A family-friendly festival in Bradford's City Park, with street theatre, dance and musical acts to be enjoyed, as well as fun workshops, an arts market and food and drink
Over 175,00 people attended the three day arts and entertainment festival which featured no less than 21 music acts, 20 street theatre shows, three dance pieces and 15 workshops.
The event is a great example how the arts are so important in bringing communities and cultures together. With a great range of street theatre, innovative drama and dance performances as well as great music, it did seem to have something for everyone.
Bradford’s multi-award winning singer-songwriter Chantel McGregor headlined the opening night in Centenary Square, and The Beat Goes Bang formed from the original members of The Beat and Dexys Midnight Runners thrilled audiences with classics from the 80s.
A range of music acts took to the main stage. ‘Red Hippos’ kicked things off with music influenced by traditional English, Irish and Scandinavian folk melodies underpinned with posh Jazz chords. 'Normanton Street’s' lyrically focused sound combining three distinctive vocals with jazz influenced guitars, warm bass grooves and tight rhythmic drums. joined with artists from Bradford-based Rubixcube Music Lab and Bradford Youth Orchestra creating an exclusive collaborative act for the Bradford Festival. Well established on the Yorkshire scene 'Happy Daggers' the Leeds based quintet brought their powerful and energetic sound to the festival. Arun Ghosh captivated audiences with his passionate and dynamic performance style, eloquent musical expression and charismatic rock 'n' roll spirit. Fluidly incorporating Jazz, Rave, Rock, Golk and South-Asian influences.
The 2019 festival featured 21 musical acts.
City Park was transformed into a large urban beach as part of the Bradford Festival.
Nearly 40 tonnes of sand was brought to City Park to create a 242 square metre ‘beach’ complete with classic seaside props such as striped deck chairs, colourful beach huts and comical peep through boards.
Children were able to play with buckets and spades which were provided and an atmospheric seascape soundtrack was played to recreate all the sounds of the seaside
Crowds gathered around the quirky and highly creative street theatre acts by top British troupes,. The festival featured 20 street theatre shows and 15 workshops.
The Dragons by An Act Above
The Dragons veer between high-energy prancing and sculptural stillness. In one moment they are tousling your hair with their long talons, in the next they are leaping like lizards from one place to another. – But beware! – The Dragons are very interested in the contents of your bags, your pockets or even your sandwiches.
Inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian painter, Froojamaflip is an 8ft stilted character, handmade and painted with a stunning eye for detail and covered from head to toe with over 25 different fruit and vegetables.
A series of animatronics bring the costume to life including a mouse which pops in and out, a crying onion and a cheeky wriggly worm, as well as a few other surprises!
Marilyn Monroe as depicted by Andy Warhol were back in their unforgettable bright colours . Their mission was to match colours they find and upload a funny and memorable photo to social media under the hashtag #marilynwarhol .
Magical act of dancing on the rim of the brass plates by Abhinandana Kodanda and dancers in breathtaking authentic costumes.
Phileas Fogg and his French valet Passepartout as they attempt to circumnavigate the world in just 80 days. The year is 1872 and it’s day 79 of the journey. Our intrepid adventurers are just hours away from crossing the finish line, if they can just coerce their hot air balloons to go in the right direction they stand to win a grand prize.
Two dashing, bearded, sea shanty-singing pirates, recruit new shipmates by wooing the crowds from aboard their barnacled covered ship
Plain Bob is an innocent and gentle show with no words, an interactive audience adventure under Bob’s umbrella world. As the audience watches, the stage is created from suitcases, an umbrella, and a rain coat. Audience members are invited to the stage to help Bob with his simple tasks. The show is accompanied by original music and sound effects that are triggered discretely by a second performer who also at times magically controls Bob via radio control. The show has been described as beautiful and poetic. The finale of the show is a mini rain shower underneath the umbrella.
SPECIAL DELIVERY is a simple story about the delights of trying something unexpected. When a heavily laden postman is suddenly surprised by a rain shower he discovers that all his packages have lost their labels. In the process of trying to work out the intended recipients, he discovers a bit more about the people on his rounds - and decides to bring a little sunshine into all of their lives.
A stunning street band from West Yorkshire, made up of 22 musicians: percussion, saxes and brass, all rocking with rhythm and pulsating with passion.
Sparkling highlife African guitar and banjo, smoky honey vocals and booting bras. A high energy fusion of Congolese Rumba, Northern Brass, Ska, Afrobeat jive and jazz and 80s disco. There are strong elements of Afro-Cuban strands but other musical ingredients surface through the mix, derived from Spain, Latin America, Angola, Congo. Kwa Zulu?Natal, Cameroon, Iran, Iraq, and Ireland.
L’ Hotel has parked ceremoniously at its latest destination… The only hotel to come to you!
The “smallest hotel in the world” is shrouded but watch as it comes alive: beds are made, tables laid, chamber maids roused, bell boys leap into action and finally the special guests arrive and are ushered up the red carpet to their luxury accommodation.
The Bradford festival 2019 was a Festival is a Sparkling Success.