Bristol Harbour Festival (By Paul Box)
Organisers of the Bristol Harbour Festival, which takes place from 20 – 22 July, are challenging the best of the local bands to battle it out for an opportunity to open the Queen Square music stage.
Colston Hall and local community radio station Ujima Radio will be holding a Battle of the Bands competition on Wednesday July 11 at Colston Hall from 6pm. The winning bands will perform at the festival on the Queen Square stage on the Saturday and Sunday.
Tim Kirby, Station Operations Director of Ujima Radio, which is celebrating its fourth anniversary on the weekend of the festival, talks in more detail about the event: “As a community radio station, we felt that the Bristol Harbour Festival celebrates all aspects of Bristol’s diverse culture so is the perfect event for the local community to get involved with. The Battle of the Bands ensures that undiscovered performers will get a fantastic platform to showcase their talent.”
Tony Benjamin, Queen Square stage programmer explains what the judges are looking for: “Queen Square is a lively, vibrant music area of the festival and we are looking for bands that fit into the typical style we programme. The band should perform live and be within the genres of Reggae, Soul, Funk, World Beats, RnB, Ska and Jazz. The winners must be free to play at the Harbour Festival on either Sat 21st July or Sun 22nd July.”
The 2012 Bristol Harbour Festival is a rich and diverse platform for the city’s wealth of creativity, from dance performers to circus acts and a variety of musical stages including walking bands, interactive theatre and so much more. The festival is one of the remaining free cultural celebrations in the UK and attracts over 200,000 visitors to the city each year, bringing in a growing amount of tourism revenue. It is also unique in its ability to bring together all of Bristol’s communities in one huge celebration of the city and its history. The festival has been funded by Bristol City Council working in partnership with Bristol-based and award-winning event management company, Richmond Event Management.
If you are a local band and you want to play alongside the Harbour Festival’s eclectic line-up then email tim@ujimaradio.com with a single mp3 (max 8MB) and biography before July 4.
For more information on the Bristol Harbour Festival, please visit www.bristolharbourfestival.co.uk
