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2004
Mad About Music in Soul-on-Trent |
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The
Mad About Music festival
was a massive success across the Midlands, showcasing musical style
from all across the spectrum.
Alsager Civic Centre and the BBC hosted a Northern Soul revue on April
10th as part of the seven-day event. |
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More than
300 Northern Soul fans from across the Midlands and beyond packed
the Alsager Civic Centre on Easter Saturday - and then spent more
than four hours dancing the night away.
The event was part of the BBC in the Midlands "Mad About Music" festival,
and was captured for TV by Midlands Today's Ashley Blake - as well
as by your own BBC Stoke & Staffordshire web team.
Dancing
As the volume rose and the temperature soared, BBC Radio Stoke's own
Northern Soul Queen, Mary Fox, was called upon to choose the night's
best dancer.
But with dozens of contenders spinning, rotating and twisting their
bodies in a series of seemingly impossible gyrations, Mary decided
to get some help from "Mad About Music" Project Director Jenny Wilkes.
'Northern'
After whittling the numbers down to five, Jenny and Mary chose the
top three - all of whom confirmed Northern Soul really IS Northern!
Bolton's Carole McCarthy came in third, Peter Berry from Salford was
the runner-up, but the winner of the £100 cheque was Craig Westwood
from Manchester.
The night, though, was young - and DJs Gary Taylor and Dave Evison
kept the vinyl spinning until the small hours. No-one can doubt that
Northern Soul is alive and well - and certainly kicking!
Listen to Mary Fox's Northern
Soul show every Friday between 7 and 9pm on BBC Radio Stoke or
via this website.
Stoke's Northern Soul legacy
 Now
some people might think what on earth has Northern Soul to do with
the culture of North Staffordshire. For me the case is an easy one,
but if you need convincing I'm prepared to spend a little time...
In
the 60's in America the dream of Berry Gordy at Motown was to show
the world just how rich a seam of music could come from black artists.
They had voices, rhythm and a new energy in post war affluent America.
What they lacked was equality and respect - this was one way to earn
it.
Gordy built his Motown empire with a discipline that won him the admiration
of many - aritists were well-groomed, well mannered and well behaved
( or at least in public they were) - other record labels followed
suit and before long thousands of tracks were available to be heard.
In Britain we had mods, rockers and hippies to contend with and for
teenagers bored with the diet of pop they looked to a new sound and
in the late 60's Northern Soul as it had been dubbed found its way
into the youth clubs.
Golden Torch
With interest growing and a whole new youth culture of clothes and
attitude building with it, Northern Soul found itself the mainstay
of bigger venues - The Golden Torch in Stoke on Trent and Wigan Casino.
The DJ's enjoyed a god-like status because the discs were rare and
a DJ got by not necessarily on his ability to entertain or engage
an audience, but by the size of his collection. I say "he" because
it was definitely a man's world.
Many of the fans grew older, got married, got mortgaged and got wistful.
In recent years the catalogue has started to appear on CDs which means
anyone can buy them and now the old fans like nothing more than a
get together at places like the George in Burslem, Alsager, Knypersely
Cricket Club, Crewe's North Ward Club, The Little Vic in Newcastle
to mention but a few.
Stepping Out
They have money and maturity and a desire to remember their youth.
They still try to dance the steps of thirty years ago and they are
still very exclusive in their musical tastes.
It was a culture that made Stoke-on-Trent stand out - Birmingham and
Liverpool never had big Northern soul scenes. Major Lance chose Stoke
to record a live album, until his death last year the legendary Edwin
Starr was a frequent visitor to the city - even those who never ventured
into the clubs got to hear the music and I reckon for every one "anorak
" there are ten who just like the sound.
Our Northern Soul
show on BBC Radio Stoke was recently streamed on the world
wide web - you have only to read some of the messages to realise the
affection people have for this music and to realise it's a lifelong
thing.
MARY FOX |
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BBC
Stoke and Staffordshire
Cheapside
Hanley
Stoke-on-Trent
Staffordshire
ST1 1JJ
tel: (+44) 01782 221281
e-mail: stoke@bbc.co.uk
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