Free Commonwealth Games album featuring UB40 is a 'love letter to Birmingham'
An all-star album featuring Birmingham artists including UB40 will be released to the world for free in June as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival.
On Record will celebrate England's second city as it steps up onto the world stage to host the Commonwealth Games this summer.
Birmingham acts including UB40, Bambi Bains, and Cherry Pickles have recorded new songs exclusively for the album, which has been commissioned and produced by Birmingham Music Archive.
Jez Collins, founder-director of Birmingham Music Archive and executive producer for the project, said: “After many months of planning, negotiating, recording, mastering and mixing, we are thrilled to finally announce On Record.
“In what we believe is the first ever multi-artist, multi-genre album to be written completely about a city, the highs - and lows - of this great place we call home have been explored and documented through a myriad of styles and lyrics.
“The artists on On Record represent Birmingham’s incredibly rich and brilliant music past, present and future, as well as the many and varied cultures and communities of the Commonwealth and beyond who call the city home; we cannot wait to share this fantastic album with music lovers across the globe.”
The "sonic love letter to Birmingham" will feature eleven exclusive original songs by city talent which will be available via a limited vinyl run and across all streaming platforms in June.
Spanning Afrobeat, neo-soul, trip-hop, Asian electronica, folk, garage rock, jazz, reggae, R&B, hip-hop and UK rap, On Record draws from all corners of the city’s rich and lively music landscape, which is currently experiencing a renaissance thanks to an explosion of creativity across the city’s cultural industries.
City rapper SANITY, who performed to around a billion viewers during the Commonwealth Games handover from the Gold Coast in Australia to Birmingham in 2018, said: "I'm excited to be a part of something so personal to Birmingham.
"It's such an inclusive project reflecting the true diversity of our city - there's something for everyone."
The album has been produced by Grammy nominee Simon Duggal and is supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
A new podcast and live event series hosted at B:Music’s Symphony Hall during the Birmingham 2022 Festival, In Conversation, will complement the album.
Robin Campbell, vocalist and guitarist with UB40, said: "The On Record album is an exciting project with an eclectic mix of Birmingham artists that represent the cultural diversity of our city - and we're proud of our contribution to it."
