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Day: 30 January 2018

Obituary: Mark E. Smith

Mark E Smith was the stuff of legend. His infamous band, The Fall, had over 60 members in its time, with him as the only constant: a front man who wouldn’t give up, admitting once “if it’s me and your granny on the bongos — it’s The Fall.” They released over 30 albums and spent the 70’s and 80’s in and out of the pop charts.

The Fall was well known for having an ever evolving sound, which changed with the stream of ever changing band members. This is what allowed the band to continue up until the premature and tragic demise of Mark E Smith.

A true Post-Punk band, Mark E Smith’s Mancunian drawl and cryptic lyrics can be heard through the powerful guitars, an underlying rockabilly riff mixed with an abrasive punk sound.  His tense music lives on to teach anyone who will listen about reputation, life and drugs.

Mark E Smith is a true legend of musical history, influencing bands including The Arctic Monkeys, LCD Soundsystem and Sonic Youth. Since his death on Tuesday 23rd January, artists including Billy Bragg have been paying tribute to him calling him a “cultural icon”.  Another tribute, came from Smith’s former Fall band mate Marc Riley, who was dj-ing on BBC Radio 6 when the news broke. He recalled to his listeners live how Smith had “taught me a lot about life and he taught me a lot about music”.

Mark E Smith died aged 60 after suffering from respiratory problems for the past year. His declining health meant that shows in America had to be cancelled and for his last shows in England, he sang in a wheelchair.

He was the personification of what people expected from punk music, single handedly releasing more albums than there have been punk bands. He was erratic, sporadic, and enigmatic: his reputation became iconic but Smith never gave up on the music and had an admirable and fierce passion for his art.

Interview: Manchester’s most influential woman – Qaisra Shahraz

Qaisra Shahraz was 2017’s most influential woman in Manchester according to lovinmanchester.com. Though the author admits she is ”bemused” at the prospect, she undeniably has influenced many through the power of her stories, and is taking the recognition as a “humbling experience.”

With her published short stories and novels gaining international recognition, I wanted to talk to Qaisra and see where it all began, and what the most influential Manchester woman of 2017 has planned for 2018.

Qaisra has lived in Manchester since the age of nine, and her Pakistani roots and dual nationality became a source of inspiration for the stories she began to write. Through her school years right up to her becoming a student at the University of Manchester,  “writing has remained my soulmate” Qaisra smiles.

It was here, at our very own University, that Qaisra was published for the first time. She remembered cheerfully her glee at the sight of seeing her name in print.

“I had joined Michael Schmidt’s creative writing workshops and enrolled on a writing course resulting in my debut full two page feature piece in She magazine about Greek Vases. I bought nearly half a dozen of the magazines, for my family and friends! Seeing your name in print for the first time is magic. The excitement wears off over the years!”

Qaisra’s novels The Holy Woman, Typhoon, Revolt  and collections of stories are studied at a multitude of other universities, as well as A Pair of Jeans being studied in German and English schools. Qaisra’s appeared in literary festivals and book fairs around the world, including Jaipur and Beijing and her drama serial has appeared on Pakistan Television. Despite all this undeniable global success, Qaisra never forgets about the love she has for her home city, with her connections to the University of Manchester remaining strong.

“In recent years I have organised two multi-faith university events celebrating diversity. Our aim was to bring students and community members of various faiths and those of none together in order to celebrate our shared values, promote peace and cohesion” Qaisra tells me.

Photo: Qaisra Shahraz
Photo: Qaisra Shahraz

After leaving university Qaisra’s creativity projects began to blossom. She was published numerous times as an author, then eventually found her way into screenwriting.

“Writing for television came much later and was much more challenging. Creatively, I have found writing of film and TV scripts in its use of imagination the most demanding. In order to learn the craft of script and screenwriting I ended up doing a Master’s degree course in scriptwriting for TV and Radio and adapted my novel The Holy Woman into a 90 minutes film screenplay.”

When I asked Qasira what her writing process was like, she admitted that she has “no standard writing ritual or process as such” but that for scriptwriting “the jig sawing and stitching of separate scenes to create exciting episodes and embedding as much conflict and drama as possible is quite a task. I was taught on my degree course in scriptwriting to ‘milk’ each scene for drama — otherwise it is redundant.”

And as for writer’s block, the sickness that every author fears suffering from, Qaisra won’t even entertain the idea.

