Black Voices
Doorstep Carnival
Musical Garden
Black Voices are extremely grateful to the Westhill Endowment for their support of our annual Doorstep Carnival event which, this year, was called Musical Garden. The carnival took place in our beautiful Community Garden at Grosvenor Road Studios on the afternoon of Saturday 31 August. Local communities representing many faiths, and none came together to share and enjoy performances from local children, artists, and musicians, including the World Music Youth Choir, the Reggae Choir and the Bond Street Singers. We were also delighted to be joined by a CBSO quartet as part of the CBSO in the City programme.
2024 was the third annual Doorstep Carnival to be presented at Grosvenor Road Studios (GRS). As with the previous iterations, we had been inundated with numerous requests from members of the local Birchfield community to deliver another Doorstep Carnival.
This year’s theme was Musical Garden: a joyful celebration of music bringing the community together. The local community came together to enjoy our music and singing extravaganza. Many suffer real hardship and have little access to experience cultural activities in their day-to-day lives. We therefore wanted them to feel part of the community, to make friends, and to know that GRS is there for them to throughout the year. Our feedback shows that we achieved this aim.
Visitors were welcomed on the front forecourt to a performance by Noval Smith on steelpan. The music was so welcoming and joyful that as, people arrived, they immediately joined in an impromptu dance performance of the “Electric Slide”! Meanwhile, on our live stage in the Community Garden, we presented performances by local musicians, singers, and poets; the World Music Youth Choir (WMYC); the Reggae Choir; the Bond Street Singers; Sena; Phyllis Bailey and Ladies of Midnight Blue. Our wonderful DJ, Andrew McCallum, provided the link between performances, keeping up the tempo and keeping the audiences fully engaged throughout the afternoon.
Th local Artists’ Showcase includes members from our Music Exposed project which meets throughout the year at GRS: many of these are refugees who have made Birchfield their home. Performers on the Artists’ Showcase stage included Soul Cahmino, Femi Precious and Sam Band.
The WMYC and The Reggae Choir are based at GRS, and regular rehearsals are delivered by members of Black Voices throughout the year. Both choirs worked hard at rehearsals over the summer to prepare for the event and, for the WMYC, the Doorstep Carnival was the first time they had ever performed in public. We were delighted that children and young people in the audience approached us to ask if they could join the choir at the start of the autumn term.
The highlight of the afternoon was a performance by a CBSO String Quartet as part of the orchestra’s CBSO in the City programme over the summer of 2024. Audience members were spell-bound by the quartet’s twenty-minute performance of a suite of short pieces by Haydn. Emma Stenning, Chief Executive of the CBSO, wrote to us after the event: “We loved coming to Grosvenor Road Studios. For me, I think it was one of the important elements of the CBSO in the City week in terms of bringing the orchestra to a new audience. Thank you!”
This year’s theme was Musical Garden: a joyful celebration of music bringing the community together. The local community came together to enjoy our music and singing extravaganza. Many suffer real hardship and have little access to experience cultural activities in their day-to-day lives. We therefore wanted them to feel part of the community, to make friends, and to know that GRS is there for them to throughout the year. Our feedback shows that we achieved this aim.
Visitors were welcomed on the front forecourt to a performance by Noval Smith on steelpan. The music was so welcoming and joyful that as, people arrived, they immediately joined in an impromptu dance performance of the “Electric Slide”! Meanwhile, on our live stage in the Community Garden, we presented performances by local musicians, singers, and poets; the World Music Youth Choir (WMYC); the Reggae Choir; the Bond Street Singers; Sena; Phyllis Bailey and Ladies of Midnight Blue. Our wonderful DJ, Andrew McCallum, provided the link between performances, keeping up the tempo and keeping the audiences fully engaged throughout the afternoon.
Th local Artists’ Showcase includes members from our Music Exposed project which meets throughout the year at GRS: many of these are refugees who have made Birchfield their home. Performers on the Artists’ Showcase stage included Soul Cahmino, Femi Precious and Sam Band.
The WMYC and The Reggae Choir are based at GRS, and regular rehearsals are delivered by members of Black Voices throughout the year. Both choirs worked hard at rehearsals over the summer to prepare for the event and, for the WMYC, the Doorstep Carnival was the first time they had ever performed in public. We were delighted that children and young people in the audience approached us to ask if they could join the choir at the start of the autumn term.
