Singer’s covert video part of talent showcase tonight at MK Gallery.
A music video shot secretly in Milton Keynes has launched a variety show at the landmark MK Gallery, to showcase a range of local talent.
Sheniah Asiamah, a singer-songwriter from Milton Keynes, will be one of an exciting line-up of local singers and actors showcasing at the gallery tonight (30th May).
She wrote a song about Milton Keynes in 2020, after seeing a postcard image from a 1980s advert for the new city. The resulting track was ‘My City’, a ballad about longing for the fulfilment of the promise of urban idyll made by the creators of a city and ultimately embracing its beauty and flaws.
“I've spent most of my life here in Milton Keynes, inspired by my dad, who wrote plays that showed here,” says Sheniah. “What inspired him to launch his creativity into the void was that Milton Keynes was still so new when he came in the 80s. He saw it as a birthplace of potential, and it still is, young and misunderstood.”
Last year Sheniah enlisted the help of local filmmaker Benjamin Charter to produce a music video for the song. Shot secretly with a small crew in central Milton Keynes, it features a solitary actor moving across a sparse industrial cityscape, trying to engage with passers-by through dance. The team then gathered locals for the remaining roles in the film, by distributing flyers in shops and cafes.
Sheniah decided to create a platform to celebrate Milton Keynes-based talent, by inviting acts to be part of the music video’s launch event. That event became ‘My City Performs’ a variety show to showcase local talent, unique for its wide-ranging line-up and location – MK Gallery.
And tonight, the gallery will feature acts ranging from alternative bands and electronic music artists to choirs, singer-songwriters, rappers, theatre and a contemporary dance group.
“Milton Keynes is more than just roundabouts and concrete cows,” says Benjamin Charter, who has partnered with Sheniah again to put on the event.
“I think the trees, because they line the sides of all the roads, hide a lot of what is here physically and that goes the same culturally – there's so much more to see beyond the trees.”
'My City Performs' is at MK Gallery tonight, doors open 6pm. Tickets can be bought here: https://mkgallery.org/event/my-city-performs.
