MURMUR Issue 25 November 2019
MURMUR
Manchester’s monthly newsletter
issue twenty-five // November 2019
Editors: Olivia Havercroft, Nicole Peeters, George Odysseos, Huw Spencer, Tom Waring & Emily Zurowksi Design: Lisa Lorenz Print: Team Trident Press
Kate Dunstone teaches design in Manchester. She’s just trying to get through the day! Follow her @dunstbot to find out how.
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Welcome to MURMUR, Manchester’s monthly guide to radical, independent & inclusive goings-on. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a digital copy of MURMUR, extended articles, reviews on gigs, zines, places to eat and some literary surprises. www.murmurmcr.com
L I S T E N WED 06 11 Sarah Davachi @ The White Hotel
Canada’s Clara Schumann contemporaine graces the soils of Salford in black-andwhite keys. Davachi’s musical practice combines vintage synthesisers and classical instruments morphing them into experimental, droney ephemeral out-ofbody experiences. £12, 7.30 - 11pm
THU 07 11 Roméo Poirier @ All Night Flight
Azure seas. Pools of light. Myths of summer. Sferic and All Night Flight bring you an intimate live performance by French sonic artist and lifeguard Roméo Poirer. Poirer’s Plage Arrière hit all the soft spots of our melancholic souls. The original tape release sold out in a flash and is now available on vinyl released by Kit Records, London (and of course available in your most trusted local record shop). £3 donation, 6 - 11pm
FRI 08 11 Salford & Gomorrah 3: Full Torture @ The White Hotel
BIG LP launch of Bomb Sniffing Dogs, an enigmatic new music collective consisting of writer Austin Collings, former Fall member Elena Poulou and By The Sea’s Liam Power. Brace yourself for a further 12 hours of furore, divided over 4 stages, with the likes of Space Africa, Talcum X, Swedish Magazines, the Yossarians and many more. £8/10, 8pm - 8am
Illustration: Kate Dunstone
P.S.: Beware of the ghosts.
WED 13 11 Carla Dal Forno @ YES
Australian singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Carla Dal Forno tours Europe with her second solo album Look Up Sharp, a reflection on everyday monotony, longing and 21st century blues. Effortlessly drifting between genres, this potpourri of trip hop, post-punk and minimal guides us through the aether of memories, maybes and dreamy utopias. £11, 7.30 - 11pm
MON 18 11 Garden Centre/Great Dad/ Leather.head/Husk & Chris @ Fuel
Brighton lo-fi 5-piece Garden Centre sound like a happy Daniel Johnston mixed with elements of punk and sunflowers. Their latest record A Moon for Digging, out this month, is singer Max Levy’s first Garden Centre album recorded with a full band, consisting of (ex-)members from King of Cats, Joanna Gruesome and Towel. Joining them at Fuel are the delightful Great Dad, Leather.head, and Husk & Chris. £5, 7 - 11pm
MON 25 11 Big Joanie + Loose Articles @ Soup Kitchen
Feminist punk is not dead! We cannot recommend often enough to go watch this band: Big Joanie bring pure black feminist power paired with razor-sharp lyrics to the stage. Support comes from equally amazing local Riot Grrrls Loose Articles. Support your sisters! Smash the patriarchy! One gig at a time. £9, 7.30 - 10.30pm
D A N C E FRI 01 11 Friendzone No.5 @ Partisan
Calling all pop angels this All Saints’ Eve! Partisan’s open-deck pop party offers all members the chance to play their favourite pop pleasures and dance their socks off with their pals. Everyone interested can sign up for a DJ slot online and practice on Partisan’s decks before the night starts to
MURMUR Spotlight:
Me Gusta by Emily Zurowski
For three years Me Gusta have been carving out their own niche in Manchester’s club scene. They are a multicultural collective of DJs and artists who all hail from different corners of the globe. Together, they organise eclectic nights which shine light on music from across the continents. On the 1st of November they are celebrating their third birthday with a guest performance from Afro-Latin quartet Penya. This London-based outfit create percussion-driven electronic music with live vocals and instrumentation, drawing on ancient AfroCuban melodies and traditional Batá drumming. Join them in the basement at YES for a night of hyperrhythmic euphoria! FRI 01 11, YES 11pm - 4am, £10 / MOTD
