Soho Road

For two hundred years, Handsworth in Birmingham had plenty of work on offer - if you wanted to work hard. Matthew Boulton - an associate of James Watt and a minor figure in the British Enlightenment - built his Soho Manufactory there in 1764. Boulton was an entrepreneur and fancied himself an inventor and intellectual. Soon Soho steam engines, coins and plated metal objects were making their way out across the globe. In return workers, business men and politicians were traveling to Soho to visit the biggest and finest factory complex in the world; beautifully landscaped and encompassing workers’ accommodation, foundries and showrooms. In 1851 there were over six thousand people living in the fledgling township; by 1911 there were nearer seventy thousand. When the fortunes of the business declined, Boulton's grand home on Soho Avenue and a multitude of metal pressing businesses and foundries were left as legacy. Armaments and munitions were assembled locally by European refugees and young men and women from the Caribbean Islands who arrived during the Second World War. They found the grand houses near the Soho Road empty as Birmingham's rich and prosperous had fled the city in fear of bombing.  With Irish and other working class white communities already well represented, Handsworth and Lozells were vibrant with forthright, hardy and hardworking families by the time new migrants arrived in the 1950s. Young Indian men, predominantly from the Punjab, arrived to answer the post war call for semi-skilled foundry workers. They worked hard; sharing music “from back home” in their few leisure hours. Over the next twenty years they were joined by many more Punjabi migrants, some already half a lifetime removed from their heartland. The Soho Road became ablaze with brightly coloured fruit and vegetables from the "old countries" which at that time no supermarket had any interest in stocking. Community centres, temples and late night drinking venues appeared. Handsworth was comprised of several tightly knit communities weaving around each other in daily life. From the outside it might have given the appearance of a melting pot, but in reality everyone ran on fixed rails. Each community shared the same venues - the Red Cow, the Red Lion, the Farcroft - but on different days and at different times. As the years passed each community exerted a kind of cultural gravity that influenced the dress, the language and the music of its neighbours.   Pulled in different directions by nostalgia for a lost homeland, by the glamour and relevancy of Black music and the innovation and technique of Rock, it was Birmingham bands who created the modern Bhangra sound. For the first time amplified instruments such as the organ and the guitar were woven in with the traditional sound of the dhol, the dholak and the vaja. Anari Sangeet, Bhujangy, Saathies, and Apna Sangeet were some of the very earliest innovators. The next generation of Bhangra performers, DCS, Pardesi and Achanak,  perfected elaborate stage presentations and gave live performances which were the equal of any other UK musicians. Local entrepreneurs responded - bands recorded at Zella studios, and local labels Oriental Star Agency on Moseley Road, Nachural Records in Ladypool Road, Handsworth's Roma Music Bank ensured those recordings were heard. Birmingham's venues were the scene for landmark Daytimers, in particular at The Dome nightclub. Dhol Master Gurcharan Mall's dance team Nachda Sansaar were world champions. It was this self assurance and willingness to take risks that meant that Handsworth was the first to create - and appreciate - the Bhangramuffin style of Apache Indian. Soho Road style was at the forefront of UK Bhangra innovation, helping create a contemporary blend which is now heard across the world, even back in the Punjab itself. Comments (2) Raj said:   you have forgot to mention the wickedest band on earth The Sahotas that were very popular in those days and still will remain forever September 14, 2007 VINH said:   IF SOUTHALL IS LITTLE INDIA........THEN HANDSWORTHS LITTLE PUNJAB....... February 07, 2008 Write comment Name Comment Add Comment

 

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