Griot City is a new Manchester label championing vital new poetry from the city. Bringing together spoken word and music, they were in residence in Festival Square on Sunday 4 July, when longtime Festival pal Dave Haslam presented live performances from SheBeKeke (aka Keisha Thompson), Jardel Rodrigues & Chris Jam and Reece Williams plus a pair of DJ sets from the brilliant Werkha. After the Griot City crew, DJ-MC-beatmaker Konny Kon stepped in with a DJ set.

The day kicked off with hot tunes and cool kids’ crafts at a family-friendly rave hosted by The Playhouse Project with MC Kwasi, Lil’ Fee and Veba (Groove Armada), before Girl Gang Manchester encouraged you to ‘be as uncool as you feel’ with a joyful power-ballad-aerobics workout. After a DJ set from Sweepy Dee, we heard from Young Identity poet and rapper Kofitolduso – before the Griot City crew took the mic.

We would like to thank Therme Group, Co-op, JW Lees, Hawkins\Brown, Buro Happold and Civic Engineers for their contributions to Festival Square.