Birmingham: the birthplace of heavy metal music, where the legendary bands Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Duran Duran were formed and where the greatest story teller and philologist J.R.R Tolkien was raised.. The second major UK city where the industrial revolution started and which has seen the birth of Watt Steam Engine. Some members of the famous rock band Led Zeppelin and metal bands Napalm Death and Godflesh all originate from Birmingham, not forgetting UB40 and Steve Winwood.
My path first crossed with the city of Birmingham a couple of years ago thanks to our wonderful Elmhurst Ballet School experience. Elmhurst Ballet School is one of the leading schools of the world in classical dance and is currently celebrating its 100 years in 2022. The ballet school trains young talents for a professional dancing career in Birmingham Royal Ballet.
The Elmhurst Ballet School is located in the heart of leafy Edgbaston district, famous with its magnificient Victorian and Georgian houses, botanical gardens and the prosperity of its elite residents. Edgbaston is an active conservation area where high-rise buildings are not allowed: in that sense, it reminds me of my beloved İstanbul district Levent where I grew up. I strongly feel a bizarre sense of belonging and attachment to this beautiful Birmingham district.
Birmingham has a great impact on music: just like the city of Liverpool associated with The Beatles, Birmingham is associated with Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and the heavy metal genre. During my long walks in Edgbaston, I have witnessed many times construction workers listening to loud heavy metal music on their shifts: heavy metal is the genre of music belonging to the blue-collar working class. Heavy metal music, characterized by its loud volume, distortion and dirty sound originates from the industrial and metallic background noise of the city of Birmingham with its rythmic hammer strikes. Birmingham is also the home of a different industry: that of precious metals and finest jewellery. The history of The Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham goes back to the beginning of the 1700s and is again an area of conservation. At this point I thought that the artisan jewellery craft of Birmingham might have been a source of inspiration for my beloved Tolkien when he created the legend of the Silmaril Jewels and The Rings of Power.
Broad Street with its bridges over the canal, open to tram traffic and pedestrians, reminded me of our lovely İstiklal Steet in İstanbul. Broad Street is famous with its nightlife and bars where Black Sabbath and Duran Duran used to make music in their early years.
The Bull is a symbol of the city of Birmingham just like the famous “Bull” of our İstanbul district Kadıköy. Bullring, located at the heart of the city has been a market place since medieval times and is an important commercial center today with its shopping malls. The Bullring takes its name from the cruel sport of bull-baiting practiced in this center from the 1500s until the beginning of the 19th century, where the bulls were attacked by Old English Bulldogs bred for this purpose. Symbol of patience, fertility and sacrifice, protector of the city, The Bull has become the mascot of Birmingham for the 21th century. Sculpture artist Laurence Broderick’s sympathetic bronze bull weighing six tonnes was placed in the city center in 2003.
The greatest storyteller of all times, author of the Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, The Hobbit, Beren and Lúthien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and many more, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien grew up in Birmingham. I must add that Metal Oda is a devoted and great fan of Tolkien’s and that following his footsteps in Birmingham has been a wonderful experience. Tolkien was orphaned at a very young age: his mother was a true intellectual who shaped his love and passion for language and his creative imagination. Tolkien’s happy childhood was spent near Sarehole Mill in Birmingham in the heart of nature: this beautiful water mill will later be the inspiration for the village of The Shire, the peaceful and green village of the hobbits.
When I went to Sarehole Mill years ago, I was surprised to see that its visitors were a few little kids. With its green pond and fairy tale style building, one can easily see why little Tolkien was so much influenced by the water mill which used to be his favorite playground.
Tolkien’s mother entrusted him to Father Francis Morgan before her death. Father Morgan ensured the boy received a solid education at King Edward’s School which later paved his road to professorship at the Oxford University.
(Plough and Harrow)
Tolkien met the love of his life and muse Edith in Edgbaston: Metal Oda followed Tolkien’s footsteps and visited the houses he lived in, The Plough and Harrow Hotel where he stayed everytime he was in town, The Edgbaston Waterworks Tower and The Perrott’s Folly which were the sources of his inspiration for The Two Towers.
(Edgbaston Waterworks Tower)
During my first visit to Birmingham, I was surprised to find a water tower which was not huge nor impressive: then I remembered how it felt being a little kid and thinking everything was so big and high and how I was certain that the water tower in our Levent district was the tallest possible building on earth. Little Tolkien with an unparalleled imagination no doubt felt the same way about Edgbaston Water Tower.
(Levent district water tower – İstanbul)
The final resting place of John Ronald Reuel and Edith Mary Tolkien is in the cemetery of Wolvercote in Northern Oxford. On their shared grave’s tombstone, the names Lúthien and Beren are inscribed. I believe that the tragic story of the mortal Beren who fell in love with the immortal elven princess Lúthien is the true love story of John Ronald and Edith.
Brummie Tolkien who created a fantastic universe and mythology with its specific geography, people, races and languages was heavily inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite paintings in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in his descriptions of the elves and their lands. The hours spent in front of the paintings manifested themselves in the elves’ physical characteristics, clothing and jewellery. The Pre-Raphaelite landscape influence is also noticed in the description of the elven lands of Rivendell or Lothlórien. Pre-Raphaelite English artists such as James Collinson, William Holman Hunt, Edward Burne-Jones, John William Waterhouse, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Sir John Everett Milla, sought to revive the early Renaissance art style with a realistic approach.
(Lady of Shalott-John William Waterhouse)
Here it would equally be appropriate to mention Kate Elizabeth Bunce, a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. Kate Elizabeth’s famous and Metal Oda’s favorite work “The Keepsake” can be seen in Birmigham Museum and Art Gallery. The Keepsake is after a poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Queen Blanchelys definitely looks like a character from Tolkien’s elven universe. Kate Elizabeth Bunce lived all her life in the district of Edgbaston and her various works of art are placed in churches around Birmingham.
It is truly unfortunate that Alice Cooper compared Birmingham to Detroit in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony: I believe that Detroit is one of the dullest cities of the US, its only feature being the automotive industry. If his is a remark about the birthplace of a specific music genre, the Motown, Alice Cooper may be right. Detroit is his native city, so his desire to credit his city is understandable. Otherwise, as a person who has seen both cities I say they don’t have much in common.
(Edgbaston district street view)
(Levent district street view-İstanbul)
Dear readers of Metal Oda, if some day, you happen to visit Birmingham, a city to which I feel oddly and truly connected, follow the trails of heavy metal, Tolkien, art and literature. Don’t skip Westbourne House and Gardens in Edgbaston where you will find the rosewood piano manufactured by Tolkien’s grandfather John Benjamin Tolkien. Chase Birmingham ghosts in the haunted New Street Station, in Aston Hall or in the obscure workshops of the Jewellery Quarter. Don’t be upset by the famous English rain and fog which add more drama to this beautiful city and remember that you can always keep yourself warm with quality single malt whisky.
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