shake off that ghostly nervousness. What a heavenly way to spend a Friday night! £5/Free, 11.59pm - 4am
SAT 02 11 Kiss Me Again w/ Hesska & Clemency @ Soup Kitchen ☛
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Watch power pals and long-running Limbo and NTS radio darlings Hesska and Clemency take over the basement of Soup to celebrate love and friendship, and bring you some sparkly sweaty tunes. Part of the Mutualism family, both have constantly pushed musical boundaries and fought for mutual representation behind the decks. Catch the duo again for their second MCR November B2B on the 16th at The White Hotel. £5/6, 11pm - 4am
SAT 09 11 Lucid Juice @ Ziggy Sixx Social Club
A guilty-pleasure Drum’n’Bass fundraiser organised by Girl Gang Manchester that shines a light on the incredible work local charity M.A.S.H. are doing for sex workers on the streets of Manchester. All profits from the night will be donated. £6, 10pm - 2am
FRI 15 11 Shackleton & Babs @ Cotton
We’ve heard Cotton’s pledge to a genderbalanced programme and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for it! So far the newest addition to Manchester’s Northern Quarter nightlife has invested thought and effort into making their space an inclusive safer space. Good on them! Cotton also lend room and equipment for feminist DJ workshops for womxn and queer people. But let’s not forget - it’s only thanks to the achievement of these grassroots feminist DJ collectives (who did the groundwork) that there is a space for Cotton in Manchester. This Friday, All Hands On Deck founding member Babs will shake the basement floors. If you haven’t been down yet, go check it out! £7.50/11, 11.30pm - 3.30am
FRI 22 11 Wuthering Nights @ Deaf Institute
Kate. Bush! DISCO! Put on your flariest dresses and pull out your most theatrical moves to sway with Heathcliffe and Cathy. Babooshkas and Army Dreamers welcome alike. Kate Bush all night long, what’s not to like <3 £7, 11pm - 3am
D O SAT 02 11 Sapphormation @ MMU Brooks Building
Manchester’s annual festival for women who love women. Come together to learn, share your experiences and find out more about the achievements of women in our community. Across the day join talks and workshops advocating power through difference. Individuality and our personal stories can form a powerful network leading to a brighter future. How, you ask? Find out at Sapphormation! £2 Donation, Midday - 5pm
SAT 02 11 Engels Lecture: John Green on Willi Münzenberg @ Working Class Movement Library
Collaborating with the Marx Memorial Library in London, this talk is part of the annual Engels Lecture and the first time it is being hosted at the WCML. Willi Münzenberg was an important but relatively unknown European socialist who played a key part in the international movement in the inter-war period. Journalist John Green has written about both Engels and Münzenberg, and this promises to be an informative and interesting talk! FREE, 2 - 4pm
TUE 05 11 Bonfire Night @ The Klondyke
With over 100 years of experience in the pocket, there’s no better place to celebrate Guy Fawkes’ honorary night than at the Klondyke! That is, if the dismemberment of a guy in 1605 is something one ‘celebrates’. Worth it though. Fireworks start at 7pm. £2, 4 - 10.30pm
THUR 14 11 A Just Transition: Trade Unions and the Green New Deal @ Irish World Heritage Centre
This event is brought to you by the good people at Manchester Momentum. With all the hubbub created by groups like XR, it’s worth checking out this discussion on how a potential Green New Deal could be implemented in a way that guarantees new green and secure jobs. Do make sure to register (it’s free!) and check out the other Momentum events this month! FREE, 7.30 - 9pm
WED 20 11 Tackling Sexual Harassment at Work @ Mechanics Institute
