repertoire. Punjabi musicians and dancers in the North had relatively easy access to sizeable venues such as Town Halls. This was partly because Punjabi community leaders here had a stronger presence on local trade and civic bodies than in other British cities. But it was also because Asians in the North would be more inclined to get together and support a mixed bill of Indian arts, music and theatre, whereas elsewhere in the UK, faith and class could restrict performance. This gave Northern Asian entertainers and entrepreneurs early experience of filling and promoting professional venues. Leeds has the UK’s oldest carnival and it’s Mela attracts upwards of 100,000 people.
Northern Bhangra leapt ahead twenty years ago with the explosive development of UK Asian media, and again today through the ‘Desi culture’ phenomenon, propelled by the internet and satellite TV. Leed’s Untouchables began a decade ago as promoters, consolidating their success through the Untouchables Asian Student Network which hosted Asian Balls across the North. They moved into record production and now into artist management. The sound and style of Metz n Trix, DJs from Manchester appeal to a young ‘Desi’ crowd. Also from a club DJ background, RDB, – Rhythm, Dhol and Bass – are three brothers from Bradford. They successfully recorded their own music and are now influencing the sound of UK Bhangra nationally, blending in house, UK garage, and as is becoming more common, Bollywood."
Originator and producer – Punch Records
Written, researched, developed and curated – Scholars and Warriors
Location Photography – Iain Reynolds
Interpretation Panels Designed by – Brigitte Winsor
Exhibition Design – Mandeep Malhi
Image manipulation and additional photography by – Brigitte Winsor
Champions – Boy Chana, San-J Sanj, Kally and Kash Sahota
Murals – Derek Connor
Chief Funder – Heritage Lottery Fund
Support and Inspiration – Richard Albutt, Rajinder Dudrah
Website – www.sohoroadtothepunjab.org
We Remember: Music Man Weldon A. McDougal III
*EUR has learned that legendary record producer and A&R executive Weldon A. McDougal has died in Philadelphia After a brief hospitalization. The exact cause of death is not known. McDougal According to Maximum-Jackson.com, McDougal was known for having two or three great careers in the music business. He did so much that it’s hard to […]
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