“I have no time to have a writer’s’ block!” She laughs. “However, there is a new distraction on the scene which often lures me away  from my creativity quite significantly — online social media!”

Qasira’s latest work is a publication of short stories named The Concubine & The Slave Catcher. The ten shorts are set on four different continents at various different times in history. Qaisra was generous enough to send me a copy, and the stories, completely different to the next were all interwoven with humour, sadness and a sense of real life suffering and emotion.

“I have focussed on the drama of human relationships, played out against various scenarios: the daily struggles for survival of Jews in a Polish concentration camp [one operated by Nazis during World War II in occupied Poland]; the selling of slaves in 18th-century Boston; the tragedies of the partition of India and Pakistan; modern-day friendships in Abu Dhabi, and the fatal jealousy of an Incan concubine and a Spanish wife in 16th -century Peru.”

“The Journey” one of the ten short stories in the book, “resulted from me learning about the bitter realities of Partition from an aunt, telling me about how she wept for days after parting from her Hindu best friend Gopi, whose family had to flee south to India. Imagine a line being drawn on a map of India, thereby making millions of people refugees overnight. Gripped by the scale of the human tragedy I had to write this story.”

Even the shortest of encounters, such as a ride in a taxi, can be a source of information when you are asking the right questions, and really listening to the stories people have to tell. “Our Angel was based on a conversation I had with an Afghan taxi driver on my way to the Abu Dhabi Book Fair. The man’s life as a migrant workers separated from his family for long periods of time dismayed me and taught me the realities of modern day economic migration.”

Photo: Qaisra Shahraz
Photo: Qaisra Shahraz

But it is Qaisra’s own personal identity that has caused her to write about the stories she has, in hopes that they will bring about more awareness about different social, cultural issues and gender issues.

“With the rise in Islamophobia I have now actively begun to use my writer’s platform and my fiction to build intercultural bridges.” Qaisra affirms. “I find it so frustrating, having to constantly defend my faith, and Muslim women’s rights to dress as they please including wearing of the veil, the hijab. I am dismayed as to why Muslim women are consistently targeted and stereotyped in the media as well as harassed on the street for their clothing.

“In one special project I have documented 32 hours of taped recorded interviews  of over hundred Muslim women from several countries. My aim was; to debunk myths about Muslim women, and learn about the realities of their lives and to celebrate their diversity. I discovered that every single woman I interviewed from the humble tea picker in Indonesia and a business woman in India was unique, a product of her class, culture, education  family and social background. I found 99 per cent of those women were not oppressed as is often assumed in the west.”

Qaisra is currently setting up a Muslim Arts and Culture Festival at the University of Manchester. She strongly welcomes Muslim and non-Muslim students to get involved in this exciting new festival, by offering their skills as volunteers, as well as taking part in a special MACFEST Day to be hosted in the University to promote Muslim heritage. Leave your details with The Mancunion or Diversity officers in the Student Union and Qaisra will be in touch.

You can find Qaisra’s website here.

Review: V-REV vegan diner

As a meat eater I am generally quite sceptical about vegan restaurants that aim to serve convincing replicas of fast-food meat products. Nonetheless, since it is ‘Veganuary’, myself and a vegan friend decided to give this popular Manchester joint a try to see if the dishes could really compete with the real deal.

On arrival it was very evident that V-REV is a popular diner, and although it was  14:30 on a Thursday we had to wait a few minutes to be seated. The menu consists of seitan burgers which are either deep fried to replicate and taste like fried chicken or mixed with soy and moulded into patties to replicate beef burgers. In addition to burgers, V-REV also offers a range of vegan sides from ‘mozzarella’ sticks to loaded ‘cheesy’ fries, all at a very reasonable price.

I decided to order the Kenan and Kale burger which was spicy fried ‘chicken’ with avocado, vegan mozzarella and Siracha. For two pounds extra I also added some poutine fries which were topped with vegan gravy, cheese and fried onions. My companion ordered the Whopper Flocka Flame burger and buffalo ranch fries. Her burger consisted of ‘beef’ patties topped with vegan cheese and bacon and her fries were also drenched in vegan cheese, bacon and ranch dressing. Both meals were less than ten pounds and the portions were very generous.

