Swingamajig is an annual music festival that takes place in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, West Midlands,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is the UK's first one-day urban festival dedicated to

electro swing Electro swing, or swing house, is an electronic dance music genre that combines the influence of vintage or modern swing and jazz mixed with house and hip hop. Successful examples of the genre create a modern and dance-floor focused sound tha ...

, Gypsy folk and vintage sounds. Swingamajig "takes the sounds and styles of the 1920s and brings them up to date with a modern twist, bringing together several thousand of the best dressed ladies and gents to party like it is 1929". First held in May 2013, Swingamajig Festival comprises elements of live music, DJ sets, film, art, dance and circus performances across four diverse stages.

History

Swingamajig grew out of the success of Hot Club de Swing, a regular electro swing club night that began in 2011 and is held at the Hare and Hounds,

Kings Heath Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435, Alcester road. ...

, Birmingham. Curated by

The Electric Swing Circus The Electric Swing Circus are a six piece electro swing band based in Birmingham, England. The line up features Vicki Olivia ( vocals), Fe Salomon ( vocals), Tom Hyland ( guitar), Rashad Gregory (samples, MPC & synths) and Patrick Wreford (ele ...

, one of the UK's hottest electro swing acts who have performed at

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Shambala Festival The Shambala Festival is a four-day music festival that takes place in Northamptonshire, England, since 2000. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts rock, pop, folk, world music, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists hav ...

Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was orga ...

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WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

, Nozstock and Mostly Jazz Festival, the success of Hot Club De Swing led to the band's development of Swingamajig in 2013.

Line up 2013

The festival was held at Spotlight,

Digbeth Digbeth is an area of Central Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment ...

, Birmingham and featured the following acts:

Line up 2014

Swingamajig 2014 took place on 4 May at Spotlight, Digbeth, Birmingham and featured the following artists: DJ sets

References

{{Reflist Music festivals in the West Midlands (county) Festivals in Birmingham, West Midlands