smoosh!

smoosh:

1 chiefly US, informal : to press (something, such as food) into a pulp or a flat shape : squash, mash, top with a handful of cheese curds, smooshing it down so it starts getting gooey.

2 A combination of smooch and squish. Usually a term of affection. That kitten is so freaking adorable I just want to smoosh it.

“I had long dreamt of an open-air show where the divide between audience and artists disappears, where the audience are as much the show as the artists, where the show is constantly on the move, and where the live music is every karaoke track you ever desired, delivered by several pumping windbands in perpetual motion: human jukeboxes..where the experience is as spicy and surprising and satisfying as street food. This is SMOOSH” Charles Hazlewood

In Paraorchestra’s biggest commission to date SMOOSH! hit the streets of Knowle West, Bristol in September 2021. A 70-piece wind and brass band and a troupe of dancers performed tub-thumping pop karaoke tunes on the move in a cacophonous and joyful mobile street party.

A core of 20 musicians from Paraorchestra were joined by community wind and brass players and an army of professional and community adult and child dancers to perform a track list of songs by artists such as Fat Boy Slim, Kate Bush, Basement Jaxx, and Adele.

Residents of all ages danced on their doorsteps, and sang in the streets in a magnificent communal karaoke - a ‘massaoke’!

SMOOSH! dances through the streets of East Brighton and Hove this 28 & 29 May as part of Brighton Festival.