Our columnist this week is a local student who wants to know what's being done to promote young bands in Bradford Imran Ali

It isn't every day you discover a member of the leading rock and roll band in Britain is from your home town. It is even rarer when your home town happens to be Bradford.

Perusing half-heartedly through a popular music magazine, my fingers were jolted from the nonchalant page-turning rhythm I had built up as my focus squinted on to a short biography on Bob Hardy, the bassist for Franz Ferdinand. Hardy, it transpires, was born in Bradford and was an art and design student at Bradford College before going to the Glasgow School of Art, where eventually he would go on to form Franz Ferdinand.

Hardy has always been the "English one" in Franz Ferdinand, the nationality of his three other bandmates rendering them a Scottish band.

Discovering Hardy was originally from Bradford was such a surprise because we Bradfordians are usually acutely aware of anyone from this region who becomes successful, however small their achievements are on a national scale.

We elevated local-boy-done-good Gareth Gates to demi-god status and still cling to the faint hope that a spectacular career revival will take place and he can open CD: UK like in days gone by.

We mourned far longer than we should have when Terrorvision unplugged their amps and split up.

We pounce on and squeeze anyone from Bradford who makes a success of themselves and follow the trajectory of their career with avid interest, however mediocre their talents.

This does open up another interesting question.

Why was discovering Hardy's roots such a huge revelation?

Bradford does not exactly have a rich, indelible musical heritage. We are not Manchester or Liverpool. We are not even, if we're honest, Huddersfield or Lincoln.

Yet surely we must ask why there is such a dearth of musical talent to have emerged from this city.

Envious glances are being made in the direction of our neighbours Leeds and Sheffield, who are producing thriving, thrilling bands like the Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys.

What is Bradford giving to the music world?

As we eagerly anticipate the much talked-about regeneration of the city, it is hoped that part of this rebirth of the city is to produce an impressive venue where live music can thrive. There needs to be an arena for live music to be showcased, something that is sorely lacking at the moment.

Britain is riding high on the momentum of the new wave of British bands such as Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, The Futureheads and, of course, Franz Ferdinand. Yet, this musical revolution is ostensibly bypassing Bradford, none of these bands having played here or are likely to in the near future. There is simply not the facilities available to entice these groups to play in Bradford.

If there is to be a generation of kids from Bradford breaking out and becoming the musical stars of the next revolution in British music, they need to be provided with inspiration. The utmost must be done to bring the guitar heroes and indie upstarts of today to Bradford for the wide-eyed youngsters to be inspired by.

Bradford has been musically bankrupt for too long.