Music in Manchester

Interviewer: Hi, Ella!

Ella: Hello!

Interviewer: Thanks for talking to me today. What do you want to talk about?

Ella: Well, I love music. So I'd like to talk about music.

Interviewer: Fantastic.

Ella: As you might be able to tell, my accent isn't from the UK. I was born in Canada but I live in Manchester now and I'm so happy that I do because I love the music scene there. It's really interesting: the history that's come from the acid house movement through bands like the Happy Mondays, the Dillons, through the culture of clubbing that came from the Hacienda has now left this really cool community of artists of all different genres who still gig and perform there in Manchester. It's really cool hanging out in the Northern Quarter. It's an area that used to be mills back in the industrial era of Manchester but now it's turned into coffee shops and clubs and restaurants.

Interviewer: Cool! And do you make music yourself?

Ella: Yes. I play guitar and piano and I sing. And getting to play with the other musicians there has introduced me to playing a lot more electronic instruments as well, like drum sequencers, playing with Ableton and playing with DJs. What's really interesting about Manchester is the musicians in Manchester focus a lot more on what they love to make than, in my opinion, musicians in London. Musicians in Manchester really like to focus in on the time they spend in the studio and the time they spend creating, forming smaller and smaller communities to hone into a weird or specific sound, whereas in London people are a lot more out and about, and they like performing and socialising and being around each other.

Interviewer: Mmm. Do you think you'll stay living in Manchester for a long time or are you planning to go back to Canada?

Ella: I really like Manchester. I think I'll stay there because the smaller population has meant that the community is a lot more connected and we see each other by circumstance a lot more frequently. So, yes, I would like to stay in Manchester!

Interviewer: Great. Thank you very much for talking to us.

Ella: Yes – thank  you.