Remix of Chumbawamba’s iconic Leeds-made anthem gives city lockdown lift

Now a group of talented youngsters have teamed up with sports stars and musicians to create a rousing reworking of Chumbawamba’s iconic hit Tubthumping to give the city a much-needed lockdown lift.

Replacing the hit’s famous “I get knocked down but I get up again” lyrics with “Leeds got locked down”, the video is the brainchild of Breeze Leeds and features energetic submissions from young artists and community groups as well as appearances by Leeds Rhino players and world champion triathlete Jonny Brownlee.

Recorded remotely and mainly from mobile phones, the montage reflects life in lockdown for its colourful cast of young musicians, DJs, dancers, majorettes, aerialists, hoola-hoopers as well as dramatic drone footage of Leeds supplied by Yorkshire Folk Ltd.

Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “The pandemic has been a massive challenge for residents of all ages, not least our city’s remarkable young people.

“This project is a shining example of the resilience, imagination and creativity they have shown in rising to that challenge and it should act as an inspirational message to the people of Leeds. There is no doubt that these are incredibly tough times, but by working together and looking after each other, we can emerge stronger and more unified than ever before.”

Produced in a short amount of time, the video includes music and visuals created by DJs, drummers, tabla, dola, sitar, saxophone, guitars and pianos.

It also includes extracts of Apollo Junction’s new single Forever and thousands of voices, from the stands at Leeds Rhinos and the Kop at Elland Road, in a rendition of Barry Mason and Les Reed’s anthem Marching On Together.

Breeze is Leeds City Council’s initiative for 0-19 year-olds. Since 2004 the Team has delivered a huge programme of summer events in parks in every corner of the city, Friday and Saturday Night projects, in Armley, Middleton and Pudsey and more recently The Christmas Experience at Lotherton Hall.

The arrival of Covid-19 challenges the delivery of the normal fun free summer activities for young people in Leeds and along with other providers across the city, but the Breeze Team are developing a range of alternative socially-distanced events.

One of these is the annual Breeze Has Talent competition which is set to return but with auditions online.

Artists aged between eight and 18 can share their talents by visiting: breezeleeds.org/breezehastalent and following the instructions.

*******************

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. These are challenging times but the team at the Yorkshire Evening Post need your support more than ever in the weeks ahead.

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty. So the support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with the city you live in during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes - from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this and your continued support to the YEP will help to protect its viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit: www.localsubsplus.co.uk/YEP, email: [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004.

Thank you

Laura Collins

Editor