Youth Music Action Zones from across the West Midlands joined forces in November for National Youth Music Week 2009. Young people from across Hodge Hill took part in a collaborative music project and celebration event as part of sound futures, Birmingham’s Youth Music Action Zone. They joined together with young people from Staffordshire/Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Herefordshire YMAZ.
Forty young people participated in the event at The Hive arts centre in Shrewsbury on Saturday 7th November which involved songwriting, composition and general music-making. The day culminated in the creation of a regional power song for Youth Music Week.
‘It was a really good day,’ enthused Stuart Brown, one of two music leaders who accompanied the young people up from Birmingham. ‘It was great for us to mix with young people from different backgrounds and refreshing to be working with other musicians and song writers. I felt chuffed to see our guys inject their flava into the finished track.’
The track in question, which celebrates the power of music, is currently being mixed for a December broadcast, and as Stuart points out: ‘The young people have exchanged details with peers from the other areas and have promised to keep sending material, lyrics, backing track to each other which I think is what days like these are all about.’
