00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 I'm Campbell Parker.
00:26 I'm the general manager of the Glasgow Barons.
00:29 Today is the launch of the Govan Music Festival.
00:32 This is the third year which the festival is running,
00:35 and it's a fantastic event which puts Govan really
00:39 on the cultural map in Glasgow.
00:41 We're bringing classical musicians to Glasgow.
00:43 We've got rappers and hip hop artists,
00:46 as well as singer-songwriters that sing around Govan.
00:50 So we are performing in Govan Lint House Parish Church.
00:53 That's on Thursday night.
00:55 That's with our artistic director, Paul McAlinden,
00:58 who's also our conductor.
01:00 And we're with a huge symphony orchestra performing
01:03 Mahler's Fourth Symphony.
01:05 We're also along today at 1 o'clock and 7.30
01:09 at the Fairfield Club, where we see a showcase of all
01:12 of Govan's schools across the whole area
01:14 come together and perform at 1 o'clock today, which
01:18 is completely free to enter.
01:20 And 7.30 is Gotta Dance, Gotta Sing.
01:23 And that's a collection of Govan singer-songwriters,
01:26 dance troops, you name it.
01:28 The best of Govan is going to be featured tonight
01:31 in the Fairfield Club.
01:32 On Friday, we've got the Four Barons,
01:35 which is our string quartet resident in Govan.
01:37 They've been rehearsing here in the Pierce Institute
01:40 for the last three days.
01:42 On Friday, they perform in Kinning Park Complex, 7.30.
01:47 Also on Friday night, we have Freed Up,
01:49 who are performing at Park Villa Community Hub, which
01:53 is a collaboration with the Recovery Consortium.
01:56 And that's putting together the best of Scottish hip hop
01:59 alongside the Glasgow Barons, where
02:01 we're performing along with live string,
02:04 kind of looking at Ibiza classics.
02:06 And it's going to be a fantastic night.
02:08 As well as that, we've had our musicians pair
02:11 with rappers in Scotland.
02:14 And we're looking at pairing them
02:16 with acoustic musicians, bass players, accordion players,
02:20 with rappers to create something new that's
02:24 never been done before, which is really, really exciting.
02:26 Govan is a very special place.
02:29 There's so much history here, so much cultural history.
02:33 The buildings here were built for music.
02:36 If anything, the Glasgow Barons, which
02:38 is a charity to help inspire change in Govan through music,
02:42 we are looking at using these buildings again
02:44 for their heritage to inspire people,
02:47 to bring hope to Govan through music,
02:50 and also to show people who are not from Govan what's
02:54 going on here and why they should come to Govan
02:56 and see what a fantastic place it is.
02:58 The Govan Music Festival is for everyone.
03:00 On Saturday night as well, that's
03:01 the climax of our festival.
03:03 We have our famous musicians in exile
03:05 who are doing a collaboration with the Gaelic folk
03:08 and rock band, Dulu.
03:10 So we're looking at the asylum seeker population,
03:13 the refugee population.
03:14 We're looking at the hip hop scene in Scotland,
03:18 attracting them with our great offering,
03:20 as well as the classical music lovers in Scotland,
03:23 bringing it all together here in Govan,
03:25 making it a cultural hotspot.
03:27 So tickets can be purchased online.
03:29 They're rock bottom prices.
03:31 They're at one pound, maximum five pounds.
03:34 They are on Eventbrite or on the 16th,
03:37 we're performing in Edmonton House with musicians
03:40 in exile and Dulu.
03:41 And that's purchased via their website.
03:43 The thinking is that music is and should be for everyone,
03:46 and price shouldn't be a barrier to that.
03:50 As well, on the 16th, if you have an ARC card, which
03:53 is issued to asylum seekers and refugees,
03:56 there's free entry for you as well.
03:58 As we know, there's price barriers there.
03:59 Music should be for everyone.
04:01 Price shouldn't be an issue.
04:03 If you would like to be involved in the Govan Music Festival,
04:06 come and speak to the Glasgow Barons.
04:08 Come and speak to me.
04:09 Come and speak to Paul McElindon.
04:11 We're always up for different ideas,
04:12 different collaborations.
04:14 It's always about a celebration of music,
04:16 and it's about a celebration of Govan and the community
04:19 here in Govan.
04:19 My name's Neil Sutcliffe.
