History of Mancunian Black Music: Event Review and Interview
The History of Mancunian Black Music event was held the last weekend of February in the community social hub Media City, Salford Quays. Promoted on Manchester’s Finest, valuable stories were shared behind some of the city’s most iconic artists, leading genres and pioneering movements that came out of the Manchester music scene over the last 30 years.
Taking the audience on a multi-generational journey, the soundscape, panels and visuals were presented in chronological order, celebrating progress and achievements alongside challenges faced by artists, from tech advances to navigating industry changes.
Opening the evening’s conversation were panels with Broadway Sound and Cleopatra- their outstanding insights into breaking through barriers in true defiant Manchester spirit to create niche spaces in music, entertainment and beyond.
Alongside main host and event curator Kane were the accomplished Faro, Serge Campbell and Sealey, who interviewed members of the infamous crews Flossmode, Knight Ryders, Raw T and Mayhem to name a few. They went into the importance of Manchester’s historically groundbreaking collectives and how the grind used to look; like physical print CD’s, Sidewinder events, competitive rivalry driving creativity and a multitude of accolades to date. The nostalgia and relatability resonated with the audience creating an interactive atmosphere.
Video messages included Adio Marchant known artistically as Bipolar Sunshine, hailing his Knight Ryder days and building his current career. Olli Wilson, son of Tony Wilson (founder of Factory Records which signed Raw T) was also featured. Archive from the Hacienda, performances and music video showreels were screened, giving a cinematic experience.
Throughout, gems were dropped: from individuals curating with major brands such as Boohoo and infamous international artists like Beyoncé, signing to major labels, successful independent careers, creating businesses to accomplishments overseas. The word limitless was used to describe the scope of Manchester’s creative finest and future prospects supported by foundations built from those before.
Biographies on History of Mancunian Black Music's page highlights the backgrounds of contributors such as Strategy, DJ Silva, Simeon, Snypez, Dragz, James Mayer, Remdogg, Slay and many more; a stellar first installment of these events. Performances on the night were Meany, Prez T and Manny Captin, adding another dimension to the evening’s celebration.
The final panel saw presenter Tilly Tillz speak with creative directors KC Locke, Alina Akbar and Joshua Reeves on the significance of music videos and archive, affirming the power of visual storytelling and how it supports promoting and documenting the culture, artists and movements. They shared the tools needed to overcome production challenges, cultivating and utilizing the talent in Manchester and reputation building through having the right visuals supporting the music, making it more viable and professional on major platforms.
L-R Tilly Tillz interviews KC Locke, Alina Akbar, Joshua Reeves
Credit: Rosie Eliza
In the audience were other notable figures in industry which included individuals from other cities; and these events are set to be even more expansive.
With the focus around contributions to the UK music scene and its reach, Wordplay interviewed curator Kane Dunn about his background, inspiration and motivation for the first installment of the events:
I’m CEO of Eyes on the Pies Management - a company we started 4 years ago. Predominantly, me and my business partner Natalie Hill managed a variety of different artists but we have started to move onwards from solely artist management and developing a lot of content on more of a historian level. So doing documentaries looking at untold stories from the past, and also events. This event was something from the new lane which we’re going down. We’ve done the Meridian Crew documentary- still to be released but was premiered around 18 months ago. So this is a new space around building content, telling stories that have been overlooked, British and globally within music. What got me into management all those years ago was an artist Just Banco who was a close friend. I was studying music and management at the time and he gave me an opportunity to manage him, working for Dirty Hit Records and from there I’ve never looked back. I’ve looked after different artists along the journey such as Meekz, but that’s something I no longer do now; I'm onto these other endeavors.
Credit: Rosie Eliza
Do you feel the current generations have that collaborative mentality the scene did in previous generations?
Working in Manchester and London quite heavily, I’d say in London that mentality exists more, maybe because the eco-structure’s a lot better; financially more artists feel like they can be profitable without being in competition. But I’d say within Manchester, there’s very much an only one person can win the race kind of attitude. So I think a lot of people have got to a point where they try and get to the top and not really willing to be collaborative amongst their peers. Maybe that’s through fear of losing clout or their audience. I think it used to exist, very much so, but in a time where I guess there was less to gain financially so people really focused on the talent and the music much more. Focusing on the talent and the music gave people the awareness to realize what was good or what they didn’t really like. If they wanted to collab there was no real payoff for working with someone or not, which made more people want to be involved. So I think the game evolved in Manchester… more money has come into the game but in turn, it has made people more aware of what they are bringing to the scene and a lot less willing to collaborate.
How can social media help increase visibility for the talent from Manchester and what other tools do you think are important?
What I’d always say to an artist is social media is your shop window- it’s the place where you’re going to sell yourself to the masses more so than any other place, but a lot of other drivers will still matter. As we seen with the event there’s certain artists like Strategy from Broke 'n' English who tour the globe and do well financially through bookings, but don’t have the biggest social media awareness, so it’s case by case. The quality of the music you release, the engineering, the mix and master, just taking care of the overall product. Making sure all your music’s on DSP’s new and old is very important as well, because if people don’t have easy access to your music then it's turning potential audience away.
HOMBM, sponsored by Jerk Junction, Studio88MCR, Manchester’s Finest, AU Vodka
This event opens a brilliant conversation about understanding and acknowledging the talents and achievements of those around us, what do you see as the ultimate goal for these events?
To change the way Manchester treats their artists that have come before them. An important statement I keep making is:
If you don't know where you come from, how do you plan your future correctly? How do you know how to navigate what’s coming in front of you if you don't understand the past?
I believe these events are very important, a driver and teacher to the next generation of artists coming out the city. There’s a lot more I want to do with these events in terms of workshops and helping people develop their crafts, helping people understand there’s other jobs that exist in music, like myself that got into management. I don’t create any form of music, but I've worked heavily in music for the last 8 years. I also want to take it to a bigger level in terms of how things are looked at and how the history is taken care of. With the next event I can't say too much, but we’re trying to be in even more creative diverse spaces. For this one we did the theatre because we really wanted people to respect the art of what has happened, and showcase what the city has built and what’s come before. I feel like it’s been heavily overlooked and Manchester is a major hub of talent and how some things look in the UK but not gotten the credit.
When gathering the information for the event, what was your biggest learning moment or things that surprised you?
When working on the event I didn’t know who Sweet Sensation was. I’d heard the music before just even in films, but never knew they were all Mancunian based in the group. I learnt Zeus King went on to be signed to Tony Wilson at Factory Records. There were lots of little things like that that were amazing facts; like Junior Daye still being alive and still living in Manchester, growing up in Trench Town with Bob Marley playing gigs with Diana Ross and people like that, but being an everyday Mancunian to some degree. Hopefully, I get to find out and share more of these stories with the rest of the world.
