11 Jul 2023 - 16 Jul 2023
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A genre-defying musical mash-up of epic proportions
A major new project produced by Artichoke as part of Kirklees Year of Music 2023
HERD: The Film
Following the success of Orlando Gough’s 10-day sonic spectacle, HERD, last July as part of Kirklees Year of Music 2023, Artichoke presents the film HERD. Directed by Colm Hogan, this 25-minute art film takes us on a sheep-filled, musical journey through the Kirklees landscape – its rural hills, waterways and post-industrial towns – with a score specially re-mixed by Gough.
A life-affirming musical exhibition as part of Kirklees Year of Music
Devised by composer Orlando Gough and produced by Artichoke, HERD took place around Kirklees during July 2023 as part of Kirklees Year of Music. The KYOM23 flagship project was a ground-breaking collaboration between artists, musicians and hundreds of schoolchildren and community members.
This musical and sculptural odyssey of epic proportions involved a community of makers, hundreds of local schoolchildren and many hundreds more members of music groups including brass bands, bleatboxing, choral groups, boliyaan music, and many other musicians.
Over six magical days from 11 – 16 July 2023, 23 larger-than-life sheep, unlike any you’ve ever seen or heard, appeared in surprising places across the beautiful Kirklees countryside. Designed by Huddersfield-based artist Dave Young, working with heritage craft practitioners, each sheep sculpture had its own unique identity. Wired for sound, these musical sheep sculptures sang original compositions into the landscape, moving from the rural boundaries of Kirklees as they were herded towards town and city.
This epic event culminated in Huddersfield’s St George’s Square on Sunday 16 July as thousands gathered for an immersive day of sound and music. Positioned around the square and loaded with speakers, the sheep sculptures effectively created a surround-sound environment that the audience could hear from wherever they stood.
23
singing sheep across Kirklees
350
community singers & musicians
900
schoolchildren and one ancient sheep counting song
21
soundscapes
15,000
attended the HERD finale
Event of the Year 2023
Yorkshire Post Tourism Awards
Watch the highlights: 11 - 16 July
Where are they now?
We’re pleased to announce that several of the sheep have now found their forever homes across the UK
You can visit the sheep in the locations below to celebrate lambing season and the start of Spring:
Aina (the mother sheep) at Hawkshaw Farm, Lancashire
Bumfitt at Oakwell Hall, Kirklees
Covero at Hawkshaw Farm, Lancashire
Dix at Sunnybank Mills, Leeds
Eddero at Hawkshaw Farm, Lancashire
Fethera at Sunnybank Mills, Leeds
Ix at Callaloo Carnival Arts, Huddersfield
Jiggit at Yorkshire Youth Music
Kindra at Kirklees Council‘s Events Team
Methera at Kirklees Council‘s Events Team
Pethera at Crook Hall, Durham
Sesan at Ramside Hotel, Durham
Umphit at Oakwell Hall, Kirklees
Vedero at Huddersfield Canal Society, Huddersfield
Wix at Safe Anchor Trust, Kirklees
Why sheep?
HERD celebrates the enormous influence that sheep have had and contribution they have made to this part of Yorkshire and its people. The history of Kirklees is rooted in the textile industry. Wool and water brought succeeding generations to work in the mills, bringing with them their own unique musical traditions.
The musical sheep were designed by Huddersfield-based artist Dave Young, working with heritage craft practitioners, each having its own unique identity. Ranging in size from 1 – 4 metres high, they were made from a variety of materials including textiles, willow, salvaged and recycled junk. They were wired for sound by Sebastian Frost and John Del’Nero, experts in sound design.
The sheep were each named after the ancient sheep-counting song, Yan Tan Tethera, which is derived from the Celtic Brythonic language. The names of the sheep are:
Aina, Bumfitt, Covero, Dix, Eddero, Fethera, Giggit, Hant, Ix, Jiggit, Kindra, Ludd, Methera, Nant, Odra, Pethera, Qethera, Ranadik, Sesan, Tethera, Umphit, Vedero, Wix.
