Scotland and German based musicians join forces for a UK first project as part of Festival 2018

Glasgow becomes the first UK city to feature on Mix the City in collaboration with European Championships co-host Berlin!

Article Source: Glasgow 2018
Last Updated: 17 May 2018 15:18

Image Credit: Anoushka Nanguy outside the Templeton Building by Graham MacIver

As part of Festival 2018, the cultural programme for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, Glasgow will become the first UK city to contribute to the British Council online music platform ‘Mix the City’ – an award-winning interactive musical experience connecting music, cities, creativity and people.

Twelve top musicians who are all Glasgow based have been filmed performing at twelve much-loved locations around Glasgow to contribute to the online interactive musical platform.

Mix the City allows anyone anywhere to create their own music videos of cultural capitals by mixing audio-visual samples of local musicians recorded at signature landmarks. Each mix generates a video combining the unique sights and sounds of the urban experience that is specific to that cultural city.

The music line-up for Glasgow’s Mix the City has been curated by Alun Woodward (The Delgados, Chemikal Underground Records) and features notable musicians including Kathryn Joseph, RM Hubbert and Ela Orleans.

Glasgow’s curator Alun Woodward, said: “Curating Mix The City has been a really interesting and enlightening experience. There was a generosity of spirit amongst the musicians who were happy to dodge snow, traffic, seagulls and excited curious children to make something weird and wonderful. The music they created feels unique and soundtracks the flow of a charismatic and innovative city.”

The same project is taking place in Berlin, the co-host city for the 2018 European Championships, as part of the cultural programme realised by the Senate of Interior and Sports.

Christian Morin from PopKultur and curator of Mix the City Berlin, said: “The work on Mix the City once again showed how unique and diverse Berlin’s music scene is. East and West-socialisation, Expats, new-Berliners and locals and many artists from a fantastic creative breeding ground. You can hear, feel and see that in Mix the City – the unique Berlin-sound.”

When the platform goes live in July, it will be the first time that the two cities have been able to be ‘mixed’ – virtually bringing together the Glasgow and Berlin musicians. Woodward will also make a Curator’s Mix that will be permanently on the Mix the City website.

Scottish musicians filmed in a mix of indoor and outdoor locations to show off the city, including The Barrowlands Ballroom, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Necropolis.

German performers include Apparat, Jochen Arbeit (Einstürzende Neubauten), Gemma Ray and the Berlin video snippets feature locations across the city including Karl Marx Strasse and the city’s famous Volksbühne theatre.

A free live event called Mix the City Live will bring the project to life during Festival 2018, with some of the contributing Glasgow and Berlin musicians performing on George Square on Friday 3 August.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “This exciting Festival 2018 project celebrates Glasgow and Scotland’s cultural links with Berlin and Europe through a shared appreciation of music. It’s fantastic to see artists from both Host Cities come together as a result of the first ever European Championships.”

Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, Cllr David McDonald said: “As a UNESCO City of Music, Glasgow is incredibly proud of its vibrant and world-class musical landscape. As a city, we are bursting with passionate music fans, talented artists and unrivalled venues and it’s fantastic to see this brought together digitally in a UK-first project for Festival 2018, and in partnership with Berlin.”

Gabriele Freytag, Senate of Interior and Sports in Berlin, said: “Mix the City provides a perfect opportunity to build a cultural bridge between Berlin and Glasgow, the two Host Cities of the inaugural European Championships. Embedded in the new multi-sports event the project perfectly showcases Berlin’s sporting and musical diversity.”

Emmanuel Witzthum, Global Arts Digital Project Manager at the British Council, said: “Our vision for Mix The City was to allow people around the world to discover new cultures by creating musical videos that they can easily share with their friends through social media. It is a wonderful opportunity to create the Mix the City Glasgow/Berlin platform, with Glasgow being the first UK city to be featured on the platform. It is a unique collaboration between two important and vibrant musical hubs, and the first time we will combine more than one city into one experience connecting directly between Glasgow and Berlin through music. We hope that users in Glasgow and Berlin as well as users around the world will enjoy the platforms as much as we enjoyed creating them.”

This project is just one of the cultural collaborations between the two host cities, with each collaborative project complementing the sporting and cultural ties that already exist and will develop in the lead up to and during the Championships.