Over the course of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast series, host Sam Hodgson has already interviewed a number of people who have migrated to Kirklees from somewhere else or who are second-generation migrants. As listeners have heard in Episode Two (choirs), Episode Three (rock and roll), Episode Four (South Asian music), Episode Five (folk) and Episode Seven (reggae soundsystem), migration is a vital part of the story and the history of Kirklees’ music. In this episode Sam dives into the migration stories themselves. How did the musicians get here? How did they end up in Kirklees? And what music did they bring with them? The stories and the reasons people arrived here are fascinating, diverse and sometimes very challenging.

The speakers for this episode are: Dieudonne AKA Didi Manirakiza - Burundi drummer; Emira Husarevic - Bosnian accordion player and singer; Fatima Hama - Iraqi singer; Hussain Suliman - Iraqi saz player; Frank Grombir - Czech singer of Polish church songs and historian of migration to Kirklees; Supriya Nagarajan - Indian singer; Thomas Benjamin - Trinidadian steel pan player.

The original music in this episode appears with the kind and express permission of the artists:

00:00 - MUSIC: ‘TOWNSOUNDS theme music’ by Sam Hodgson

03:20 - World Within Yorkshire - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers

06:15 - World Within Yorkshire - Abatimbo Burundi Drummers

07:40 - Love Over Light Years’ by Foxglove Riot

12:48 - Hussain Suliman demonstrating saz

13:00 - Fatima Hama & Hussain Suliman

13:49 - El Pollito by Fransico Canaro, performed by Max and Alessia

18:30 - Czerwone Jagody performed by Sam Hodgson

20:10 - Hallelujah Chorus performed by North Stars Steel Orchestra

21:45 - Mira’s Bhakti from Posse of Fireflies

24:55 - Geamparale performed by Klonk

32:53 - ‘TOWNSOUNDS theme music’ by Sam Hodgson