Wiltshire Music Centre; Proper Job!

Devizes celebrated rum bar, The Muck & Dundar are hosting a dub reggae night with Omega Nebula on Saturday, and received this week’s prestigious award of being Editor’s Pick of the Week in our weekly roundup! Because, diversity goes a long way on our local, and often insular music circuits! While there’s nothing wrong in giving folk what they’re accustomed to, offering variety scores house points from me, in towns otherwise typecast into subgenres; Devizes is a blues town, Marlborough has a penchant for goth and punk, Chippenham is folk, and so on. Where does Bradford-on-Avon sit in this pigeonholing exercise? I’m in the dark, but perhaps with good reason…..

This line of thinking for me began as I accidentally kicked a guitar case departing the Southgate on Wednesday’s regular acoustic jam night. Apology accepted by the owner of the case, he responded it happened quite often in pubs with a small space. It provoked an image of the Wiltshire Music Centre, whereby there’s a whole wall of cubby-holes in which musicians can safely store their instruments away from cider-fuelled nutjobs like me; just like coats and bag pegs at school! But it’s not the only school-like thing about this purpose-built music heaven in Bradford, it’s so functional I’d be glad to get a detention in there! I discovered this wandering their wonderful rooms in awe last winter when attending the Bradford Roots Festival. Behind every fire door was another gig going on like a classroom of music!

Now, if it seems to you slightly presumptuous to claim your venue is the “centre of music” in Wiltshire, you’ve not visited this place. Overall it seems Bradford-on-Avon offers, perhaps, the widest range of music in our smaller county towns. The lively Three Horseshoes provides free music every weekend evening, and while diverse too, favours upcoming punk and indie bands, whereas the gurt lush Boathouse tends to offer more mainstream acts. Then, they’ve got this place, Wiltshire Music Centre, the lucky buggers!

If diversity is what you’re looking for, you’ll be right at home here. Examples, while we eagerly await the lineup for this year’s Roots Festival on 20th January….huh? A festival in mid-winter, are you having a laugh, Worrow?! No, though it was the only festival I’ve been to where I had to de-ice the windscreen afterwards, it’s all under the roof of this magnificent building. I was mightily impressed by the range of acts performing there too. It was like a who’s who of local music, a convention more than a festival, and something really worth trekking down to the Bradford on the Avon for; heck, I’d go to the Bradford near Leeds for this!

Concerts, gigs, whatchamacallits, are often backed up with interactiveness, workshops and classes, and even if you cannot make an event, they often live stream like lockdown was still a thing. Anyway, I digress, examples, that’s where I was, wasn’t I?! While we endeavour to list it all on our event calendar, there’s simply too much going on at the centre to reel it all off here and now, mostly my fault for waffling, so do look up their website HERE.

But if diversity is what you’re after, just up till the end of the year alone, the Wiltshire Music Centre, currently running Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, plays host to ECO:FEST, a mini festival of music and creative activity delivered in partnership with Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon, Bradford on Avon Town Council and other partners, next weekend, Nov 18th. A magical family giant puppet show which brings picture books to life for ages 3+, The Museum of Marvellous Things on the 12th, to one of the most impressive and engaging new talents in the chamber music scene, Marmen Quartet, on the 15th November.

There’s both the Trowbridge Symphony Orchestra, on the 19th, and the Bath one, on the 25th, and in contrast there’s jazz with Steve Banks on the 26th. December brings some interesting events too, though. I’m particularly drawn to Saturday 2nd December, when Congo supergroup Kasai Masai perform their unique blend of traditional and modern African sounds. And, as we said about the interactive element before, there’s a drumming workshop beforehand with Kasai Masai. Then, on Sunday 3rd, Eastern European folk meets jazz with The Budapest Café Orchestra’s hot club swing….I should take a sleeping bag and camp in Bradford-on-Avon!

For the last twenty-five years the Wiltshire Music Centre hosts over 150 concerts a year, involving more than 1,000 professional, community and young musicians, building up a passionate community of music aficionados, players, aspiring young musicians, and amateur musicians. It provides a permanent home for local orchestras, choirs and music groups. It works extensively with young people locally, delivering an exciting Creative Learning programme in Wiltshire and beyond with 30 projects for over 5,000 young people every year, from concerts to education and community work for all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Billy in the Lowground at Bradford Roots 2023

Their vision, “to maximise the opportunities for live music to inspire, enrich and transform people’s lives,” has a rich history since a group of visionaries recognised the lack of musical provision in the area, and set forth on an ambition to bring performances and rehearsal facilities to the community. Wiltshire Music Centre Trust Ltd is a registered charity, the founding Artistic Director, Keith Nimmo, retired in 2013 and handed the baton to current Chief Executive and Artistic Director James Slater. It is, in Wiltshire terminology, a gurt lush, proper job arts centre with a focus on music! How much more diverse can you possibly want for?!