The highlight of the afternoon was a performance by a CBSO String Quartet as part of the orchestra’s CBSO in the City programme over the summer of 2024. Audience members were spell-bound by the quartet’s twenty-minute performance of a suite of short pieces by Haydn. Emma Stenning, Chief Executive of the CBSO, wrote to us after the event: “We loved coming to Grosvenor Road Studios. For me, I think it was one of the important elements of the CBSO in the City week in terms of bringing the orchestra to a new audience. Thank you!”
“The CBSO Quartet sounded amazing and were warmly embraced by the community. Unlike any classical performance I've attended — where the audience is typically reserved and polite — here they were met with rapturous applause, lifted voices, and children dancing as they played, possibly future ballet dancers.”
The Bond Street Singers is a collaboration between Miss Moneypenny's founding DJ and producer Jim 'Shaft' Ryan and Shereece Storrod, Artistic Director of Black Voices. They are an elite vocal ensemble that present uplifting and soulful house classics.
“The Bond Street Singers, performing dance classics, had the audience singing along and dancing, drifting in and out of laughter and conversation—it felt like a summer festival. Joyful humans everywhere! It was also incredible to see young soloists given a spotlight, warmly embraced by the community; each one assured us they will become the stars of tomorrow.”
As part of our growing relationship with GL360, we were delighted to welcome Priscilla Bailey to the stage, who was making her debut as a fresh face in contemporary Gospel. The audience loved her!
The Ladies of Midnight Blue are an Afro-Latin percussion and brass duet comprised of Hannabiell Sanders and Yillis del Carmen Suriel. We invited them to perform because we knew that they create a powerful and upbeat fusion of rhythms, weaving combinations of melodic percussion, brass, vocal chants, and mbira. They proved to be the right choice for the final act of the day as they brought everyone together to sing and dance. To the delight of the crowd, a handful of audience members joined Hannabiell and Yillis on stage for a rousing final percussive performance.
The Ladies of Midnight Blue are an Afro-Latin percussion and brass duet comprised of Hannabiell Sanders and Yillis del Carmen Suriel. We invited them to perform because we knew that they create a powerful and upbeat fusion of rhythms, weaving combinations of melodic percussion, brass, vocal chants, and mbira. They proved to be the right choice for the final act of the day as they brought everyone together to sing and dance. To the delight of the crowd, a handful of audience members joined Hannabiell and Yillis on stage for a rousing final percussive performance.
“The Ladies of Midnight Blue created a world of their own with drumming that transported us back to African shores, before bringing us into the future with dub and grime bass lines harmonized on trombone. They invited the community on stage to play percussion, creating an improvised performance that felt almost rehearsed. It almost brought me to tears, as the audience applauded and raised their voices in admiration during and after the performance.”
A BSL interpreter and sixteen GRS volunteers were on hand throughout the day to assist the performers, welcome and assist visitors, and serve food and refreshments. We were delighted that we were able to source all our food from local businesses, thus keeping this expenditure within the local economy.
In all, GRS welcomed over 600 people to the Musical Gardens, 70 artists performed on the stage, and we recruited a further 5 volunteers to join a team of 45 enthusiastic and loyal volunteers who support us in the delivery of our work throughout the year. Through our investment in local people they, in turn, become invested in their community.
The Musical Garden Doorstep Carnival gave people something to look forward to and prepare for over the summer period, as well as providing happy memories and an appetite to participate in other activities at Grosvenor Road Studios across the year. We are deeply grateful to the Trustees of the Westhill Endowment for helping us to make the project a reality.
In all, GRS welcomed over 600 people to the Musical Gardens, 70 artists performed on the stage, and we recruited a further 5 volunteers to join a team of 45 enthusiastic and loyal volunteers who support us in the delivery of our work throughout the year. Through our investment in local people they, in turn, become invested in their community.
The Musical Garden Doorstep Carnival gave people something to look forward to and prepare for over the summer period, as well as providing happy memories and an appetite to participate in other activities at Grosvenor Road Studios across the year. We are deeply grateful to the Trustees of the Westhill Endowment for helping us to make the project a reality.
For more information please see the Black Voices website by clicking here.
