Summer Sounds at Cliffe Castle Park
Johnny James, Managing EditorBook now
Summer Sounds
Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.
Summer Sounds is setting up shop in Keighley’s beautiful Cliffe Castle Park this August, bringing a bold, borderless celebration of music and culture. Part of the Bradford 2025 programme, this two-day festival features a line-up as diverse as the Bradford district itself, with global rhythms, radical spirit and community energy at the foreground.
Saturday is curated by Dialled In – the pioneering South Asian platform known for throwing genre-defying parties that uplift underground sounds. Headlining is Indian-American icon Asha Puthli, who fuses Indian classical, jazz and disco into a uniquely cosmic soundscape.
She’s joined by British Asian legends Metz n Trix, the spiritually charged ganayva, folk-pop artist Jasmine Jethwa, Panjabi rave aces Jawani Nights and the explosive Dhol Academy. Also on the bill: father-son duo Inder Goldfinger x SilverFinger Singh, and Ustad Noor Bakhsh, a revered Pakistani maestro of the Balochi Benji.
Sunday shifts gear but not intention, with Serious (the brains behind EFG London Jazz Festival) pulling together another genre-hopping line-up of rule-breakers and boundary-walkers. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award, Nitin Sawhney headlines with a blend of electronica, classical and Indian traditions. He’s joined by rising soul star Poppy Ajudha, spoken-word firebrand Joshua Idehen, and the 10-piece juggernaut TC & the Groove Family, who straddle Afrobeat, breakbeat and highlife.
There’s local talent too: Bradford-born Kenzo Jae brings punk-infused hip hop, while DJ sets come courtesy of Leeds scene heavyweights DJ Lubi, Harry Rook and Yasmeen. And if listening’s not enough, join in – Sunday’s drop-in workshops include highlife drumming with Abass Dodoo and a jazz dance session led by Masumi Endo and DJ Lubi. No experience necessary – just curiosity.
Entry to the festival gardens – including street food stalls, workshops and DJ sets – is completely free. Tickets to the main Beacon stage are £15 per day or £25 for the weekend, with capacity limited.
Bringing together visionary curators, intergenerational talent and a genre-fluid bill that stretches from South Asian rave and jazz-soaked lyricism to Afrobeat, bhangra and breakbeat, Summer Sounds is less a festival, more a living mixtape that channels the energy and diversity of Bradford itself.
