Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC) is a festival of new music and art, a day of discovery, a community festival in its truest form, bringing Manchester, and more importantly Salford, together in creating something downright magical and unique to be enjoyed by everyone – whether they are on stage, behind the scenes or just soaking it all in with a drink in hand.
In 2004 the idea of ‘Sounds from the Other City’ was born, with the intention to do two simple things:
DEVELOP TALENT, particularly the work of independent promoters, programmers and curators in the region, who work tirelessly to bring new ideas and creativity to public attention, often with little recognition of the invaluable role that they play.
SHOWCASE SALFORD, and the off-kilter beauty of the often overlooked ‘other city’ to Manchester, through embedding live music and performance everywhere, from the doctors surgeries to Churches, pubs, warehouses and community centre
Fast forward 18 years and that vision and ‘raison d’etre’ remains the same. Thousands of emerging artists, musicians and creatives of all disciplines have passed through the SFTOC doors, thrilling crowds and making magical moments along the way. We’ve seen early day performances from artists as diverse as Alt-J, The Ting Tings, Slowthai, IAMDDB and Anz, playing makeshift and one-off venues across the Chapel St and surrounding area of this little pocket of Salford that we call home.
We’ve brought colour, creativity and chaos to the streets and helped lay the desire lines of a brand new community of residents, workers and businesses that now call the area home. After a nearly 3 year, pandemic-driven hiatus, it was a genuine delight to be back out on the streets and in the neighbourhoods in our early May Day Bank Holiday slot earlier this month and this time making our debut at the new Middlewood Locks neighbourhood.
After such a long absence it was wonderful to reflect and continue to deliver on our early mission of supporting and championing ‘the other’ and providing artists with their most exciting, creative moment to date, whilst celebrating place and playing our part in making the world a kinder, more colourful, fairer and more creative place.