An evening with Funraising x Offbeat: Brazilian Wax

With Manchester’s 2018 Freshers week in full swing, it’s been pretty hard to choose which events to go to; there has been so much on offer!

Last week we gave you a glimmer of what to expect from Funraising’s collaboration with OffBeat, held at Night People – a night named ‘Brazilian Wax’ in aid of local charity Lasnet (Latin American Support Network) Migrant Support. We decided to head down and see what all the fuss was about.

For all you Freshers out there, or for anyone else who has missed out on the biggest up-and-coming charity society in Manchester right now, Funraising was set up by students just over a year ago. The name is pretty self-explanatory but fundamentally they aim to support of good causes and have a good time while doing it. They’re not new to hosting nights out, in the past running events such as ArtBox and PostBox, raising over £1100 for Manchester Mind. Originally set up as a blog, they are about so much more than simply collecting your cash and putting a few good tunes on in the background. They combine art with awareness, music with mental health, they are giving the people of Manchester a voice to talk about what needs to change. Safe to say, this was not going to be your typical club night.

So, we set off on Tuesday night, cans in hand, looking for a true glimpse of South American sunshine – and boy, we were not disappointed. Night People is one of Manchester’s lesser known gems, and the two room system worked perfectly for those who, like us, wanted a nice mix of genres.

The turnout for the night was really something – within half an hour of us arriving, room one had totally filled up. The smoking area outside was constantly thriving, and if you wanted space for a proper boogie, room two was the place to be. For those fed up with the usual Freshers haunts of Factory and Fifth, this really was a gorgeous alternative night, and well worth the mere £3.50 ticket fee.

Funraising are all about inclusivity, a motto equally applicable to their beats. Covering hip-hop, grime, disco, and drum and bass, all with a dash of Latin thrown in, you would have been pretty pushed to not find something that you liked on the night. Drawing on local DJ talents, we salsa-ed away to the tunes of Mambo Finn’s Brazilian drum and bass and DJ Fast Five’s Brazil-inspired hip-hop until the early hours, closing with Celine Mostarda and Don Simon playing the very best of Brazilian drum and bass, including ‘This is the Way’ and ‘Easy Boom’.

Feather boas draped the walls, and although a few of the paint splattered balloons that hung from the ceiling soon became casualties, this definitely added some entertainment to the evening. Meanwhile, if you kept your eyes to the front, you’d see a very fun display of Aleksander Brayanov’s funky visuals.

Lasnet migrant support is a charity based in Greater Manchester. Set up by a group of local volunteers with Latin American roots, their goal is to provide a network for the Latin American community in and around Manchester. Improving integration, raising awareness of issues facing their community and working towards the establishment of the Latin American community as an ethnic category are all key goals for the charity. Gatherings and get-togethers are organised through the network, giving people the opportunity to reconnect with their heritage and make new friends.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, with both Funraising and Offbeat bringing us some true carnival vibes – made even more special by the fact that they raised £702 for charity. If you fancy joining Funraising, drop them a message on Facebook. They’re currently looking for students and would love to have you join the team.

Watch out for their next event, you know it’s going to be a big one.