Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Manchester International Festival special with Damon Albarn

Mark and Stuart host a special programme celebrating this year’s Manchester International Festival with guests including Damon Albarn and poets Sabrina Mahfouz and Lemn Sissay

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie present a feast of great music and chat for weekend breakfast

Today they host the first of two special programmes celebrating this year’s Manchester International Festival. With guests and a selection of music, they explore the highlights of the festival line-up. The city’s arts festival is staged every two years and features original brand new works and special events. Many of this year’s works have been created over the past year and offer an interesting snapshot of these unprecedented times.

Among today’s guests, they hear from Damon Albarn. As well as fronting bands including Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Damon has been a regular contributor to Manchester International Festival (MIF) over the years. He has worked on three original stage productions for the festival including the opera ‘Monkey: Journey to the West’ which premiered at the very first festival in 2007. This year he is performing a rare live solo show, accompanied by a band and string quartet. His live set includes songs from his forthcoming second solo album ‘The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows’ which is released later this year. Mark and Stuart hear from Damon about his new album and MIF performance.

Poet Lemn Sissay also joins Mark and Stuart. He discusses curating the MIF exhibition ‘Poet Slash Artist’ which explores poets who work with visual art and visual artists who work with poetry.

Also part of today’s guest line up is poet and writer Sabrina Mahfouz. Sabrina has contributed to a new installation at MIF’s future venue ‘The Factory’. Still under construction, the space at The Factory site will host ‘Arcadia’; an installation inspired by the natural world and featuring poetry from Sabrina as well as Simon Armitage, John Clare and Sappho. Directed by Deborah Warner, it also includes recorded contributions from Brian Cox, David Thewlis and Jane Horrocks.

Also on the show… our music news reporter Clare Crane brings the latest news from MIF 2021 as well as the other big music and entertainment of the past week.

With a selection of music old and new to get the weekend started.

3 hours

Last on

Sat 10 Jul 2021 07:00

Music Played

  • Everything Everything

    Schoolin'

    • Geffen.
  • Katy J Pearson

    Miracle

    • Heavenly Recordings.
  • Massive Attack

    Karmacoma

    • Polygram TV.
  • Laurie Anderson

    Let X=X

    • Big Science.
    • Nonesuch.
    • 008.
  • Chloe Foy

    Work Of Art

    • SELF RELEASE.
  • Jimi Hendrix

    Purple Haze

    • MCA.
  • Jon Hopkins

    Emerald Rush

    • Domino.
  • Peggy Gou

    Nabi (feat. OHHYUK)

    • Gudu Records.
  • Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds & Kylie Minogue

    Where The Wild Roses Grow

  • Curtis Harding

    Hopeful

    • ANTI/Epitaph.
  • Wilson Pickett

    Land Of 1000 Dances

    • TELSTAR.
  • Super Furry Animals

    Do Or Die

    • Creation Records.
  • She Drew the Gun

    Cut Me Down

    • Submarine Cat.
  • MC Tunes vs 808 State

    Tunes Splits The Atom

    • ZTT.
  • Arlo Parks

    Too Good

    • Collapsed in Sunbeams.
    • Transgressive.
    • 3.
  • Modest Mouse

    We Are Between

    • Columbia.
  • Roxy Music

    All I Want Is You

    • EG.
  • Mr. Scruff

    Spandex Man

    • Keep It Unreal.
    • Ninja Tune.
    • 2.
  • Porij

    Nobody Scared

    • Oat Gang Records.
  • Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen

    Like I Used To

    • Jagjaguwar.
  • Buzzcocks

    Everybody's Happy Nowadays

    • A Different Kind Of Tension.
    • EMI.
    • 19.
  • Sons of Kemet

    For The Culture (feat. D Double E)

    • Impulse Records.
  • Janelle Monáe

    Make Me Feel

    • Atlantic.
  • Jungle

    Talk About It

    • Caiola Records.
  • Blur

    Sunday Sunday

    • Food.
  • Damon Albarn

    The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows

    • The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.
    • Transgressive Records.
  • Damon Albarn

    Polaris

  • Frankie Knuckles

    Your Love

    • Trax.
  • beabadoobee

    Cologne

    • Dirty Hit.
  • µþÂáö°ù°ì

    Crystalline

    • One Little Indian.
  • Monie Love

    Monie In The Middle

    • COOL TEMPO.
  • Mr Jukes & Barney Artist

    Vibrate

    • Virgin.

Broadcast

  • Sat 10 Jul 2021 07:00

Featured in...