CityLife

North Will Rise Again

IT'S just ***king music. We’re not Mother Teresa ,” barks veteran producer Johnny Jay down in the ornate cave surroundings of Manchester’s Circle Club.

The panel discussion is about John Robb’s new book charting Manchester’s music landscape (‘The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1978 – 2008’) and this juxtaposition of a retrospective anthology titled with such a prospective affirmation is skirted over but never tackled.

Robb chairs the discussion from issue specifics towards a more anecdotal frame, albeit equally interesting.

He still poses intelligent questions and answers others like an encyclopaedic Devil’s Advocate but it is Johnny Jay’s incendiary remarks about this year’s Manchester International Festival that proves the highlight of the talk

Regional fortunes

“Run by a Southerner, which I think is **king outrageous - and look at what he’s put on?!” says Jay, acknowledging the “international” element of the festival but addressing his concern at the lack of Manchester-centric artists receiving publicity and funding.

One topic seems to dominate the evening – the relevance of ‘scene’. Does it validate the music?

Is a scene something you’re aware of when in its midst or is it a retroactive label for coincidental regional fortunes? Is there an issue of Manchester artists making less of a global impact post-96, but not necessarily with any less creativity?

Electronic music

And with bands like Kid British and The Courteeners going strong, is a cohesive scene still a necessary part of the northern picture?

But with the ever-growing success of Manchester’s Warehouse Project, echoing the Acid House annals of a bygone time, the city still seems to be at the forefront for electronic music. Now, who said Manchester was just about white guitar bands?

 

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