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Venue: mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Thanda & Friends

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Thanda Gumede vocals / Simeon Walker keyboards / Fergus Quill electric & double bass

Plus surprise guests 

Thanda’s show will include a very special performance from Hulme Grammar School’s Brenda Mills Institute of Innovation & Technology (BMIIT).

A composer, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist of Xhosa and Zulu heritage, originally from South Africa, Thanda (pronounced like ‘Tanda’), is a Zulu name that means, simply: Love One Another.

Debuting in the UK at the inaugural Nelson Mandela Day, Thanda’s music blends African traditional sounds with jazz, gospel, classical and neo-soul—always rooted in rhythm, spirituality and story. His voice embodies the sounds of his dual heritage including the distinct clicks of the southern Bantu languages, and he uses it to share joy, lamentation, activism and connection.

Thanda’s impressive performance credentials include London Jazz Festival, BBC Proms, Buckingham Palace (for Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II and her family) and for the late Emeritus Bishop Desmond Tutu alongside cellists Abel Selaocoe and Yo-Yo Ma. Radio and TV appearances include SKY 1, BBC Radio and TV, SABC, ITV and Channel 5.

Locally, Leeds has become a creative home for Thanda. His other work collaborators and commissions embrace Books Without Borders, Opera North, NYJO and Buxton International Festival, where he was commissioned to compose the first ever African short opera in Europe.

His mjf show will once again feature a short performance resulting from his work with local community groups as part of Thanda’s Big Sing:

Hulme Grammar’s School’s BMIIT

With over 45,000 young people across 120 schools in Oldham – one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK – the mission at BMIIT is to dismantle barriers to access and aspiration through STEAM. Their recent collaboration with Manchester Science Festival and a 12-hour AI Hackathon engaged 100 pupils from across the borough. By partnering with mjf, they continue to use the arts to inspire this same diverse community.

Photography Credit: Simon Godleyo

Date: saturday 16 may

Time: 2:15 pm - 3:10 pm

Price: Free

Jazz is Everywhere: mjf Youth Advisory Board takeover

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

mjf’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB) presents Jazz is Everywhere: expect the unexpected, jazz fusions and plenty of audience participation.  

Jazz is Everywhere is an event curated and presented from start to finish by our YAB team of young people, who have aspired with this event to represent the future of jazz in the North. 

Our YAB are a committed and enthusiastic group of 18–25 year-olds who have been recruited from open application. The group helps advise mjf and its programme on what they feel are the important considerations for the emergent generation. At the same time, they learn about the roles and responsibilities of running a live music event and organisation: roles that might be available to young professionals wishing to enter the music sector.  

This year, we set them a task: to create a festival event for the Garden Stage programme at mjf2026 that reflects what they want to see. 

From curating programme ideas, organising their roles, working with budgets, contracts, planning, production and marketing, this event is the culmination of those efforts. Come down to check out what they’ve produced: it could be a jam, a gig, a presentation, participatory activities… 

Any young people interested in joining the YAB, the next recruitment round will open during mjf2026 and sign up will be available at the link here.   

 

Poster Credit: Kalina Kolodziejska

 

Date: friday 15 may

Time: 7:15 pm - 8:15 pm

Price: Free

Elin Grace

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Elin Grace vocals, keyboards / Jess Foxwell flute/ Emma Copp viola / Ben Smith acoustic guitar, bass / Isaac Dobson drums

Elin Grace is a 21-year-old singer-songwriter based in Manchester, whose music blends the warmth and intimacy of indie-folk with the sophistication of jazz and classical music. Her work is defined by a combination of poetic lyricism, complex arrangements, and raw, emotional authenticity that is unmistakably hers. With influences ranging from Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling to contemporary icon Adrianne Lenker, Elin’s songwriting displays a rare depth for someone so young.

Raised in the Welsh countryside, Elin draws heavily on her rural upbringing and Welsh identity as a source of inspiration. The landscapes, silence, and solitude of rurality seep into her lyrics, informing her perspectives on themes like girlhood, mental health, identity, and the bittersweet process of growing up. This contrast between her roots and her current life in a bustling northern city creates a compelling narrative tension that gives her music a distinctive edge.

Since her teenage years, Elin has gigged across the UK, with recent appearances at Green Man, Truck Festival and Kendal Calling solidifying her emotive live set. Tipped as ‘one to watch’ by BBC Radio 6 and ‘prodigiously gifted’ by BBC Wales’ Adam Walton, Elin’s latest EP is both timeless and current, rooted in the storytelling tradition of folk, but refreshingly modern in its execution.

Photography Credit: Liam Maxwell

 

Date: saturday 16 may

Time: 4:30 pm - 5:25 pm

Price: Free

MFF presents: Heather Ferrier (Trio)

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Heather Ferrier accordion, clog dance / Alasdair Paul guitar / Adam Stapleford drums

Marking one of mjf’s new programming partnerships – in this case our celebrated friends Manchester Folk Festival (MFF) – mjf offers audiences from both festivals the chance to experience live music-making from an artist who has their feet – and ears – in both the jazz and folk camps.

With captivating musicianship and a sound unapologetically her own, Heather Ferrier is a force to be reckoned with. An “engaging talker and magnetic performer” (NARC magazine), the Stockport-born accordionist, clog dancer and composer is changing the perceptions of alt-folk on her own terms.

Her music sets the accordion free from its stereotypes, using powerful melodies, jazz-influenced harmony and an explosion of groove that embellishes Heather’s signature alt-folk style. The trio’s influences and genre-bending collaborations transcend the limits of contemporary instrumental folk music, employing Heather’s distinct compositional style to create a show with both emotive and upbeat moments.