04:27 I'm an accordion player, and I am
04:29 playing as part of a collaboration called Lab Raps
04:33 with two other musicians, Rue Geddes and Ewan Hastie,
04:36 on fiddle and double bass.
04:38 And we've been collaborating over this week
04:40 with three amazing Scottish rappers
04:43 to explore acoustic music meets rap
04:47 and some of our mixture of classical and traditional
04:50 and jazz influences coming into that.
04:52 It's been amazing.
04:53 We've had a great week.
04:55 I think it's been a really interesting collaboration
04:57 process for us as the musicians, maybe not having so much
05:01 experience working with rappers and learning
05:04 a lot about how they work and their writing process
05:07 and collaborating that way.
05:08 And also the rappers learn a bit about working
05:11 with us live in the room.
05:13 It's been great.
05:14 Just removing price and money as a barrier
05:17 to taking part in local community music events
05:20 is amazing.
05:21 So as you said, the most expensive ticket
05:23 for events in the festival is five pounds.
05:25 Some of them are one pound.
05:26 But our event on Friday is completely free.
05:28 So anyone can come along and take part
05:31 and see what it's all about, have a boogie at the back,
05:33 listen in.
05:34 I would say, first of all, come along
05:36 and see some of the stuff at the festival
05:38 and see what it's all about.
05:39 And if some ideas are coming to your mind,
05:41 if you're thinking, oh, that's great,
05:43 that's really the kind of work I want
05:44 to be doing, collaborating with new people
05:46 and really exploring local music making in Govan,
05:50 get in touch with the festival and with the Glasgow Barons.
05:53 And if you've got an idea, put it out there.
05:55 It's music based in Govan, about Govan.
05:58 That's something we've been exploring with the rappers
05:59 in particular, as you know, local issues
06:02 and trying to get wee local tunes or music snippets
06:06 or references in there.
06:08 But also hoping for a mixed crowd of classical musicians,
06:12 hip hop fans, some jazzers.
06:14 We might even have a wee bit of trad music
06:15 slipped in amongst the rap.
06:17 You just have to come along and find out.
06:19 (upbeat music)
06:21 - I'm Donna Boyd, I'm project manager
06:24 at Freed Up Community Interest Company.
06:26 - My name's Mog, I'm one of the rappers
06:28 working with the classical musicians.
06:30 - So Freed Up was part of the Scottish Recovery Consortium
06:33 and last year we were part of the Govan Music Festival.
06:37 We had an event and this year as an independent organisation
06:42 we're back and we're using it as our launch party.
06:44 - I've loved this because it's up my street.
06:46 You know what I mean?
06:47 Hip hop technically is usually beats,
06:49 you know, rappers, graffers, break dancers
06:51 and that have always been, in many words,
06:53 the band side of things or live instruments, live music.
06:56 So to me, this suits me perfectly, I love this.
06:58 - So three years ago there was a recovery
07:01 entertainment events post,
07:03 came up with the Scottish Recovery Consortium.
07:05 I was about five years into my recovery at the time
07:09 and over the past three years we've run two events a month.
07:13 So we've run a comedy night and a rave.
07:16 We've recently started doing hip hop nights as well.
07:18 And yeah, so it's about having fun and recovery with it,
07:22 drink our drugs and as I said,
07:24 we formed as a community interest company
07:26 and we've got the contract to continue that work.
07:29 - So to me, it's not a stretch to do this,
07:32 you know what I mean?
07:32 So I mean, like I said, to me it's a really good thing
07:34 and I heard what it was gonna be, I jumped at the chance
07:36 just because classical musicians, live instruments,
07:39 live performance, acoustic, that's up my street.
07:41 - And if you learned anything from working with these guys?
07:43 - Oh, big time, I've learned that if you whistle something
07:45 they can play it immediately, you know what I mean?
07:47 That freaked me out.
07:48 I just, the boys, "Oh, do you have an idea?"
07:49 And I went, "Aye."
07:50 And he just, "Durudurudum" straight away
07:52 and I was like, "Wow."
07:53 Stuff like this should be funded constantly.
07:56 If there's anything these days that's gonna get,
07:59 I mean, it governs an area where it needs it.
08:01 So if there's ever anything that's gonna get kids
08:03 off the street, it's something that speaks their language,
08:06 which these days, they're into music.
08:07 (upbeat music)
08:10 (upbeat music)
08:14 (upbeat music)
08:16 (upbeat music)
08:19 [MUSIC]
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