Joan Armatrading’s Homeland choral work celebrates Birmingham

Singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading says her latest work is all about how nice the people of Birmingham are.

The three-times-nominated Grammy performer is due to perform Homeland at the city’s Symphony Hall and said: “I grew up in Birmingham and so I found it easily to certainly write the lyrics to it.”

The 74-year-old, who released her first single in 1973 after moving to the city from St Kitts at the age of seven, had a string of hits in the 70s and 80s, including Drop the Pilot, Love and Affection and Me Myself I.

Speaking about her new choral work, she said: “It’s not sentimental, but in kind of a way it is, because it’s talking about the love of the place and the people.”

Armatrading’s performance of Homeland on Sunday will feature the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and is her second classical piece, following Symphony No 1, which premiered at London’s Southbank Centre in 2023.

Her performance will be part of the Birmingham’s Bringing the Light concert.

She said the lyrics for Homeland were “talking about the city, how I like the city, but really how nice the people are”.

But it was also “reminding people that Birmingham does have a countryside and animals in it and it’s not just the Bullring”.

She said that when she toured elsewhere, people would often tell her they liked the people of Birmingham, but she wanted to spread that message herself.