Lorelei Loveridge @ Exodus Fest 08, Manchester, UK.
Right. So after a year living in Manchester, UK, in a lofty apartment behind Deansgate Station in the heart of the city, just down the street from ‘dirty old town’ Salford which rejects the moniker and is quickly upscaling to prove it ain’t so dirty (the BBC is moving in), I feel as though I understand something about England and English people – or shall I say people of the Northwest and, more accurately, the people of the Greater Manchester area, which consists of ten boroughs including Manchester proper. I understand this market. Or do I? Hard to say. I’m about to find out.
In the past year, I have:
- Befriended a Nigerian singer named Michael (whose last name is impossible to remember).
- With Michael, found my way to two open stages: The Blue Cat in Stockport and The Trof in Fallowfield.
- Played a full set of music in my early days here in lieu of what was supposed to be an opening act performance, thanks to a band that cancelled on its very own album launch night, the dumb shits. It was an intimate performance to a warm and lovely audience.
- Met four guys after the show who came in from their studio recording sessions in a ‘million pound studio’ in Manchester and exclaimed, “We don’t do e-mail! We’re rock stars!” That pretty much foreshadowed the majority of attitudes I’ve encountered at acoustic stages in Manchester since.
- Bumped into two UK songwriters, Robert Gillies from Scotland and Rosie Smith from South England, at The Trof. The two of them taught me something about their Baha’i faith, introduced me to their circle of friends, and are the people I am most grateful to have met in those earliest days of overcoming culture shock after moving from the Middle East.
- Played a variety of open mic nights and folk clubs. My favorites thus far are the Chorlton Folk Club in Chorlton, The Trof in Fallowfield, and Fuel in Withington…all for different reasons.
- Met Zoe Mulford, another trans-Atlantic songwriter who hails from the U.S. and now lives in Manchester. I learned some of the ropes from her re. the folk club and UK festival circuit and got my hands on the last available copy of Direct Roots 2, the no-longer-published directory of folk-related music organizations for all of the UK. Together we’ve ventured a little farther from home, played a few folk clubs, hauled our asses south in the rain one night to a teeny weeny folk fest that Zoe had lined up, and vowed to start playing for pay after that. You hit your limits at some point.
- With Zoe, started an organization called WomenFolk. It’s a performing songwriter’s community for women. We’re getting up to ‘no good’, soon!
- Played a few key festivals including most recently Exodus Fest 08 (at Manchester’s esteemed Urbis exhibition centre/gallery/museum) and the Manchester 2008 Caribbean festival, Carnival, in Alexander Park on a massive stage. Great live press shots have come from these. This is about the time I started video-taping my work. It helps to have good friends do these things.
- Gigged one night at Fuel recently and, thanks to an impromptu performance by some Saudi friends visiting for a week, found my new ’sound’, and that will be unveiled soon enough. What’s surprising is how long it took to figure this out. Sometimes the obvious isn’t so obvious.
- I was recently filmed by a London expat filmmaker for a documentary on the Middle East, and the footage is all going into post-production now.
What I haven’t mentioned is the push by my Indian management team for the album artwork to be finished, and so I finished that up and the 24-page, full-color booklet reigns supreme. It was intended to. It’s what you call: value-added. If you want to rip music, fine. But if you, like me, love the whole of what an artist does, then you (or the fan) will buy the CD, look at the photos shot by my very own camera, and study the liner notes for an understanding of what has brought me to this place and point in my life today. At least I hope so.
Today:
- I supply teach part-time as a drama teacher to pay the bills.
- I’m preparing for a pre-album-launch set at Manchester’s premier music conference called “In the City”. Their slogan is interesting: “It’s all about the music, stupid.”
- I have a small street team. Keeping it together is my utmost priority. I value these people: Roxanna and Annastacia. Zoe, of course, would have to be included. She’s my finest ally and we’ve met on Friday mornings to discuss tactics for months; since school’s started, that’ll have to change to Mondays or Wednesdays.
- The album is currently being pressed by the fine manufacturer, Exemplar. Emma over there keeps me highly entertained with her “posh British accent” and the service lives up to the name of the company. I could care less about price comparing when it comes to working with people like this. Quality means everything to me.
- The seven-generation Indian company Bajaj, with its entertainment/arts/media/sports wing BEAMS, is in the process of launching my music in India, the Middle East, and Africa along with that of highly acclaimed Kitaro, a Japanese instrumentalist whose new age music I’ve long known about. I tell my friends, “If you’ve ever had a massage, chances are you’ve listened to Kitaro in the studio.” Along with that of Kitaro and a handful of other chosen artists, my own page is up and the company has its own strategy for delivering my music to Asian and African audiences. Go, BEAMS!
- I have agreed in principle to work with a highly reputable and respected manager and management team in Canada for my 2009 Canadian tour representing Juno-nominated and Juno-award winning acts. A Juno is the Canadian equivalent of the American Grammy award.
- Orderly Bazaar Records & Publishing is an international label.
- We are recruiting more members of the Orderly Bazaar Street Team. Any interested parties should get in touch via the homepage email, if interested in helping with MySpace or a myriad of other creative tasks that require a computer and passion!
That is what is going on prior to the launch of Bakhoor. Stay tuned for more news on a much more regular basis.
Lorelei Loveridge
Orderly Bazaar Records & Publishing
www.loreleiloveridge.com
www.myspace.com/loreleiloveridge
