What does Birkenhead sound like?
Well, we don’t mean phonetically; that’s different for everyone... (An older relative calls it ‘Berrr-khun-edd’ generally, 'Burr-ken-head' with posh phone voice, and tells us we called it ‘Baconegg’ when we were four.)
It’s a question we asked in Issue One of Left Bank for our Future Yard long read. To us, Birkenhead and the rest of the Left Bank represent the sound of the future – you can read it here.
The folks over at Convenience Gallery are searching for answers, too. To them, Birkenhead is also the sounds of the past; not so much ghostly and forgotten, but steeped in the melodies and memories of times gone by.
Recently, Convenience Gallery have been documenting Birkenhead’s working class history (alongside CRAFTBAR) in collaborative community events to champion local people and catalogue their stories.
Soundtracking Birkenhead’s History carries on that work in new, creative ways. Andy and Ryan are working with Queensway Collective, Sugarshack Soundsystem, artist Declan Conolly and musician Dan Asltes for the free event taking place at Future Yard on Wednesday evening, 26 April.
A sonic experience is promised to tell the story of Birkenhead’s sonic youth. Their good vibrations be carefully curated to stimulate nostalgia of the Left Bank to broadcast local stories and people’s personal accounts.
Convenience Gallery and Co. don’t want you to just sit and listen to the strongest form of magic, either. Alongside their DJ sets will be interactive workshops and conversations, song-writing lessons, photography tutorials and more.
Who knows? By the end of the night, you might emerge from Future Yard with the harmonic skillset to tell the tale of Left Bank in the here-and-now to new generations in 2070.
Soundtracking Birkenhead’s History
Future Yard, 75 Argyle Street, Birkenhead
6 PM – 10:30 PM, Wednesday 26 April 2023