Long-time Murmur readers will have seen the various events we feature which encourage the fight for workers’ rights. We need to extend that fight to workplace cultures to make sure the rights we gain are enjoyed by all. So join Karen Carberry, the national organiser for the National Education Union, for this discussion on how to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace. Let us all learn how to better support each other! In Solidarity! FREE, 7.30 - 9pm
SAT 23 11 Zine Club: Winter Survival @ MCR Art Gallery
Pen Fight and Nice Time Arts bring you a free making session to chase the blues away and make new friends. Pen Fight has recently moved to its new home in Hulme, an accessible arts and creative space in the Yellow Bricks opposite Hulme Community Garden Centre. Together with Nice Time Arts they now run regular, public, craftivist events at Manchester’s art galleries bringing accessible arts to all. FREE/donations, 2.30 - 4.30pm
A R T FRI 01 11 Fanspeak @ Castlefield Gallery
Geek out with Fanspeak and watch in awe how artists incorporate fandom in their research and practice. Finally art that everyone can engage with. Away with Elitism! Hello to Fan-ism! Curated by local RISO fans artist collective Shy Bairns, Fanspeak is, what else, participatory galore. Sign up to Shy Bairns’ Show & Tell session (9th Nov: 12 - 2pm) and zine workshop (9th Nov: 3 - 5.30pm, £5/Free to low-income folk and access support workers). The show’s open to the public until the 24th of November during gallery open times. FREE, Preview 5 - 8pm, open Wed to Sun midday – 5.30pm
SUN 10 11 An Afternoon Without Keith Haring @ Fairfield Social Club
No need to visit Tate Liverpool, you can experience and celebrate Keith Haring right here in Manchester! This event at the Fairfield Social Club will include live music and graffiti, painting re-enactments and a conversation between DJ/writer Dave Haslam and Haring’s old housemate Samantha McEwen, to honour the life and work of the artist. £12, 2.30 - 4.30pm
SUN 17 11 DRIFT @ The Lowry
DRIFT once again bring you a fine selection of the best experimental audio-visual art from local talent. DRIFT is a nomadic platform dedicated to champion cuttingedge video and sound art, offering a space to experiment and thrive to newcomers and experienced artists alike. The programme promises to be one to fit the season with performances by Kevin Craig, Ruby-Ann Patterson, Simon Blackmore - who are particularly interested in decryption, otherness and the occult. £5/10, 6pm
WED 20 11 Nature, Mind & Body @ The Portico Library
As part of their autumn exhibition Second Nature: What Is Nature Anyway?, the Portico welcomes a panel of local artists Jackie Chettur, Amy Lawrence and Ruth Murray - to discuss and ask the audience (!) how we perceive nature and landscapes in relation to our bodies, gender and being. The work of all three artists has a special relationship with the wild, and outdoor spaces play a significant role in their practice. Nature calls! £4/FREE (students/unwaged), 6.30 - 8pm
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WED 20 11 Illuminations From The Cave @ The Peer Hat
Weird and wonderful performance art from local darlings Rory Mullen and Karl Astbury that lures us into the deepest, darkest depths of their (our?) cavacious souls. Drifting between Beckettian existentialism and Ren & Stimpy comedy - expect the unexpected! And don’t forget to bring a torch, just in case... £2, 8 - 10.30pm
FRI 25 10 - 19 01 21 Cheng Ran - Diary of a Madman: Manchester Plan, New Bees & Cui Jie: From Pavilion to Space Station @ CFCCA
Go check out the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art’s new exhibitions this autumn. Cheng Ran’s Diary of a Madman consists of 4 multi-channel projections, each filmed in a different city (Manchester, New York, Hong Kong and Jerusalem), that play into the feelings of estrangement we experience as a visitor in an unfamiliar city. Cui Jie’s beautifully layered paintings explore the rapid development of China’s cityscapes. FREE, Tue - Sun 10am – 5pm
W O R D MON 04 11 FLIM NITE: Con Air @ Gullivers
Finally! Everyone’s favourite Nicolas Cage (and John Cusack) film will be dissected by the FLIM NITE wordsmiths! A shame no part of the film will be shown, but expect lots of references and a complete new Con Air like you’ve never seen, heard, experienced before! But as always, remember: Put. The Bunny. Back. In the box. £3/5/10, 7.30 - 10pm
