M.V.I.T.A – Manchester Vibes In The Area
Formed at the Midland in West Didsbury at the start of 1988 after being inspired by the Reno club, Moss Side’s legendary late-night soul and funk club which was demolished in 1987.
“The Midland was a pub in West Didsbury we turned into our own night club playing on Thursday and Saturday night’s, the landlord was great because he’d let us do what we wanted so we’d get the curtains shut blocking the day light out, turn all the lights off, cover the pool table then bring in our own gear, put our flag up and we were away, it was just absolutely mind blowing really, it was brilliant.”
M.V.I.T.A was a sound system but later wrote their own music and they comprised of;
Alfonso Buller (MC)
Himat Singh (Percussionist)
Anton Behrendt (Keyboards/Bass Guitar)
M.V.I.T.A DJs were;
Darren Green
Stefan Juniper
They played a lot of after parties for the Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, New Order and 808 State which saw them soon get a name for themselves and they went on to play at Spike Island sharing the stage with JAM MCs and then Glastonbury for 6 years consecutively.
Their roots were mostly Reggae, Soul and Funk and they embraced the explosion of Madchester and the differing types of Dance Music that were emerging at the time, preferring the more House and Garage styles and incorporating those records into their sets.
Photographer, Ian Tilton cited Alfonso Buller as the first guy with the Manchester swag/cool which later became an influence on Ian Brown and Liam Gallagher who has in very recent times started saying “Manchester Vibes In The Area”. Let’s not forget that it was Alfonso that coined that phrase as translated from M.V.I.T.A.
M.V.I.T.A featured on the 808 State show several times and on one date they showcased 4 tracks from an EP that was meant to get a release on Graham Massey’s Cut Deep label, sadly this never happened as the label folded.
You can hear the tracks and the interview in full here:
808 State show on 4th September 1990 (right click and choose save as to download)
The details and tracks scheduled for the EP were to be:
M.V.I.T.A – Pyramid Sun EP (CUT 90 12008) for an October 1990 release
M.V.I.T.A – Pyramid Sun
M.V.I.T.A – Movin’
M.V.I.T.A – More House
M.V.I.T.A – Dance
One of the very best gigs they did was with 808 State (DJ Set) K-Klass and Evolution at King George’s Hall, Blackburn in 1990.
M.V.I.T.A continue to fly the flag of the pyramid sun and are still active today.
M.V.I.T.A on YouTube:
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