Of music and the city

One of Edge Hill University's top professors in film and media has co executive-produced a new music documentary that has hit the big screen in Birmingham.

Professor Roger Shannon, who has 25 years experience as producer, film festival director, writer and broadcaster, was one of the key people behind Made in Birmingham, which celebrates the rich musical heritage of the city.

It is an hour-long music documentary that charts the cultural, social and political background to three music genres - Reggae, Punk and Bhangra - that have strong positive associations with the city.

For the film, interviews were undertaken with 20 key musicians and commentators and it draws extensively on a host of regional, national and international film archives and material that hasn't been seen publicly for 25 years or more.

Talking about his involvement, Professor Shannon said: "Personally and professionally, I hadn't been involved with documentaries for a while. So when the opportunity arose for my company Swish Ltd to produce for the Birmingham Popular Music  Archive a film documenting music genres associated closely with the city, I was delighted to get involved.

"It has resulted in a documentary that is about much more than just the ‘music'. People's memories are linked to the venues, gigs, friends' bands, record shops and this is reflected in this film, which my company has produced. We get to hear first hand what was happening culturally, socially and politically, and how individuals and communities used music to express themselves."

The first showing in Birmingham drew in performers and musicians from a number of well-known bands and artistes including  UB 40, The Ever Readies, Au Pairs, The Prefects, The Nightingales, Fuzzbox, Steel Pulse, Musical Youth and many others who all feature in the documentary.

Following a successful screening in Birmingham, it will play at selected national and international film festivals across the country.

Professor Shannon explained: "It's always a satisfying moment when you can screen a new film for all those who were involved in its making. A packed cinema is always a treat, but when it's packed with those who appear on the screen in front of you, it becomes a different matter.

"Snapshots of time, unlocked memories, retrieved moments, lost images now found - these are all the instruments playing the tempo of film time. Children glimpsing their parents in performance, partners seeing their loved ones in their musical pomp for the first time, musicians watching their skinny youthful alter egos skimp across that stage.....letting us know that's what all the fuss was about back in the day. It was a fantastic atmosphere in the cinema and received a big, warm welcome from the audience.

"Our plan now is to gain film festival exposure for the documentary, aiming in the first instance for the Sheffield Documentary Festival and the London Film Festival in the autumn. I also want to ensure that the most immediate audience, the folk in Birmingham and the West Midlands, get the opportunity to see the film in the near future at cinemas in the region."