Our ongoing Re:Sound project pairs musicians with archives around Greater Manchester. The artists connect with librarians and archivists to uncover historic material which explored a range of themes that have so far included Manchester’s textile history, African celebrations in Manchester and the changing role of women in society, ghosts and exorcism, Caribbean traditions and more.

Our Re:Sound musicians use the archives to create stunning work across a range of music styles which responds to these themes and also sampled the original sound archives that inspired their creation. You can hear these new works on the project pages below.

They then premier this work as part of a special event, where artists also take part in a question-and-answer session which provided valuable insight into their creative practice and process to our audience.

To empower communities to reimagine the role and importance of local archives, sound artists are paired with community groups, to create brand new creative works which responded to the music created by the artists. As part of Re:Sound the artists deliver workshops to inspire these groups to use their own artistic talents to engage with historic themes that are still relevant to life in Manchester today.

The Re:Sound project has been made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarding Re:Sound a grant, raised by National Lottery players.