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A collection of folk songs about people, groups and special places in Bradford District.
To mark Bradford City of Culture in 2025 the Topic Folk Club is gathering together folk songs about the story of the people and/or groups who work to make Bradford District a welcoming and supportive place.
See the 40 songs uploaded so far at Topic SWABA - a few more have been added in February.
THE TOPIC'S HOME is at Hullabaloo, a couple of minutes walk from Groove Pad, nearer the station. There is parking on Crowgill Street. See MAP for venue location. Hullabaloo site: hullabalooshipley.org.uk/ Hullabaloo's Facebook page: facebook.com/PuttingTheHipInShipley/
PLEASE NOTE: The club room is downstairs and the only toilets are upstairs. (There is a plan for construction of downstairs toilets but that will take some weeks yet before completion)
Coming Soon
Bradford is City of Culture this year - Bradford Booking in the listing below indicates when a guest artist from Bradford has been booked to appear.
26 June
Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner
Individually and in combination with a variety of well known singers and bands, Lynne and Pat have both served long apprenticeships on the shop floor of folk music. Between them they play guitar, recorder, English concertina, and they list harmony and spoons workshops in their hall of fame.
They are not in the least averse to dressing up or dancing when a song requires it but they both agree that their voices are their most important instruments. Their style stretches from the tradition through humorous, music hall, contemporary and self-penned material and their resulting style is a unique blend of stunning song and harmony, and a humour which takes their audience on a roller coaster ride - "Everything from high tragedy to ingenious smut in glorious vocal harmony!"
Entry £9 (£6 members)
Doors open 7pm
3 Jul
Singers and Musicians
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
10 July
John Hegley Bradford Booking
John Hegley's first visit to the Topic was in 1976 as a Bradford University student, to see the marvellous Nic Jones. Since when, he has taken up the role of performer on stages at Cambridge and many other folk venues and festivals with his animal songs, love poems and tales of his half French father (the bottom half). He sang on two John Peel sessions with ‘The Popticians’ and was poet in residence at London's Keats House, from which he will be enlarging on lesser-known aspects of the great poet, including a bout of celery sword-fencing and his slight aversion to the French.
John has produced twelve books and one mug. The story of Stanley's Stick has been translated into Icelandic.
John has written a special poem to celebrate Bradford 2025: “A Celebration of a Nation's City of Culture.”
Genuinely funny - Poetry Review
Awesomely mundane - The Independent
NOTE: Before the main performance for the club, in the fully accessible Hullabaloo bar John will perform a free short set, ‘Keats with Seats’, with priority for those unable to attend the evening’s main event or who have access difficulties in ascending to the performance area/toilets.
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
24 July
Enda Kenny
Dublin-born folksinger Enda Kenny is one of Australia's favourite festival performers. As a storytelling songwriter his ability to instantly engage audiences is well known, creating evocative characters drawn from life that pull you in to their stories and songs that trigger memories you didn't know you had. He has the migrant's eye for his adopted landscape, has travelled widely across and around it and found the word pictures to bring it to life like you are travelling with him.
He has headlined festivals in Hong Kong and the UK, opened for the McGarrigles at Sidmouth Arena, toured through Germany and Holland, and played thousands of venues from Folk in the Bath and The Albert Hole to The Drunken Poet. He is equally at home around the campfire at Nariel Creek, Australia's longest running festival.
Kenny is a cracking solo entertainer, the raw emotion of songs like Heart Tattoo and Vigil are beautifully balanced by hilarious observations about everyday life and human frailty. Make sure you catch him.
On small stages to intimate audiences or large stages to festival audiences he always holds the crowd in the palm of his hand. Witty and intelligent songwriting and a brilliant night's entertainment - Eleanor McEvoy
Enda is regarded by many as the best folk singer-songwriter in Australia. He showcases his brilliant songs during hugely entertaining live performances...Heart Tattoo matches wonderful stories of local characters and places with strong melodies. The album has garnered high praise from reviewers, including likening Enda's lyrical skills to those of Leonard Cohen. - House on The Hill
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
7 Aug
Singers and Musicians
A chance for you to sing a song or play a tune or just listen.
£1 Entry
Doors open 7pm
14 Aug
Otra Support: Kim Ralls Bradford Booking
Otra are Rahel Guzelian and Tony Charnock, an acoustic duo with a repertoire of original songs and folk-style covers with guitar, whistle and fiddle accompaniment. They have been performing around the Bradford area and beyond for the past 20 years.
Support: Kim Ralls
After cutting his teeth in solo projects and a succession of bands - including The Learning Curve, Kaos Engyn and The Penhill Poachers - before discovering English folk music and the wealth of stories contained within, Kim Ralls began to weave his own stories – some real, some fictional – into songs that have resonated with every audience he’s played to.
Born in Norwich in 1986, Kim grew up surrounded by his parents’ music collection, a wild melting pot of genres including prog-rock, soul, blues and much more, and a fascination with his dad’s battered old acoustic guitar, now Kim’s main instrument, along with a cello-mandolin built by the late David Oddy of Exeter.
Choosing to go solo just before the Covid pandemic, Kim wrote and recorded his well-received debut album, Terra Incognita, at home during lockdown.
Great story-song tradition… played and sung with real passion. A strong and expressive voice that really delivers – Steve Pledger
