Ida Barr’s a Cockney pensioner with attitude; the ‘world’s first music hall singer turned RnB rap superstar’ spawning her own music genre, Artificial Hip Hop! This weekend I was assisting Home Live Art with her Ida Barr’s Mash Up show at the Brighton Festival.
I was nearly convinced first time I saw her in costume at Open East Festival in London … but Ida Barr is an act, a mind-bogglingly convincing character written and performed by Christopher Green.
Held at the Brighton Dome, Ida Barr’s Mash Up is a cabaret of participatory music all MC’d by Ida from different groups across Brighton. Woodingdean School, Qukulele, a lesbian ukulele group, Silver Sounds, an older person Samba band, and a group of DJ’s came together to create a musical mash up of influences from samba to classic songs on ukulele.
All of this was interspersed with Ida’s own unique songs, where music hall and RnB were mashed up together – Jerusalem with Nicki Minaj was a personal favourite!
For more on Ida Barr, visit Christopher Green’s website. Ida Barr’s Mash Up will also be toured with Home Live Art in Birmingham and Sheffield in coming months!
Photo: Open East – Home Live Art