Festival Inspires Musical Youth

Lancaster band and Radio 1 favourites, Lowes, have been mentoring local young musicians as the city’s Music Festival continues to inspire the next generation.

Lowes, winners of the BBC Radio 1 Dance Vocalist of 2021 Award and whose music achieved more than 20 million streams last year, have spent part of their summer sharing their skills with three young soloists and Rift, a band featuring 11-year-old drummer, Charlie Mather, who will be the youngest person ever to play on a Lancaster Music Festival main stage in Market Square on October 14.  

“For the three of us, it was a real pleasure to be involved with the Search for a Star project,” said Lowes guitarist, Jamie Walker.

“We’ve had a wild ride on the Lowes journey over the last few years and in that time we have learned so much about many different aspects of the music industry. It felt special to be given the opportunity to pass on information to a younger generation of musicians.”

Young people are very much at the forefront of this year’s festival from October 13-16, not least as, for the first time, the city centre-based school of sanctuary, Dallas Road Primary, is hosting its very own family friendly mini-festival as part of the larger event.

Festival musicians will run workshops at the school in the run-up to the festival.  BBC Folk Singer of the Year, Ríoghnach Connolly will lead singing workshops around the refugee/asylum seeker theme while Baz Mills and Adam Thistlethwaite from Massive Wagons will play songs with an anti-bullying theme from their new album Triggered! and talk about their personal experiences of bullying.

Dallas Road will also stage a Kids Lip Sync music workshop and an interactive music show by festival favourites Uptown Monotones along with other family friendly activities and music shows. 

As part of its commitment to encourage more female participation in music, festival Sunday will feature a Girls Can workshop, and a question and answer panel featuring Ríoghnach Connolly, Holly Blackwell from The Lovely Eggs, IORA, Sarah Angel and Harriet North, run by More Music at The Dukes.

More Music Stages also present their young up-and-coming artists, DJs and bands in Market Square on the Friday and lead music sessions for under 5s and babies at The Gregson on the Saturday. There’s more fun for the under 5s when the interactive story show, Raven Tales, flies into Moor Space at The Dukes on the Friday.

Lancaster Music Festival’s full line-up is in the official Festival Guide, available from venues and other outlets, and on the festival website: lancastermusicfestival.com