Get ready for an unforgettable evening of Bollywood classics, Indian ragas, ghazals and contemporary music.
Swati Natekar is an illustrious and highly-accomplished singer, composer, and the voice behind hit songs such as ‘Nadia’ (with Nitin Sawhney), ‘Khwaab’ (with Niraj Chag) and ‘Jakatta American Dream’ (No. 3 on the UK charts). She has toured extensively across the world and has collaborated with the likes of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Ghulam Ali, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Sonu Nigam.
After last year’s extraordinarily successful national tour, Swati returns to Liverpool with a brand-new concept – ‘Raag-Rang’ – Shades of Ragas. Accompanied on stage by a collective of the UK’s most talented musicians, she’ll perform Bollywood classics and popular ghazals alongside the classical raga equivalent, giving audiences unique and inspiring insight into how popular songs are developed from classical roots.
Swati will also be paying tribute to India’s legendary vocalist, the late Lata Mangeshkar, with a specially curated selection of her most beloved melodies.
Part of Indika Festival 2023, see here for full listings
J. S. Bach’s Cantata 101 ‘Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott’ [Take from us, Lord, severe punishment] which is essentially a prayer for peace and tranquillity for the nation, performed by Liverpool Bach Collective on Remembrance Sunday.
There are few songwriters to ever surpass the gifts he’s brought, either on his own, with The Pale Fountains, Shack or The Strands, but Michael Head and his Red Elastic Band start to unwrap the fifth decade of his artistry with some of his finest work.
His 2022 album, Dear Scott, as cohesive and coherent as any album he’s made and this time in the company of producer, Bill Ryder-Jones, is the luminescent result of Head’s star collapsing before morphing to illuminate the skies twice as brightly as before. A dizzying constellation of carefully-crafted songs, pin-sharp playing and deft, life-bringing production, Head’s latest masterpiece, according to the man himself, was a simple matter of his band leading by example and honing their craft, requiring him to up his game.
Dear Scott’s title refers back to a golden age of show business, writing and movie-making, a million miles from a pandemic-shrouded Liverpool, that captivated Head in recent years. It’s a place of escape. It is a rewarding journey, made special by its ocean-deep depths. Is there another, living songwriter who can make us feel quite this way?
The show is part of Knowsley Music Festival 2023, tickets are also still available for their Late Night Lillies show, featuring Lapsley on 16 November, see here for tickets.
Låpsley has finally found a balance. ‘I’m now in this beautiful middle space’, she says. ‘But you need to experience the extremes to learn where that is.’
After an explosive rise to fame as a teenager, when she first uploaded her minimal, mournful self-produced electronica to SoundCloud, Merseyside raised Holly Fletcher’s debut album Long Way Home was released to critical acclaim on XL in 2016. Singles Hurt Me and Falling Short confirmed her as one of the most exciting new songwriting talents, whilst DJ Koze’s disco edit of Operator produced an instant dancefloor classic.
Extensive touring followed as Holly honed her craft as a writer and performer, her first proper gig was at Glastonbury, she’s since gone on to play Coachella, All Points East and countless other festivals.
The show is part of Knowsley Music Festival 2023, tickets are also still available for their Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band show on 10 November, see here for tickets.
This October, the Hope Metropolitan Orchestra in Liverpool will perform a concert of music illustrating the diversity of old rural communities.
Imagine a village surrounded by deep countryside. At the centre is a church. Beyond are a couple of unmade roads, a tavern and a scattering of houses. Most people rise early to work on the land.
These are the pictures described in music by the Czech composer Dvořák and the Hungarians, Bartók and Kodály. There is a strong folk element, particularly of the lively dances which were such an important part of the workers’ leisure time. Vocal pieces follow traditional melodies whose origins date back centuries.
Dvořák takes a benign view of village life. Bartók and Kodály are much more realistic. While acknowledging the strengths of country customs, they point also to back-breaking work done in all weathers.
Many villages had a fiddle player and this concert highlights pieces for the violin, notably in the world premiere of More Imaginary Folksongs by Stephen Pratt, written for the orchestra’s leader, Leo Byrne.
Don’t miss what’s set to be an enchanting evening of live orchestral music as the Hope Metropolitan Orchestra invite you to “step back in time to a fast-vanishing world”.
‘Village Scenes’ will take place at The Great Hall on Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus on Saturday 28th October 2023 from 7.30pm. Tickets are available now via The Capstone Theatre Website.
Liverpool band The Cheap Thrills play a special show at CONTENT.
The Cheap Thrills are a great indie rock band from Liverpool. Formed in 2010, the band signed to Eighties Vinyl Records in 2017 and have released 7″ EP, Glare, in January 2017, and 12″ mini album Vue Du Monde, in November 2019 in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Singer-songwriter Maisie Peters is playing a special show at CONTENT.
She began her professional career independently releasing two singles. In 2018 she signed with Atlantic Records, releasing two EPs and the second series soundtrack to the British comedy series Trying.
Domino recording artist Bill Ryder-Jones is playing a new Liverpool show at CONTENT.
Bill is an English singer-songwriter, musician, music producer and composer from West Kirby, Merseyside. He co-founded the band The Coral, together with James Skelly, Lee Southall, Paul Duffy, and Ian Skelly, playing as their lead guitarist from 1996 until 2008.
The new era of The Vaccines is here! The band play a special show to promote their new album at CONTENT.
Their new album Pick-up Full of Pink Carnations will be released January 12th 2024. The first single, Heartbreak Kid was released October 2023. They recently completed a successful U.S. tour with The Kooks and are now embarking on a full European set of dates.
Stereolab return to Liverpool with a special show at CONTENT.
With their hypnotic rhythms and mesmerizing vocals, Stereolab became one of indie’s most distinctive and influential bands when they emerged in the early ’90s.
Led by Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier, the group celebrated strands of pop music — bossa nova, lounge-pop, movie soundtracks — that were traditionally banished from rock’s lineage.