18 months in the making, HERD forged deep connections within the community, participants and passers-by alike
The monumental work intertwined the industrial and cultural narratives of Kirklees and paid homage to its rich musical heritage and its historical ties to the textiles industry. At the heart of the project, the 23 handcrafted musical sheep sculptures wove together tales of movement, sound, industry, and labour, symbolising the enduring significance of the wool trade for Yorkshire and its people.
Throughout the week, passers-by across Kirklees stumbled upon the sheep broadcasting original soundscapes into the landscape, leading them on an epic sonic journey around Kirklees’ rich musical culture. The diverse range of soundscapes were commissioned from local sound artists, and expertly mixed by Orlando Gough and sound designers Sebastian Frost and John Del’Nero. They drew together found sounds from Kirklees past and present, with recordings of the musical performances.
The Soundscape
The richly layered soundscape for HERD celebrates a district with a culture rich in music of all forms. The piece traces the cultural and industrial story of Kirklees, through its multicultural musical traditions, from rural idyll to the present day. Inspired by the woollen trade, its industrial heritage and the people who came from all over to work in the textile mills, HERD’s soundscape knits together multicultural musical traditions and identities.
The sound artists that took part include Chris Ruffoni, Jaydev Mistry, Jo Kennedy, Yorkshire Sound Women Network, Monty Adkins, Rob Crisp, HOOT, Sunil Kalyan, and Sam Hodgson, Ruby Wood, Thabo Mkwananzi, Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones, Supriya Nagarajan, Donovan Christopher (Debo), Huddersfield Choral Society, Huddersfield Community Gospel Choir, Shepley Singers, Hade Edge Brass Band, Skelmanthorpe Brass Band and school choirs.
“I always like to make work that encompasses all kinds of different types of music and make connections between musicians who don’t normally work together. HERD was my dream commission. It was an honour to be able to work with so many great musicians from different cultures, all local to the area, and to have them working together in exciting ways.”
~ Orlando Gough, composer and creator of HERD ~
Turn your sound on to hear an excerpt of the soundscape
Artists
Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough is a composer (and sometimes lyricist, librettist, music director, MC, recording engineer, cookery writer), who writes operas, choral music, music-theatre, music for dance and theatre, and creates large-scale site-specific work.
Dave Young
Dave is an artist, maker, bodger, artificer, and apprentice rogue alchemist. Since 1995 he has worked as a sculptor, animator and film-maker, blacksmith, metalworker, pyro-technician, set-builder, puppeteer and workshop leader.
He works closely and collaboratively with many other artists, dreamers, makers, musicians, performers and technicians, designing & making giant puppets, mechanical beasts, installations and machineries of joy for outdoor arts events, festivals & processions.
He started his working life with the pioneering celebratory arts company Welfare State International and has worked closely with companies such as Macnas, Pa-Boom and Walk the Plank.
His work is collaborative, wistful, and humorous, filled with joy, created for the love of it, and made with genuine blood, sweat and tears. He is based in West Yorkshire, UK, although he mostly lives in a country of his own imagining.
Sebastian Frost
Sebastian has designed sound for plays, musicals and opera in London’s West End and on Broadway, and from Cape Town to Sydney.
In 2008 he received the first ever ‘Best Sound Design for a Musical’ Tony Award nomination for Sunday In The Park With George. Immersive soundscape design is often a focus for his work. Sebastian has created the sounds for a unique range of exhibitions, visitor experiences and art installations.
Charlie Morrissey
Charlie has worked in live performance since 1988. He has collaborated on, devised and directed large and small scale pieces in different landscapes: on the shoreline, in the sea, on cliffs, in the street, in parks, theatres, galleries and buildings ranging from a castle to a glass house. He’s also worked as a performer, teacher and director in many different countries around the world.
Charlie organises and produces Wainsgate Dances, a programme of dance at Wainsgate Chapel in Yorkshire, with his partner Rob Hopper, which aims to make dance happen in a non-institutionalised space.
John Del’Nero
John began his career in London’s West End on productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy Liar and Jeeves.
He designed the sound for the original Rocky Horror Show and has been Sound Designer for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for the past 20 years. He has worked for Royal Families in the UK and abroad including Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
John has worked with Artichoke on Ready to Drop in collaboration with Orlando Gough, Hilary Westlake’s Dining with Alice and Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw’s Peace Camp.
