An historic recording studio in Handsworth has been reinvented as a communitybased centre for music and arts technology. Terry Grimley takes the tour.
Searching for something called the Centre for Media and Arts Technology in a suburban road in Handsworth, you could easily mistake it at first for just another elegant Victorian villa.
The not-for-profit Centre in Grosvenor Road, which had its official launch last week, is a new cultural hub for north Birmingham, with a range of facilities including three recording studios, a video-editing suite, meeting rooms and offfices. Seven years in development, the £2.2 million project has been promoted by internationally acclaimed a capella group Black Voices, with support from various sources including the Arts Council and the Advantage Capital Fund.
But it is built upon a firm foundation of Birmingham musical history. For this used to be Hollick & Taylor's Grosvenor Studios, long regarded as Birmingham's leading recording venue.
Over more than half a century from the early 1950s a long list of well-known local and not-so-local artists were attracted here to record or rehearse, from Sir Ken Dodd, Sir Cliff Richard and Des O'Connor to Roy Wood, Steel Pulse and Jimmy Cliff.
The 1960s were a particularly frenetic time, when all the soundtracks for cult TV series Thunderbirds were recorded there. On one memorable occasion at the height of Beatmania no fewer than 14 Birmingham bands were rounded up to record in a continuous session.
Jasper Carrott's novelty hit Funky Moped was recorded at Grosvenor Studios as was - less obviously - the Brighouse and Rastrick Band's Floral Dance, the only record by a brass band to become a top 10 hit.
One record you feel should have been made there is Handsworth Revolution, but in fact it wasn't. Steel Pulse did record some early tracks with Hollick & Taylor but apparently they weren't a great success: singer David Hines remembers that they were daunted by the lavishly-equipped studio and had their eyes permanently fixed on the clock in case they overspent their modest budget.
The studio was run by founder John Taylor and his wife Jean, who lived over the shop. Black Voices recorded seven of their first eight CDs there and it was John Taylor, by now contemplating retirement, who suggested they might like to buy it.
Bob Ramdhanie, Black Voices's long-serving manager and now operations director of CMAT, recalls the moment: "We fell on the ground laughing," he says.
But gradually the concept of what eventually became CMAT began to take shape. After the usual protracted period of fundraising followed by closure for major building work, the centre has now opened its doors.
The open yard through which bands used to carry their gear has been converted into a smart reception area. The existing studio, including what is reputed to be one of the largest live rooms outside London, has been re-equipped at a cost of £300,000, and two smaller studios, more affordable for local youngsters, have been added.
There is a small canteen and upstairs rooms in the house, which dates from 1872, have been converted to provide a base for a small but select group of artists-in-residence - Black Voices, Latin-American group Caliche, tin-pan virtuoso Jamma and Nu Century Arts, alias playwright Don Kinch and his saxophonistrapper son Soweto.
"I remember when we first bought the place neighbours were ringing the doorbell, saying what is this place, what do you do?" says Ramdhanie. "And yet behind the walls such a rich tapestry of Birmingham's musical history is locked up. The significant thing for us is continuing that tradition.
"It's about creating a new kind of recording studio and arts centre. It's not a drop-in centre, people will come here because there's a focus. Everything comes at a price and it won't be free, but what we want to do is provide people in Birmingham and the West Midlands with top-of-the-range facilities and a high quality experience."
The centre will have four streams of income - hire of facilities, community and education work delivered on a contract basis, sponsorship and grants. Its board aims to have at least half its income coming from the first two sources within four or five years.
An early example of the centre's educational work is Young Roots, a project in which a group of eight-15-year-olds is researching the history of the building.
"They've interviewed Steel Pulse, [music promoter] John Mostyn and the Taylors, and they are interviewing Black Voices next week. We wrote to Spencer Davis, who recorded here in the 1960s, and he said he would love to give them an interview when he is performing in Wolverhampton in August.
"They are working with video and photography for an exhibition we will put on at Soho House from August to October.
"It's been interesting to hear from parents how much they have learned about Handsworth."
One theme Bob Ramdhanie is particularly keen on is the role CMAT might play in exploring and developing world music in the city, with the slogan "World music on your doorstep".
The room in which we are talking has a couple of koras or African lutes in it, and later in the day CMAT would be hosting a rehearsal by the multinational Infusion Ensemble, which came out of Birmingham's community music agency, Sound It Out. Coincidentally, the group's Iraqi leader lives in Grosvenor Road.
"We're forming two choirs, ajunior one and an adult one, and we hope to have several world music ensembles based here. And then we want to share that with schools, through education programmes, through recordings, writing and research.
"Birmingham has people from so many different backgrounds - Chinese, Vietnamese, Iraqi Kurds, Somali, and a lot of Eastern Europeans. We really want to make it a centre for world music. Again, if you think of the large black population we have here, it will have a very oral tradition. If we're creating new music, shouldn't we be writing and publishing this stuff? With new technology, shouldn't we be recording this music?"
Ramdhanie also stresses the importance of interlocking what CMAT does into a city-wide musical landscape that includes the Conservatoire, the CBSO and city centre venues.
"We're talking mainstream culture, not a ghetto mentality. When Black Voices perform at the Town Hall their guests, to open the concert, will be the young CMAT choir.
"It's about Birmingham, it's not just about a few black kids having a good time." www.cmatltd.co.uk
