MUSIC

“We’re asking our very large ensemble of musicians to be like a giant mobile human jukebox.”

Bristol is home to Paraorchestra –the world’s only large-scale orchestra of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians. As they gear up for their biggest commission to date, Millie Bruce-Watt chats to their conductor and artistic director

Abright shining light in the music industry today is, without a doubt, Paraorchestra – the world’s only integrated orchestra of professional disabled and nondisabled musicians. Founded in 2012 by award-winning international conductor and musical revolutionary Charles Hazlewood, the Paraorchestra made its debut performance at the Paralympics’ closing ceremony in London. As the world’s eyes watched an orchestra of 18 world-class musicians play alongside Coldplay, a dream was born, a ripple of hope was sent across the world and a powerful message played out – music is a birthright not a luxury.

Almost a decade later and the Paraorchestra has grown into a 90piece ensemble with around 40 musicians identifying as disabled. From Glastonbury Festival to Carlyon Bay, the orchestra has been spreading the word, encouraging musicians to stand up and be counted. They are undeniably a shining example of the joy and the brilliance that emerges when positive change is achieved.

This year, the Paraorchestra is bringing its biggest commission to date to the streets of Knowle West. Described as sonic street food, SMOOSH! will see a core of 20 musicians from the Paraorchestra ensemble join 50 community wind and brass players and a troop of dancers performing tub-thumping karaoke tunes on the move. As rehearsals kicked off, we caught up with the conductor, who told us all about the ‘smooshability’ of their mobile ‘masseoke’; why he’s decided to work exclusively with the Paraorchestra; and the exciting plans that lie in wait.

“One of the trademark aspects of the wonderful Paraorchestra is that we pride ourselves on working in so many different contexts and in so many different kinds of styles of music and approach and nature of show,” says Hazlewood. “This is an interesting one in that we’re asking our very large ensemble of musicians to be like a giant mobile human jukebox. It’s bringing hopefully a great big dollop of love to the streets of Knowle West. It’s not often that you get world-class wind, brass and percussion players and a giant crazy band banging out Kate Bush, Adele, Basement Jaxx and all this music that’s in our bloodstreams. After the year that we’ve all had, I really hope it will bring people out to their front gardens with that sense of celebration of joy, the joy of humanity in one great big outpouring.”

The ensemble will start at Filwood Community centre on 17 September and make its way through the suburban streets, inviting everyone and anyone to join the celebrations.

But what does SMOOSH! mean? “I love looking at the etymology of strange words and I have for a long time known about the word smoosh,” Hazlewood says with a laugh. “It’s basically American English and it’s got two meanings which sort of relate to each other. The first meaning... if you cook a cauliflower and you cook it really thoroughly so it’s really soft and then you want to mash in some grated cheese the process of smashing in some grated cheese is called smooshing. The second meaning... if you see a little kitten that’s freaking adorable and you just want to cuddle it, you want to smoosh it. It’s such a tactile word and hopefully the production is just a glorious great big smoosh, which should open up Knowle West and its smooshability.”

In his 30-year career, Hazlewood has conducted some of the greatest in the classical repertoire with some of the best orchestras in the world. He’s been a significant presence on British television and radio for decades and his innovations continue to attract new audiences to orchestral music as he reimagines what an orchestra is. The Paraorchestra, however, is clearly held in a special place in his heart. Hazlewood talks with such passion, speed and spirit that it’s not hard to be carried along with him. His mission is clear and concise – he wants to bring the ever-more modern joy of orchestral music to the 21st century audience and, in doing so, change lives and communities for the better.

“Paraorchestra is the only orchestra in the world that is a reflection of modern society. The starting point came for it when my youngest daughter was born with cerebral palsy. Very quickly it got me thinking, I’ve had a 30-year career conducting orchestras around the world and I

can count on the fingers of one hand the number of musicians who are disabled that I’ve encountered –it’s absurd, you can’t tell me that there aren’t millions of prodigiously gifted musicians who happen to identify as disabled.

“Where is their platform? Where is their voice? It’s not just that – of course it’s about equity – but it’s also about not missing out on talent. At the moment, we’re missing out on millions of talented people because we haven’t got a system in place which allows them to take part.”

Hazlewood has carved a reputation as quite the maverick when it comes to mixing musical genres –pushing the creative boundaries in every way possible, to serve as a template for generations of forwardthinking artists, and inspiring elation. “The orchestral industry, as it currently is, is very much about the custodians of a tradition – and there’s nothing wrong with that –we all need our Brahms and our Beethoven –but at the same time there needs to be more forward thinking and forward moving. You show me any other kind of aspect of human experience that hasn’t continued to evolve with current technologies, and why would you want to miss out on the wonder of analogue synthesisers or digital instruments? It makes no sense.

