THIS time last year, the late great Morning Star arts editor Cliff Cocker wanted me to use my monthly feature to discuss a piece I was commissioned by Durham Brass Festival to compose.

Sadly, a few weeks before the premiere was due, Covid meant the festival was cancelled — and in turn I wrote a different article to fill its place. Sadly too, as regular readers will know, we lost Cliff a few months later, and I didn’t get the opportunity to share with him that side of my work he was extremely eager to support.

However, cogs have turned, and the Earth has made its celestial journey around the sun and we are quickly approaching Durham Brass Festival again, and I felt it was ideal to use my feature in the star to write an article Cliff wanted.

Last year, Durham Brass Festival commissioned me as part of their new BOLD AS BRASS scheme, which sook to bring in disabled musicians and composers to be more involved in the festival.

The scheme lasts for two years and following the initial commission last year this year’s involvement is a concert of works by myself which all have the common theme — fascination with and exploration of my native north-east.

To go in concert order, Sangs from Hyme, was the mystery piece which was composed for festival last year. The piece is a cycle of songs based on text/songs from the north-east.

Written for mezzo-soprano and brass quintet, the five songs in the cycle are arguably the most upbeat thing I’ve ever written. Starting with arguably the most famous folk song from the region When The Boat Comes In.

I contrast it with the gritty and beautiful poetry of Paul Summers — starting with his poem Art Class which shows directly, how the environment and architecture of the region tells so much of society and the lessons it places on the shoulders of those born in the region.

The second poem I use is Class Act which shows Summers’ cheekier side; showing distrust of posh voices and being on a personal battle against any trying to betray the working class.

Alongside these, I took a poem by Tommy Armstrong (the Pitman poet). The song Dorham Jail was written about his own experience having been imprisoned there. Like most of Armstrong’s songs they have a lively energy and cheek to them which makes for a lot of fun.

In an attempt to elevate him to a level of esteemed poet — I took his text and composed a new melody for it, though attempting to have the same energy and character as the original.

The most important element of featuring  Armstrong, and When the Boat Comes In is to have songs which are set in the native accent — something that I don’t think has happened in classical music before.

The finale takes a remark from Tony Benn about the Big Meeting. Its simple poetic depiction feels like a poignant way to end the song cycle.

The second piece in the concert is my string quartet which I nicknamed The Whispered Yakka. The nickname came from a line in Summers’s poem Arise! which he wrote for the Durham Miners’ Gala.

With the situation of the poem’s birth, I felt driven to dedicate this work to the pit villages and the communities within them.

The first movement is nameless, and serves to set the scene of the direction the rest of the piece goes. However, the hymn Gresford serves as the skeleton of the movement.

The second movement is called to Orgreave, which for readers of the Star need little description as to why such a dedication is needed. In this movement we hear Gresford more clearly, however it begins to disintegrate and disappear, losing all familiarity. At the same time, we hear a voice, stating names of different pits we have lost. All serving as a simple metaphor of what has been lost in the region.

The final movement, arise!, is a full setting of the poem by Summers. In it, we hear the initial musical ideas from the first movement, however we now have the soprano singing the magical words of the Blythe-born poet.

Finally, the concert will end with a premiere of a new work commissioned for the concert by the Durham Brass Festival. Quite simply, I called it symphony for me marras.

I was driven to do this for a few reasons, one on a boring practical element, the piece consists of the two singers, as well as the string quartet and brass quintet a nice finale with everyone involved.

But the more interesting reason is I wanted to create a large work which explores the north-east, beyond the lazy stereotypes but also delves into the far distant history — as well as asking a question of who are we? What does it mean to be a Mackem (or a Geordie, Sand Dancer, or Monkey Hanger).

This is something that has not been done, and beyond Alan Bush’s opera Men of Blackmoor, there isn’t a notable example of a piece of classical music which tries to speak to and of the north-east and the working-class people in it. Calling the piece symphony for me marras tries to lay this sentiment plainly — it is a symphony for me friends.

The first movement, Hen Ogleo (Old North), takes an 11th-century poem in Old English, which depicts a journey of pilgrimage to Durham Cathedral and witnessing the resting place of Bede, Cuthbert, and the other saintly figures from Lindisfarne.

The ensemble, try to evoke this forgotten spiritual world, and develop a musical world which also evokes the ancient instruments and what it could have sounded like then.

The middle movement, Sangs Wor Grandas Was Sing, looks to the more recent past and creates a huge collage of songs from the pit community and layers them on top of each other — showing the joy, sadness, and overall feeling of the people in the pit communities.

The final movement, North, takes a look at the poem North by Summers which I feel is the perfect encapsulation of what it feels like to be from the north-east. This feeling of being so much more than lazy stereotypes, of loss industry and community, having a rich tradition which is ignored — however, we still don’t know what we are. This feeling of loss, confusion, but pride of place is depicted so magnificently by Paul and I hope the finale of this symphony matches the magic of Paul’s words.

I hope Cliff would have appreciated me waffling about myself for this long, but it is nice to share with the readers of the Morning Star, and I hope readers are sticking around in Durham after the Big Meeting so they can enjoy a wonderful week of brass music, and if you are around Ushaw Historic House and Chapels on July 13, it would be wonderful to see you there friends!