In The Mancunion’s Music Section, we are always listening to what is going on in Manchester’s local music scene. Artists of every kind come and go – as do many events – and this city, in many ways, is as well placed as any to celebrate this country’s thriving musical culture. In my 3 years with the section, however, I have never come across an event as celebratory and important as Multi. Multi is just one event in a long lineage of many.
Emerging in the mid-’70s as initially just an ‘idea’, Rock Against Racism became a foundational meeting of music and the fight against prejudice. They were – as many political movements often are – spurred into action by a critical event. In 1976, the Birmingham Odeon played host to rock ‘god’ Eric Clapton. What remained pressed in the cultural memory of that concert was not the guitarist’s blues licks or songwriting, but rather his infamous, drunken show of support for famed fascist-sympathiser Enoch Powell. Clapton described Britain as “overcrowded“, declaring this nation to being well on its way to being a “black colony”.
The ironies of his statements were not difficult to draw out of the blues-aficionado who had built a career off of musical traditions that originated amongst African American people. At the time, Clapton even had a hit single in his cover of Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, and it was widely considered at the time – as it still is today – amongst socially literate people, that Clapton’s inebriated spiel undermined itself at every turn.
What flourished out of this, however, were a string of concerts whose aim was to rally against this racist dog whistling. Performances by artists such as The Clash, Steel Pulse, X Ray Specs and other figureheads of the punk movement saw artists more relevant to youth culture take definitive positions within this movement. Bands like The Beat, Delta 5 and Gang of Four were even active members within their own local RAR branches.
Born out of that tradition was Love Music, Hate Racism, which has run with the baton of fighting racial injustice through musical events ever since. They are as crucial now as Rock Against Racism was in the mid-’70s. Fast forward to 2025, and the same rhetoric has unfortunately pervaded – that of an ‘overcrowded’ Britain, unable to deal with the migration and its effects. Only a handful of months ago, in July and August of 2024, following mass misinformation about the citizenship status of Southport tragedy perpetrator Axel Rudakubana, far-right riots erupted across the UK, as rioters deliberately targeted ethnic minorities and asylum seekers. This event had been, for many young people, the defining moment of radicalism – the spark with which to light the fire of anti-fascist resistance.
Love Music, Hate Racism is no small part of the resistance movement against this – a fact that LMHR member and leader Chioma Amadi-Kamalu was keen to emphasise. “Love Music, Hate Racism is a grassroots campaign that fights racism and the far-right in Britain”, Amadi-Kamalu told The Mancunion. “It is now more important than ever for us to keep spreading our message.”
Love Music, Hate Racism is as much an attitude as a grassroots campaign, and this is proven case and point by Multi. Organised by Thandiwe Smith, Wilf Bowyer, and Yasmin Ali, Multi is an event series that wants to have a direct, political effect. These tenets of their organisation were placed front and centre by Ali’s speech during the show. “At Multi, we believe in the power of music and sounds to bring people together and fight back. We did it before in the 1970s with Rock Against Racism, so we have to do it again”.
“Our events are a space to unite, resist, and build an anti-racist culture in Manchester. By coming together, we can challenge the rise of the far-right and take that energy into the streets. […] Now more than ever, we need to get young people involved in the movement. We must stand together and push back against racism and fascism.”
While at the time of Rock Against Racism, punk music was the musical voice of youth movements, the British youth have invariably changed, and so too has the music culture they follow. Multi as an event reflected this no end, bringing an eclectic blend of DJs and bands together to show youth culture at its best.
Despite it being a relatively dreary Thursday night, the event had showed no signs of being hampered by the grim Manchester whether. Walking into Withington Public Hall was no easy task. By 19:45, the 30 tickets left aside on the door had already been sold, with online tickets also having long been sold out – such was the appetite for the event. As people steadily streamed in, Shade was opening thing – his bossa-nova, Latin and jazz-tinged vinyl set keeping punters bobbing to South American rhythms. Shade recently kicked off his own event Elody, at The Talleyrand in Levenshulme, and the set he delivered had clearly been road-tested.
After the Shade had collected together his various Latin 7 and 12”s, the rather frantic-looking set of ‘techs’ began scurrying around to get the stage together for the night’s second act – Loum. Hailing from Birmingham – the very site of Clapton’s deplorable rant almost 50 years ago – the band seemed defiantly joyful. Palestinian keffiyeh in hand – a potent symbol of defiance and solidarity – the group kicked into gear, shrugging off the odd squeak of feedback with a drum groove so driving and rhythmic that the audience had nothing else to do but pay attention.
Loum balanced delicate melodies with – when they wanted to – raw, distorted power. 5/4 rhythms mingled with Radiohead-tinged wandering guitars and basslines that seemed to never stay in one place. Frontwoman (and crucially, event organiser) Smith’s vocals soared in their songs, and in between tunes, she was acutely focused, shouting out Care 4 Calais and Love Music, Hate Racism. In each remark, it was more and more clear that this was a group switched on to their surroundings, and most importantly, in tune with how crucial an event like this is.
After a brief 15 minutes, Third Kulture emerged. Blending elements of Nu-Metal with the experimental hip-hop of Death Grips and Young Fathers, Third Kulture were a force to be reckoned with. Their lack of drummer only gave way for brutal 808 kicks to ring through the speakers, pushing them to their limits. Theirs was a performance of intensity, energy, and heavy charging beats. Trooping through technical difficulties with ease, they kept energy high, and the audience responded to their every beck and call because of it.
The responsibility to close out a night of that kind is no easy task. This duty fell on DJ Amaka’s shoulders, and it is fair to say she more than lived up to her role. Her set of baile funk and garage classics drew dancing out of the whole room, with wall-to-wall bangers. Her set was yet another highlight in what was a fabulous event for a worthy cause. The joy on punters’ faces as the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Heads Will Roll’ was remixed with afrobeat rhythms is what this event was all about: celebrating how migration and the mixing of cultures has been nothing but an asset to this country.
Multi is more than just an event. It is about engaging with the very thing that has created music culture: the beautiful exchange of culture between peoples of all different types. Amadi-Kamalu’s words on the event summarised it best. “The Multi event at WHPI in Manchester was put together by a group of young people who want to build an anti-racist culture in the Manchester music scene, and it’s an exciting example of what LMHR can build across the country.”
I, for one, cannot wait to see what they do next. To stay updated, you can follow Multi here.
