|
As
a teenager growing up in Doncaster I was in to industrial rock.
Then in the late 80's I came upon 'world' music through Andy Kershaw's
Radio 1 show. At the same time, there was loads of global music
going on in Doncaster and the Dearne Valley.
Once
I heard all this wild music, I dug deeper and got involved in the
whole Womad festival scene. I developed my interest in percussion
and music production and eventually turned professional. I've since
worked on albums with John Tams, Kate Rusby, Bill Jones and other
singer-songwriter types.
Our cultural connections are as far-flung as the continents
of the world - yet they collide here in a Yorkshire pit village |
| Keith
Angel |
About
6 years ago, I met Satnam Singh at a percussion workshop which was
hosted at the Doncaster Arts Centre. We hit it off immediately and
we've been firm friends ever since. Satnam was born in Delhi in
the Punjab but has lived most of his life here in Doncaster in a
pit village like me.
We
both attended tough comprehensive schools that were very mixed culturally,
so he's as much a Yorkshire man as myself. What's interesting is
the way that our awareness of each other's respective cultures has
deepened our musical development.
When
I was younger, there really wasn't much connection between the local
English community and the Asian one. Now that's really changing
for the better and people are opening up thanks to far-reaching
local community arts work.
 |
| Keith
and Satnam hold regular percussion workshops |
Satnam
and I got a band together with my brother, Dave and a few other
guys. We play all around the UK, particularly here in Doncaster
at the Arts Centre. We've also performed at Womad as well as doing
an Andy Kershaw session.
Community
involvement is key to what we do so we regularly give percussion
workshops throughout Yorkshire in community centres and schools.
In that way, we're spreading the skills and the pleasures to be
had from instruments like India's dhol and dholak, all the African
and Latin drums including the djembe through to basic drum kit.
We've
just released an album which is very much a reflection of our strong
musical personalities rather than an attempt to cobble together
different styles as some kind of fusion. It's all great fun.
'From
Punjab to Pit Top' sums up our Bhangradelic sound. We're joined
on it by Andy Cutting on accordion and Roger Wilson on fiddle.
When
ever we play it live, people go wild. Even on the album version,
it's got the feeling of a live session about it which captures the
energy of our band. It's also about our rich cultural connections
that are as far flung as all the continents of the world yet they
collide up here in the back waters of a Yorkshire pit village.
| Listen
online: |
|
, performed by Keith and his
band from the album, 'Punjab to Pit Top' by the Angel
Brothers & Satnam Singh, (Wrecking Ball Records, 2002) |
|
Keith
and his band, The Angel Brothers & Satnam Singh, on Andy Kershaw's Radio 3 programme, 7
February 2003 |
|
|
required to listen to audio clips |
|
