Hacienda Classical

The sounds of the Hacienda helped shaped dance music. Decades after its demise, they’re back – remixed and live.

It seems an incongruous mix. The seminal house music classics that sent Manchester clubbers into all-night raptures at the Hacienda in the late 1980s and early 1990s, that made hands-in-the-air anthems out of K-Klass’ Rhythm Is A Mystery or A Guy Called Gerald’s Voodoo Ray, transposed into the polite, rarefied surroundings of a concert hall, with orchestra and conductor. Odd? Tell that to the 250,000 people who have made Hacienda Classical a touring sensation over the past three years.

“It was honestly meant to be a one-off in Manchester,” laughs ex-Hacienda DJ Graeme Park as he prepares to bring his show to Dubai Opera. “Before we knew it we were playing the Royal Albert Hall. But then, these are timeless songs that soundtracked people’s lives.”

So timeless, in fact, that Park was getting slightly sick of playing 808 State, Marshall Jefferson or New Order night after night as a “Hacienda DJ”. And that’s how Hacienda Classical came about – Park figuring out with fellow DJ Mike Pickering how to make these songs exciting again.

“So we argued over a set list of 20 songs – and as I was doing the final edit, I got the final say,” laughs Park. “I created a DJ mix and gave it to Manchester Camerata’s Tim Crooks to score and arrange.”