THE RISE OF THE MIGHTY MANGA

Whilst my focus was solely on playing in England, a friend told me news of a new Jungle night that had started in Edinburgh - Manga. As you may imagine, I was very keen to find out more about this night in my home country. I contacted the club who gave me the promoter’s phone number, and I arranged to pay them a visit at their third night. Armed to the teeth with a portfolio including flyers from all the events I had been playing at down south, magazine articles and interviews and a few mix tapes, I introduced myself to Manga’s promoter - the one and only DJ G Mac! <Picture>

G Mac was fairly new to the whole jungle scene and coming from a trained musical Jazz background was driven mainly by labels such as Good Looking Certificate 18 and the more melodic side of the scene. After a couple of guest slots sets playing a more harder edge of Jungle G Mac asked me to join him as resident, and since then, neither of us nor the club has ever looked back. With my contacts in the industry and G Mac’s sound engineering experience, we slowly developed Manga into what has now become one of the world’s longest running and most successful drum and bass events. <DJ Kid & G Mac>

Although the club has gained its status over the years with great line-ups and a unique atmosphere, it wasn’t all glory in the early days. Manga originally ran on a fortnightly basis, and at times the numbers in attendance were no more than 40 at times which put serious doubt in G Mac's mind whether or not to continue with it. So I suggested we try running the night on a monthly basis instead. Going monthly wasn’t an instant success, but in time the reputation built up and the numbers started to increase. One thing that has always been very much in our favour is the fact that Edinburgh University has a yearly turnover of students mainly from England whom have always supported the club to this day.

From my point of view, having been involved in the organisation of the very first jungle nights in Scotland, which at times weren’t very good in terms of numbers, this was the first time I remember thinking that the music was finally starting to work. Since those early years, both G Mac and I have worked our balls off to make Manga as exciting as possible. Having Manga (the film company) on board was another of the extra touches we had on our side, where we had exclusive film presentations before the club started - people could come in, sit down with a drink, and watch the latest Manga movie before the club started. This proved a hit with the masses and grew in popularity very quickly. As the years went by, we have always tried to keep the line-ups as fresh as possible, not only bringing in the big names, but also having a big emphasis on some of the lesser known DJ's & producers from the scene, all adding to the reputation of the club.

The first really big step for the club, on a worldwide basis, was when it went out live on Radio 1’s ‘One in the Jungle’ show. I had previously played live on the station from the studios in London, and had told the producer of the show that should they ever be looking to do a live broadcast from around the UK, we would be well up for it! When the night came, we were true to our word - the night turned out to be an absolute stormer! The line-up that night was G Mac and myself, then Formation Records’ CEO DJ SS accompanied by MC Navigator, one of the scene’s leading MC's. <Listen To Broadcast>

We were dealt an extremely bad blow when the venue Manga originated in La Belle Angele was completely destroyed in what was to become the biggest fire in Edinburgh's history. As you can imagine we were distraught at losing what was the birth place of our night and what was one of Edinburgh's very few decent clubbing venues. But after a few weeks we rose from the ashes and moved the night to another of the cities venues. The Honeycomb which is also sadly no longer was a stones throw from the now fire ravaged site became the home for Manga for nearly four years. It did take us time to adjust to the new surroundings and wehad to keep our heads held high when under fire from people who said Manga was finished at the time.

Throughout the last 10 years of Manga, we have brought the biggest and best names to play in the capital, and to talk about them and all the amazing nights we had would take me days! Instead, I’ll give you a list of past Manga events. For further details on Manga please check the website at www.basstrap.com   <Manga Line Ups>

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