“The orchestra is alive and well in everyone’s living rooms if you think about it – all video games invariably have big orchestral backing, and all those movie scores. It’s just that people having a live experience of it is rare and there aren’t that many, perhaps – if you look at the population as whole – that will darken the door of the Royal Festival Hall and that’s a shame. We really hope we can bring about change.”

In January of this year, Hazlewood became Sky Arts’ ambassador for music – one of five ambassadors appointed – which now marks Paraorchestra as the channel’s flagship orchestra. As part of this, Sky Arts will invest £60,000 over two years into the musicians. This has created a musicians-in-residence scheme that, under Hazlewood’s support and mentoring, enables Paraorchestra to cultivate some of the extraordinary D/deaf and disabled talent within the ensemble.

“Sky Arts are doing what they can out in the communities, catalysing change and inspiration and fresh possibilities so it seemed like a natural fit for me to take on an ambassadorial role, taking Paraorchestra with me. It will also give us an opportunity to reach out to people who may never come to one of our gigs.

“We have three musicians who are the first of this year’s musicians in residence and they are doing all kinds of things like taking the viola into the world of drum and bass, learning how to compose a film, learning how to produce, learning how to orchestrate – it’s all about the ecogology within the orchestra of growing talent. We are already benefiting from it but seeing it grow exponentially and perhaps in unexpected directions. Sky Arts has helped us and made it possible for us to do that so that’s wonderful.”

Paraorchestra is always on the look-out for emerging talent and it is of utmost importance to support those joining the family. “Every 18 months to two years we do a musicians call-out, which is specifically for musicians who identify as disabled. Our most recent call gave us 12 new musicians so each time we’re adding more to our flock.”

As the pandemic ground us all to a halt, Hazlewood saw it as an opportunity to look inwards and identify the ways in which the orchestra could better support its musicians. Having said goodbye to his international production company and the orchestras he’s worked with for 30 years, he is now dedicating his full time and commitment to the Paraorchestra, he says.

“Lockdown has been an opportunity for us to pause and really think about the ecology of our orchestra. The music industry is a tough one; it can be brutal. We don’t want to be another replicant of that model, we want to create something that is much more holistic –family-based –where we listen to each other and support each other in every way that we can.

“Our number one mantra at Paraorchestra is “if the only purpose to life is joy, then anything is possible” – very simple but very helpful.

Hazlewood credits Bristol as part of Paraorchestra’s success, naming it his favourite city on the planet. “Everything changed for us when we moved to Bristol. It’s a special vibe and we really love our Bristol audience, they have taken us to their hearts. This is the first time we’re playing in Knowle West and we can’t wait to get there. They’ve welcomed us with such wonderfully wide open arms, which has meant a huge amount to us.

“The wonderful Bristol Beacon, which we’re doing this show with, is also doing so much great work with another initiative called OpenUp Music, helping to level the playing field and create training and opportunity for young artists who identify as disabled. Bristol has become the hotspot for this work more than any other city in this country or, indeed, anywhere in the world.”

Look out for Paraorchestra’s lockdown project Death Songbook on Sky Arts, coming soon, as well as the 21st Century Orchestra, a new Sky Arts series that the ensemble will soon begin filming for. “It will look at all the innovations that we have discovered are possible in terms of placing an orchestra front and centre, in real people’s lives, normal people’s lives, every person’s life,” says Hazlewood. n

Bristol has become the hotspot for this work [creating opportunity for young artists who identify as disabled] more than any other city in this country or, indeed, anywhere in the world

It’s not often you get world-class wind and brass players banging out Kate Bush and Basement Jaxx...

Conductor Charles Hazlewood. “Paraorchestra is the only orchestra in the world that is a reflection of modern society.”

Katy Sargent, Luke Thornton and David Havard’s debut album saw their three-piece band amass over one million monthly listeners on Spotify and 200 million global streams. Having now released the follow-up, Elder Island talk with us about their Bristol influences and remaining genre neutral

People talk about that ‘difficult second album’ syndrome at the best of times –imagine throwing a mega-challenging pandemic in for good measure. It makes Bristol’s trio Elder Island’s latest output all the sweeter. Heavily inspired by our local indie and electronic scenes, as well as the city itself,the shimmery, hypnotic tunes on Swimming Static thread poetic lyricism and unfamiliar instruments over synth-heavy dance beats.

Cherry-picking elements of pop and neo-soul to boot, vocalist/cellist Katy Sargent, bassist/beat maestro Luke Thornton and guitarist/synth master David Havard have woven a strong web of sound to follow The Omnitone Collection (2019) which saw them fly off to perform around the world –London, New York City, San Francisco –then back to their beloved Bristol, for far longer than anticipated, for round two. Let’s find out how that went...

