Bridgewater Hall hosted the 30th anniversary of WOMEX, the most internationally diverse music festival in the world last night.
This year’s WOMEX, or Worldwide Music Expo, will see 50 artists from across the world perform in venues like the Albert Hall, O2 Ritz and AVIVA Studios.
The festival, which lasts until Saturday, was kicked off with speeches from local key players including Andy Burnham and Lord Mayor of Manchester Paul Andrews.
Burnham, to an applauding crowd, said: “Manchester loves music, hates racism. That’s us, that’s what we’re all about.”
He called Manchester “the UK’s capital of music”.
Speaking about Manchester textile workers refusing to touch cotton picked by enslaved people in 1862, Burnham said: “Manchester was saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ 162 years ago.”
Simon Miller, Deputy Chief Executive of Arts Council England (ACE), announced ACE has invested £400,000 to support WOMEX, including 44 bursaries for industry professionals.
WOMEX ‘24 will platform artists from Palestine to Papua New Guinea – but exclusively Manchester-based artists performed on the opening night.
The evening’s entertainment was hosted by Manchester-based DJ Paulette – one of only two women to ever have a monthly residency at the Haçienda nightclub.
First came a spoken word performance about Manchester’s music scene by poet J Chambers, actor Ntombizodwa Ndlovu and former Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist Shameer Rayes.
Referring to the founder of Factory Records and the Haçienda, Chambers rapped: “We took Tony Wilson’s dream and then we built around it.”
Electronica artist Dirty Freud performed first, beginning with a folksy guitar tune but quickly launching into his much grittier, wonkier repertoire.
Freud was accompanied by Ruby Tingle’s lilting vocals and backdrop videos of squirming grubs – his enthusiasm was plain to see as he beamed upon entering the final song.
Next up were Vulva Voce, a string quartet who only play music by female and other underrepresented artists who met at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music.
The Bridgewater Hall audience were properly warmed up by an original piece by Vulva Voce entitled “Hysteria”.
The piece takes a madrigal by Maddalena Casulana, the first woman in the western world to publish a whole book of her own music – and mixes it with industrial techno.
Vulva Voce danced as they played and ended “Hysteria” with a scream, surprising the crowd into applause.
Accordionist and clog-dancer Heather Ferrier performed next – 20 years since she first picked up an accordion at her Stockport state school.
Afrobeat-inspired band Agbeko ended the night, combining trumpets, rock guitar and West African rhythms.
Though the songs they performed were dance tunes, Agbeko’s lyrics dealt with politically charged topics including the Grenfell Tower fire.
Featured image by Rachel Bywater Photography: Mali Hayes of Agbeko
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