FOLK HEROES

It’s the city that gave the world The Happy Mondays, Oasis and The Smiths, and now Manchester is in the grip of a new musical revolution. Dust off your dulcimers – the future is folk.

THE LATE TONY WILSON SAID THAT MUSIC MOVES IN 13-YEAR cycles, and 13 years after the demise of his seminal nightclub, The Hacienda, which brought acid house to Manchester on a massive scale, a new genre has taken over the clubs of the Rainy City. Unlikely as it sounds, folk music has arrived. With a raft of young singer-songwriters driving the scene forwards, and with Manchester’s long-established reputation as a proving ground for new music, Mancunian folk is likely to be steaming into the download charts very soon.

But which came first, the clubs or the artists? It’s hard to say exactly how this latest musical revolution came to pass, but at present there are more than 50 folky musicians on the Manchester scene, and a clutch of events and venues purveying their own individual take on the age-old sound. Taking over cafes like the Blue Cat in Heaton Moor, Fuel in Withington and the Klondyke in Levenshulme, the scene has taken root, somewhat unusually, in the suburbs of the city rather than at its core.

The centre of operations appears to have been set up in the suburb of Chorlton, a centre of bohemian, middle-class niceness just two miles south west of Piccadilly. Confirming the area’s reputation as a hub of the hip scene is a bar called Dulcimer, named after an obscure folk instrument and dishing out drinks under the banner ‘Fine Ales and Finer Folk’. It’s a warm, wood panelled two-roomed space, with plenty of real ales on tap, single malt whiskies lining the walls and all the trappings of a traditionally cosy British pub.

A former art shop, Dulcimer’s unique folk music bent has turned it into one of the places to be seen and to play if you’re an up and coming artist in the city. The man behind the project is Lee Janda, one of the founding members of the eclectic B-Music record label, and a close friend of the musician, Badly Drawn Boy. But as a sought-after DJ and serious record collector, why start up a bar as well?

“My friends were all saying there was nowhere good to go anymore, so I decided to take the risk, and just hoped it would work,” explains Janda. “I didn’t want Dulcimer to be trendy, as folk is a classic genre – it’s not in or out of fashion or intimidating to people who aren’t into music.”

And thanks to the owner’s impressive CV, Dando Shaft and Heather Jones are just two examples of the folk legends who have been lured to perform in the cosy space above the bar. It is, however, arguably the local acts that have made the bar such a winner.

Rising stars like John Stammers and Nancy Elizabeth have both played here, and a third stand-out figure on the local scene is Marc Rigelsford. With national radio plays and enamoured reviews already in his pocket, the 32-year-old from Worthing upped sticks for the leafy, former Jewish ghetto of west Didsbury 10 years ago, and, using looping machines, acoustic guitars, children’s toys and a mouth organ, has been recording as Magic Arm for the past few years. Yet he doesn’t describe his sound as strictly folk, citing more popular acts like Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtardo as major influences on his forthcoming album.

“10CC are quite a passion of mine too,” he smiles, adding that his rock and chart-based influences help him to stand out in what’s becoming a bustling scene. “Singer-songwriters are all over the place,” he admits. “There must be five or six folk nights going on and people just do the rounds.” Of the other artists on offer, “I really like My Side Of The Mountain, who are sometimes my band,” he says, “and Liz Green is doing something quite interesting. It sounds to me like it’s from the 1920s; good stories, good songs, and I don’t think she sounds like anyone else at the moment.”

Rigelsford is signed to Switchflicker Records (home of current NME favourites The Ting Tings’ first release) and, with a couple of breaks, looks set to be pulling the kind of crowds that more established contemporaries, such as the Mercury-prize nominated Fionn Regan, already do.

Timbreland Recordings is another local label that’s tapped into the folk sound. Owned by Pete Philipson, Raz Ullah, Hélène Gautier and Richard Turner, the management team are all members of the folk and blues band Starless and Bible Black. Their best-received release so far has been Nancy Elizabeth’s album, Battle and Victory, while lo-fi folk night, Red Deer Club has spawned its own label too. The sheer variety of music on offer is staggering, and Red Deer Club founder Dunk Le Chunk is delighted that Manchester’s folk scene has finally won national recognition.

“I think Manchester has a musical heritage, which pulls people together,” enthuses the bearded, bespectacled label boss. “There’s a good collection of musicians doing amazing music, most of whom are linked in some sort of way. It’s a bit family orientated, each collective of musicians helping each other out.” Wearing what can only be described as a Christmas jumper, Dunk talks passionately about the club night, and is hugely complimentary about his audiences too, whom artists like Magic Arm perform for on a regular basis.

As with acid house, Oasis-style rock, and now folk, each of Manchester’s many music scenes would be nothing without its crowd. It’s the fans who are making new Mancunian folk a success, says Pete Philipson of Timbreland Recordings. “The musicians have always been there,” he explains. “But the big thing that’s changed is the audience. People have always been messing around on dulcimers or mandolins, it’s just that 10 years ago nobody wanted to see it. But now, as well as all the traditional folk fans, there’s a whole younger crowd who want to spend three hours in a strange old venue, listening to acoustic sounds.”

VENUES

BLUE CAT CAFÉ
17 Shaw Road, Heaton Moor, Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 432 2117

FUEL
448 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 448 9702

THE KLONDYKE CLUB
1 Burnage Range, Levenshulme, Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 224 4122

DULCIMER
567 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester
Tel. +44 (0)161 860 0044

THE KINGS ARMS
11 Bloom Street, Salford.
Tel. +44 (0)161 832 3605

WORDS BY RUTH ALLAN