Strange Brew started hammering out amazing shows from as soon as they were able and Zoggs, containing the Noods Radio studio, is an institution in the making

Elder Island: The past year has been a rollercoaster of emotions and creativity. From the beginning of 2020 we set out the task of writing and finishing a new album. To be honest, it would have taken a lot more than a pandemic to stop us. At first, when we heard the whispers of Covid spreading, it was unsettling, but it just meant we spent a bit more time in the studio reflecting on what was happening. If anything, lockdown forced us to work harder. At points it was intense, but we tried to use the feeling to motivate us. It inspired us to escape the chaos by creating hidden soundscapes within the music.

We first came to Bristol in 2007 for university and apart from some brief trips back home (Birmingham/Bournemouth) it’s been the main arena for our musical upbringing. As students we would be out at clubs and gigs most nights. Mostly things we could dance to. Dubstep was on the rise, French electro was having a big impact, and Bristol was a common stop for overseas bands touring the UK. Clockwork was still around, Motion was just opening its doors and there was a good selection of small, sweaty subterranean clubs like Timbuk2, Native, Basement 45 and Take Five that had a great selection of touring DJs. We were very fortunate at the time as it all felt so raw and exciting. The venues have now changed but there’s still a hugely rich and varied live music scene in Bristol.

There’s a large crossover in the music we like to listen to; a spacious area in the centre of our Venn diagram. It’s not very easy to separate out –I guess you could say Luke leans to jazz, dub and soul; Katy to pop, dancehall, ambient; Dave to disco and house, but it all crosses over. On the whole we like to remain ‘genre neutral’.

Katy: Intertwine; I love a good, emotional, brooding track. I developed the lyrics from a poem I had written previously which enriched it. Plus, my mum says it always makes her tearful; that’s good enough for me. Luke: Late At Night; I really enjoyed sinking my teeth into this one, I’m a big fan of a late-night groove. Dave: “I’m a modern woman” from Queen of Kings. I like how it opens that section of the track up and how it’s delivered. Also Cannonball for more meaning; it’s got a real raw edge to it.

Too tricky! Trinity is one; the community vibes, the building itself and the variety of shows they put on. We’d love to play there again. The last show we played at Motion –Marble Factory –was also amazing. The crowd was so hyped it was infectious. It felt like a proper homecoming show.

Gigs of the past, off the top of our heads: Roots Manuva, Lykke Li, Flying Lotus (Thekla); Metronomy, The Invisible (The Louisiana); MSTRKRFT, The Apples, Baths (Start the Bus). We also want to do a big shout out to two new venues: Strange Brew and Micky Zoggs. Both are excellent additions to Bristol’s music scene. Strange Brew started hammering out a variety of amazing shows from as soon as they were able and Zoggs, paired with and containing the Noods Radio studio, is an institution in the making. Check them out!

He’ll laugh at this but probably producer Ali Chant. We worked with him on The Omnitone Collection and a selection of Swimming Static tracks. We first met him when we were trying to finish our second EP. He invited us to go see him at his studio where we listened to a few tracks. At the time we had no money to work with anyone but he helped us out and gave us a few pointers. We always remembered that. When we finally got to work with him, he

Bristol has been the main arena for the band’s musical upbringing, and they remember its small, sweaty, subterranean clubs fondly

introduced us to a new level of studio production and recording. It was an exciting and creative process producing The Omnitone Collection with him. Ali raised the bar for us. It inspired us to work on the quality of our own studio.

Really loving the tracks from new band Heka. Catchy songs with great synthy productions and the music videos are a sight to behold! Eyes on our friend Daisy Moon, and hyped for the new Kinlaw & Franco Franco release coming soon. After having a sneak preview, it’s safe to say it’s sounding bigger and better than ever.

Luke: Prince –’cause its Prince... Or Stevie Wonder. I have so many questions to ask him and I bet he has loads of stories to tell. Or Tom Waits. Or Frank Zappa. Or Joni Mitchell. Can I have all of them!? Katy: I’m not too good with large groups at dinner parties so I’m going for Brian Eno and Kate Bush. Dave: Can I have dinner with musical instrument makers? Bob Moog, Alan R Pearlman and Tatsuya Takahashi.

There have been many places, all with their own special charm. The first house we all lived in was situated at the bottom of Brandon Hill –amazing for being right in the centre of town and on the harbourside at the same time. We’ve also lived south of the river, split between Southville and Totterdown; of course, over the years North Street has boomed, providing new record shops, pubs and bars. Plus Photographique is a popular spot for us as we use them when making the artwork for our records. Now we’re situated more east of the centre, spread out from Montpelier to Easton. We love the diverse, vibrant energy that seems to be unique to this side of the city.

Luke: We get asked this question a lot. Over time, after mentioning musicians like Anderson Paak or producers like Moodymann, I think that most of all I would like to collaborate with some visual artists for a project. Ryoji Ikeda or Olafur Eliasson, for example. I think an artist of this kind could elevate the music we make as we make it. Also we could create one hell of a live experience to take on the road. ■