Bold, passionate and enthralling, her music has featured on BBC 6 Music, with live shows at Cambridge and Manchester Folk Festivals and at the iconic Bridgwater Hall as part of WOMEX 2024.

Photographer Credit: Megan Savage 

Date: saturday 16 may

Time: 6:45 pm - 7:40 pm

Price: Free

Lara Jones

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Lara Jones saxophone & electronics 

Lara Jones is a London–based experimental producer, saxophonist, keyboardist and lyricist who creates high energy pulsating electronics and jazz harmonies that weave into electronic grime and a web of arpeggiated synths, basses and glitchy beats in Ableton Live.  

Jones’ work has undergone an organic evolution across her recordings, with her latest set distilling a dizzying mix of accessible and avant-garde sounds with edgy, powerful production. From the haunting poignancy of her darkly ambient debut EP, Ensó, via the crunching industrial grime of Flow, with its flickering gritty textures, to the warm eroticism and enticing dance grooves of Fig, Lara Jones refuses to be boxed in by genres or gender definitions.  

As a queer artist, Lara uses her work to explore queer narratives and experiences whilst opening up conversations on gender, stereotypes, queer fashion and queer identity. She also uses her music as a platform to address political issues and social injustices.  

This has garnered her support from BBC Radios 1, 3 and 6 Music, The Wire and many more, along with accolades as a Jerwood Arts Jazz Encounter Fellow, Peter Whittingham Award winner and PRSF Women Make Music Awardee.  

For mjf2022, Lara was commissioned by mjf and Jerwood Arts to create an accessible, immersive, audio–visual experience inside a geodesic dome, which premiered at Piccadilly Station.

Photographer Credit: Jess Rose

 

Date: sunday 17 may

Time: 4:45 pm - 5:30 pm

Price: Free

Veasey//Ticciati Duo

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Nika Ticciati piano / Beth Veasey drum kit

Veasey//Ticciati Duo presents a personal blend of contemporary classical music and first wave free jazz.  

Particularly referencing the extended works of Don Cherry, the duo’s compositions are an exploration of closeness and intimacy. Their relationship with experimental music is founded on these ideas, as an avenue for connection with both the audience and each other.  

The way the duo performs and composes lets either player reference whatever musical world they like, in whatever tone they like, as well as dig for new tones and worlds. They might drift through clattering bursts of noise, rapturous spiritual jazz-isms and spacious modern chamber music in one sitting; the players’ hope is for audiences to be left with the sense of knowing them quite well.

Date: sunday 17 may

Time: 3:15 pm - 4:00 pm

Price: Free

Yemi Bolatiwa’s Jam-For-Joy

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Eclectic, multi-modal soul artist Yemi Bolatiwa brings her love for jazz, motown and soul to the forefront for this high energy, jam and sing-along, curated for the young ‘mjf-ers’: bid kids and little kids alike.

Join Yemi Bolatiwa (as seen on Cbeebies show Jojo and GranGran), for a family friendly jam and live show featuring piano and percussive fun and play. Sing a-long, dance along and play along. She’ll get you and the family joining in!

Yemi has graced many of Manchester’s best stages, including Band on the wall, Soup kitchen, Gorilla, Albert’s Schloss, The 02 Ritz, Blues Kitchen and played national from Soho to Brixton, North London to East London. Her debut tour in December 2023, saw her live act set ready to hit any stage from a soulful trio to a 9 piece ensemble. Influences include Sade, Lianne La Havas, Mary J Blige, Lauryn Hill, Brandy and Toni Braxton. During her career, her original work has led to supporting Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Submotion Orchestra, Riot Jazz, The Skints, Ezra Collective and more. No stranger to Manchester’s best stages, including, Band on the wall, Soup kitchen and The Eagle Inn, and an array of shows across the north from Sheffield, to Newcastle to Leeds and southern homecoming shows at the London National Theatre – you’re guaranteed to get a high quality performance tailored to your young ones.

Date: saturday 16 may

Time: 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm

Price: Free

Femme De La Femme

mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Georgie Harold Moss co-lead vocals / Ellen Riley co-lead vocals / Jasmine Brown saxophone /  Roz Fearnehough trombone / Roisin Fleming keys / Amy Browne bass / Izzy MacMahon drums 

Femme De La Femme’s music is an amalgamation of art forms within the jazz realm – with the band comprising different musical backgrounds, they blend the sound worlds of classical, Jazz, Soul, RnB, Cabaret and Poetry into one big celebration of femininity. Made up solely of queer & FINTA* musicians, they’re passionate about bringing gender diversity to the forefront of the jazz scene. Femme De La Femme make music that speaks to the richness of their lived experiences as a gender-diverse ensemble through sensuality and storytelling. They seek to transport listeners into their world leaving them feeling connected to the femininity that lives within us all. 

 *FINTA – Female, Intersex, Nonbinary, Transgender, Agender  

Photography Credit: Pixel Hive Media

 

Date: sunday 17 may

Time: 1:45 pm - 2:30 pm

Price: Free

Family Friendly Yoga with Gilly

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mjf @ First Street (Ask Garden Stage)

Join us for a playful, thematic take on an adult yoga class – for all the family! With creative movement, breathwork, stretching, and a little relaxation. No experience needed—just bring your energy and a smile! 

Suggested age for family-friendly yoga: 3+. All abilities welcome. 

There are two sessions available and you will need to book either a ticket + yoga mat (if you don’t have a yoga mat) or just book a ticket if you are bringing your own mat. 

Date: Saturday 16 May 

Time: 10:00 am – 10:30 am, 11:00 am – 11:30 am 

Price: Free, by ticket only 

Date: saturday 16 may

Time: 10:00 am - 10:30 am

Time: 11:00 am - 11:30 am

Price: Free

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