Photo Credit: Daisy Tolcher
Photo Credit: Daisy Tolcher

However, after trying both dishes we both felt that the ‘beef’ burger was a bit of a disappointment. The patty was thin, did not have a convincing texture and did not taste of much. Most of the flavour derived from the sauce and the vegan cheese, which was  generously lathered on top. On the other hand, the Kenan and Kale burger was delicious and could have passed for a real, albeit less greasy, chicken burger. The fries were also tasty and a steal at only two pounds for such a large portion.

Photo Credit: Daisy Tolcher
Photo Credit: Daisy Tolcher

Although V-REV has made a good effort at providing vegan diners with an alternative to beef and chicken burgers, the food I tried has not convinced me too give up the meat. That said, the diner is a good place to meet with friends and is reasonably priced, so I will be visiting again.

Review: Manchester Smokehouse

At first glance, Manchester Smokehouse — located on Lloyd Street, just off Albert Square — has all the ingredients of a great night out, with an exciting food and cocktail menu, and a very busy restaurant. Unfortunately, that’s where the compliments end.
We booked a table for a Saturday night — essential, as it was really quite busy. By the time we had arrived 5 minutes late, they had already given our table to someone else.

We shrugged this off and went over to their cocktail bar to wait until one became available. The vodka and prosecco cocktail I had was 95% apple juice, which is always upsetting when they suggest they consider their drinks as important as their food.

After sitting down, we ordered starters; Smoked garlic king prawns, and the honey jerk BBQ wings. The food arrived promptly, which was great — by this point, we were pretty hungry. The prawns came with their shells still on – and it has to be said, that must have been where all the flavour was, as there certainly wasn’t any on the meat. The wings were slightly better, but not much superior to those found in a local Wetherspoons.

We moved on and ordered ‘The big smoke; all the best bits for two to share’. If these were the best bits, I certainly don’t want to try the rest. Comprising of a hefty platter of brisket and ribs, pulled pork, and a variety of sides, the only thing that didn’t disappoint was the fancy chopping board it was all served on.

I know this sounds harsh – but the vast majority of the food was inedible – the chicken was so dry you had to gulp several mouthfuls of your pure apple juice cocktail just to get through it. The brisket was tough and flavourless, and the ‘hot links’ sausages were overcooked and unexciting. Don’t get me started on the ribs. The beans and the pulled pork were bang average, and they were the highlight.

What was most surprising was the lack of a smoky flavour. They claim their food is smoked and cooked on an open fire — but if you want a BBQ flavour, you’re better cooking it yourself on a disposable one in Platt’s Fields, or simply having a packet of smoky bacon crisps.

Unsurprisingly, I wouldn’t recommend a trip to Manchester Smokehouse — there are plenty of excellent alternatives in town, for the same price.

New society launched for postgraduates

A new society has been launched to represent postgraduate students.

Majid Ahmed began the MCR Postgrad society with the aim of supporting the personal and professional development of the postgraduate community through social and academic activities.

Along with launching the new MCR Postgrad professional networking platform to bring the postgraduate community together, this society allows postgraduate students to unwind from the stresses of university life and connect with their fellow peers.

The first event is the ‘Postgraduate pizza’ night on the 1st of February from 18:00 to 20:00 in Academy 2 of the Students’ Union. This is a chance for postgraduates to meet other students, discuss any concerns with their representatives and find out more about future events and competitions. Tickets are available online.

Majid hopes that the postgraduate community can be drivers of change in demanding better well-being and welfare services for postgraduate students. He believes this is necessary given the high prevalence of mental issues in postgraduate students, with a recent study published in Research Policy reporting that over half of PhD students suffer symptoms of psychological distress.

The postgraduate community experienced setbacks in the senate on the 7th of December, where they voted against introducing a Postgraduate Executive Officer, prioritising the existing position of Campaigns Officer.

The postgraduate society is still pushing for representation at the highest levels of university life, intending to allow the postgraduate voice to be heard. Emma Atkins, the 2017/18 Students’ Union Executive Education Officer believes that the Students’ Union “greatly overlooked postgraduate students in the past” but hopes that through the emergence of the postgraduate society, changes can be made.

Postgraduate events appear to be gaining momentum.

Plant and Hope for postgraduate students, led by Aleksandra Besevic, returns this semester, where students can discuss well-being and the environment in which they work.

Through these initiatives, it is hoped that the Students’ Union can better represent the 12,000 postgraduate students at the University of Manchester.