SAT 09 11 Join The Future @ Partisan
Velocity Press’ first publication Join
The Future is a brilliant reportage of the history of bleep techno and British bass music. Author Matt Annis in conversation with Velocity Press founder Colin Steven will ponder on the influence of bleep contemporary electronic music and analyse tracks and their storytelling powers with the audience. Watch this space: Join the Future will be published on 2nd December. FREE, 7pm - Midnight
SAT 16 11 Capturing the Crescents @ MCR Central Library
bundled into a booklet, ‘A Photographic Journey through Hulme in the 1980’s 90’s’. At this event at the Central Library, there will be a talk and book signing by Davis. FREE, 1 - 2pm
THU 21 11 Sting In The Tale @ FUEL
After last months flabbergastingly good performance by Giles Abbott, Manchester’s staple bar for traditional storytelling brings you Dave Tonge - the yarnsmith of Norwich! Expect cunningful, traditional tales by Tonge and of course, as tradition dictates, a round of brilliant impromptu stories from the floor. £5/7, 7.30 - 10pm
FRI 22 & SAT 23 11 Poetry Emergency ii: a northwest radical poetry festival @ Salford Uni, Gullivers & 70 Oxford St
Across two days explore how experimental spoken word art can be a transformative force in times of political emergency and instability. See how radical poetry can be a catalyst for social change, inspire participation and relieve us from stagnant views. Check out their brilliant programme via www. poetryemergency.wordpress.com Fri 10am - 9pm/Sat 10am - late
THU 28 11 Rewriting the North: Blake Morrison & Helen Mort @ Portico Library
The final event in the Portico’s Rewriting the North series! Writers Blake Morrison and Helen Mort discuss the role of place in their work. Morrison is best known for his memoir ‘And When Did You Last See Your Father?’, while Mort’s recently published ‘Black Car Burning’ is described as a love letter to Sheffield, and is longlisted for the Portico Prize award. FREE, 6.30 - 8.30pm
W A T C H SUN 03 11 Still Recording @ NIAMOS
Still Recording follows filmmaker Saeed and art student Milad, who move to Douma to take part in the 2011 Syrian revolution. They set up a radio station and recording studio and document everything that is happening over the next 4 years: from the initial euphoria of the revolution to the following war, siege and famine. This screening at NIAMOS is part of Celebrating Syria, a festival that aims to share Syria’s arts and culture with the people of Manchester. Stay for the live video Q&A after the screening! FREE/£8, 7 - 9.30pm
TUE 05 11 The Day I Lost My Shadow
@ HOME For 8 years, Celebrating Syria Festival and the Rethink Rebuild Society team have reliably brought us educational talks, powerful discussions and independent films shining a light on pressing political and social issues in the Middle East. In The Day I Lost My Shadow we follow Sana on the search for a gas cylinder, stumble over a modern day fable and dive deep into the everyday atrocities of the ongoing war in Syria. Stay after the film for a Q&A with director Soudade Kaadan. Check out Celebrating Syria Festival 2019, running from 2nd - 9th November across Manchester, for more brilliant events (not just films!). £7.50/£9.50, 6.10 - 8.30pm
THU 28 11 Urbanisms IV: Sci-Fi Reading @ CFCCA
Writer/researcher Yen Ooi recently hosted a sci-fi writing workshop at the CFCCA, drawing inspiration from cities and our place within them. At this event, listen to the works created at the workshop as well as Yen’s own, author of Sun: Queens of Earth (novel), A Suspicious Collection of Short Stories and Poetry (collection), and Road to Guangdong (computer game). £5, 6 – 8pm
Photographer Richard Davis moved to Hulme in 1988 and started documenting life in the Crescents over the years to come. His captivating black-and-white photographs of the infamous flats and the people who call it home have now been
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