Echoes of the North: Four Chapters in Time
A new film made from more than a hundred fragments of archive film, Echoes of the North: Four Chapters in Time transports viewers back to Northern England a century ago.
An unprecedented collaboration between Yorkshire Film Archive, North West Film Archive, North East Film Archive, and London’s Archive Film Agency, and edited by Andy Burns, Echoes of the North takes its audiences down the highways and byways of northern life in the early 20th century - its industries and rural life, its wartimes and festivals, its transport, holidays, family excursions and huge, city-wide occasions.
The sixty minute film is accompanied by a new score – the first ever all-brass soundtrack for a silent film - composed by acclaimed composer, musician, writer and broadcaster Neil Brand. Neil brings his unique touch with silent film, breathing new life into these rare and evocative images with his first all-brass soundtrack. The soundtrack was recorded – with support from digital agency The Space - live at the film’s premiere at Yorkshire Silent Film Festival in November 2022, performed by one of the world’s finest brass bands, West Yorkshire’s Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band with conductor Ben Palmer, who also orchestrated the score.
Echoes of the North premiered at Morecambe Winter Gardens in November 2022, performed by Brighouse and Rastrick Band and conducted by Ben Palmer. Echoes then toured to Victoria Theatre Halifax, The Stoller Hall, and Durham Brass Festival, performed once again by Brighouse and Rastrick Band, and conducted by Ian McElligott. It is being presented by Bradford 2025 City of Culture on 11 April 2025 at Saltaire’s Victoria Hall.
Echoes of the North was co-commissioned by Northern Silents and Durham Brass Festival with support from PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund For Organisations, and Arts Council England. The premiere performance was supported by BFI Film Audience Network with National Lottery funding as part of the CURIOUS engagement fund. The online release is supported by The Space, with funding from Arts Council England.
Neil Brand, composer of the Echoes of the North musical score for brass band
Neil Brand said: If ever a marriage of two art forms was long overdue, it is this coming together of silent film and brass band music. The wonderful, resonant images of people going about their lives, work, play and conflict in the first 30 years of the last century spring to life with the timeless beauty of the brass band sound, music that evolves and matches every contrasting mood for us today, just as it could have done when these scenes were shot. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to create scores for these images, and to work with one of the greatest bands in the world!
The Echoes of the North premiere at Morecambe Winter Gardens in November 2022
“Uplifting, sombre, joyful, and every emotion in between”
Brighouse and Rastrick Band, performers of the soundtrack for Echoes of the North
“Absolutely wonderful. So evocative. Really beautiful stuff.”
