Canal Street Online Manchester

Hacienda House Orchestra and more

Hacienda House Orchestra and more

If you’ve been under a rock for the last year, you might be forgiven for not realising that Hacienda stalwarts, Graeme Park, Mike Pickering and Peter Hook teamed up with Manchester Camerata Orchestra to give some Hacienda classics a classical music make over. Playing at venues across the country including Royal Albert Hall, Lancaster’s Williamson Park and our own Castlefield Bowl, the nights were a resounding success.

Earlier this month a documentary, Hacienda House Orchestra, was shown on Channel Four (this can still be found on All4) as well as the inevitable CD release for those of us not lucky enough to get a ticket.

The CD itself is an interesting nosedive into the setlist from the concerts and great for those of us who can remember these tracks first time round.

Some songs lend themselves perfectly to the classical vibe, high points are most definitely I’ll Be Your Friend, Voodoo Ray, U Don’t Know Me, 2 Hype and Rowetta’s storming rework of everyone’s favourite, U Got The Love. However, in my opinion, some songs struggle and the orchestra isn’t always that clear, Move Your Body being one of them but that is a minor gripe for a fantastic album.

Whether we want to admit it or not, those of us from the rave culture are probably more the “drinks round your mates” culture these days and this album brilliantly bridges that gap as we might be ready for Val Doonican quite yet.

To celebrate all things Hacienda, we thought it would be time to re-run the interview Canal St Online’s Chris Park did with DJ supreme, Mr Graeme Park earlier this year just before he was about to launch this new project at The Bridgewater Hall.

“I wasn’t nervous until I spoke to you” laughs Graeme Park, Hacienda stalwart and original superstar DJ. We are talking about the forthcoming Hacienda Classical nights that will be at the Bridgewater Hall before going off to the Royal Albert Hall and then returning to Castlefield Bowl in the summer.

The brainchild of Park and Mike Pickering (Hacienda, M People), the night promises to be like no other, Acid House club classics reinvented by a full orchestra. How did this idea come about?

“We noticed on the Hacienda nights that the crowd was getting younger” explains Park “Kids want the experience of having gone there. We thought how can we do something for crowd that put us there in the first place and an orchestra was mentioned. We saw the BBC Proms and thought we could do this, so in August we decided to do it.”

Tickets went on sale to little fanfare in September and sold out in minutes. “We had a date to work to then and had a plan” says Park “Now it’s three weeks away”.

So what is the process of bringing the iconic dancefloor of the Hacienda to the more gentile surroundings of the Bridgewater Hall?

“I want to keep all the tracks quiet” says Park, much to my disappointment, “Mike and I each chose 20 songs. When we compared, 10 were the same so they went straight in. We then chose 10 from the other 20. I created a DJ mix of these to put them together, the challenge was to mix in a way that was good, it has a great intro and build up”.

But how could this be transferred to a more traditional format? “Tim Crooks then scored it, Paul Burchill and me created the parts an orchestra couldn’t do, synth noises and basslines, I want the sound as close to the originals as possible”.

Bringing the different elements together must be a different challenge for the two DJs. “Manchester Camerata are an amazing orchestra” says Park, full of enthusiasm “They are very experimental and good bed fellows for this. The musicians get their individual scores and practice then meet up and run through twice which is scary”.

Although nerves may be creeping in now, Park is full of excitement at this new venture. “Yesterday Peter Hook was concerned about a track and I was sat in the office where I teach and listening to what it might be like listening to it on the night and I was filling up, everyone was asking “Graeme are you all right?”” he laughs “It will be very exciting and emotional. Anyone who went to the Hacienda is going to love it”.

But if you like your club nights more traditional, have no fear. There will be an after show party on 12th February at the Albert Halls on Peter Street with David Morales and Kenny Dope as well as Park and Pickering and Herbie Saccani.

The Hacienda has become part of Manchester’s folklore with an enduring name which remains edgy unlike Cream or Ministry of Sound. I asked Park why he thought this was “It had mass appeal. It started in 1982 as a live venue and I would go to see bands. The country was in recession, being run by a hideous right wing government led by Thatcher, Manchester was a grim city then. The Summer of Love began and there were so many different nights”

Hacienda was one of the first clubs to link in with the gay scene, recognising the vibrancy and appeal. “Flesh was the first big musically credible gay nights in Britain” explains Park “I wasn’t allowed to DJ at Flesh because I wasn’t L, G, B or T although I would go down and envy Tim Lennox. I used to beg him to let me play but he said “You know the rules”.

The Hacienda broke ground by breaking down the boundaries of specific nights, something Park is very proud of “Nude on a Friday in 1988 was one of the first club nights where it didn’t matter who or what you were. Everyone just wanted to go mental. In other cities I played in clubs which were gay or black or commercial where men had to wear ties. All that went out of the window with the Hacienda. It was one big melting pot. They were incredible times”.

For all things Hacienda related, please visit www.fac51thehacienda.com

For the Hacienda House Orchestra, please visit www.channel4.com/programmes/hacienda-house-orchestra but hurry, it’s not there forever.

For the Hacienda Classical CD, visit all usual stockists.

By Chris Park for Canal-St Online.

Published: 2-Nov-2016: (3963)

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