Bristol Beacon premieres A New Song For Bristol – Lady Nade’s new track ‘Bristol Is Our Playground’

Bristol Beacon has today (23 June) released a new track as part of its ‘A New Song For Bristol’ project – a new track by singer-songwriter Lady Nade entitled ‘Bristol Is Our Playground’.

In Nov 2020 Bristol Beacon launched ‘A New Song For Bristol’, a city-wide project calling out to the Bristol public to submit their experiences of life in Bristol over the course of the last year, through words and music.

As part of the project Bristol Beacon commissioned six Bristol-based artists to write original tracks, directly inspired or co-created with groups of Bristolians of all ages, developed through a number of special online workshops.

'Bristol Is Our Playground’ was written during the last lockdown and was created in collaboration with members of Mini Singers, Bristol Beacon’s choir for Key Stage 1 Children.

Listen to the new track via Bristol Beacon’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/wDfCs2NwtpY

On making the track, Lady Nade commented, “I loved writing with the Mini Singers, writing with children is always much fun as the inner critic hasn’t fully come into awareness yet - as we tend to get older the inner critic knows exactly what’s needed to trigger your tender inner child’s worst fears of not being good enough, smart enough, or of being too much. Taking a trip to outer-space was just a great example of what an adult may not have included in a song about Bristol, what’s the relevance?! I love this kind of magic.

The song was a collaboration and I’m really proud of the final product, the freedom of a child's mind will inspire me in future writing and albums.”

'Bristol Is Our Playground’ is the last ‘A New Song For Bristol’ track out of six to be released, sharing the work of the New Song For Bristol collective of artists and the groups they have been working with.

The tracks already released include ‘Trousers Optional’ by This Is The Kit, inspired by the creative submissions from members of the Bristol public received by Bristol Beacon in response to its call out; ‘Revolution’ by Kwazi, X4 and CVNCH created with songwriter and vocalist Javeon; ‘Only For Now’ written by electronic artist and producer Kayla Painter in collaboration with FLOW Creative, Bristol Beacon’s accessible music-making club for young musicians; ‘Boombox’ by KALA CHNG, inspired by members of the Filwood Community, ‘When Music Says A Thousand Words’ by composer Lloyd Coleman which features the voices of Bristol Youth Choir; and last week, ‘Lockdown Riddim’ by producer and vocalist Grove in collaboration with Hope Creative, Bristol Beacon’s programme for young people in care.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Help Musicians, PRS Foundation Talent Development Partnership and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, ‘A New Song for Bristol’ is part of Bristol Beacon’s ongoing work to uncover and share the historic venue’s heritage and role within the city alongside its multi-million-pound transformation.

All submissions for ‘A New Song For Bristol’ are being collated into a living archive, which will be included in the heritage displays at the re-opened Bristol Beacon.

To listen to all of the ‘A New Song For Bristol’ tracks, the public can visit the Bristol Beacon website at https://bristolbeacon.org/anewsongforbristol