Salford City Council is putting a shout out for local people's memories of music in and around Salford from 1950 to today - from rockabilly to poptastic bands, from folk to the phil, gig memorabilia to rare recordings.

The information collected will go towards two exciting new projects: a music map, showing the wide range of musical heritage across the whole of the city and an exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery opening later in the year.

Both will form part of a wider on-going musical heritage project celebrating the variety and scope of Salford's musical landscape.

The music map aims to cover all types of music across the ages from The Smiths to the Ting Tings, Ewan McColl to New Order and will highlight musical 'hotspots' in the city, such as venues, birthplaces, concert halls and iconic locations.

Local music expert and author David Nolan (Bernard Sumner: Confusion, I Swear I Was There) has been commissioned to lead on the research for the music map, but local residents' memories are vital too in building up a picture of the sounds of Salford. Memories are sought from across the city - from Irlam to Broughton, Worsley to Ordsall. A MySpace page has been set up for people to add to the debate and discuss their favourite Salford bands, venues and gigs.

The map will be published in September and handed out for free at some of the forthcoming music events taking place this year, such as the Proms in the Park at Buile Hill Park and the next day's planned pop extravaganza. (A full list of events planned for 2008 can be found at www.visitsalford.info.)

The Salford Museum and Art Gallery exhibition will be called Quiffs, Riffs and Tiffs and will open in October. The exhibition team are also on the lookout for merchandise, memorabilia and memories to form part of the displays. They are especially looking for:

- musical instruments
- records
- clothing
- tickets and programmes
- posters
- photographs
- films

The music map will be available for free at the exhibition, and there will be a chance for visitors to have their say on the final choices on hotspots on the map. It is hoped that as part of the on-going musical heritage campaign further debate will be encouraged on www.visitsalford.info, when visitors will be asked for their opinions in polls, forums and online surveys.

Said Cllr Barry Warner, Salford City Council's lead member for culture and sport said: "History and heritage don't have to be confined to books and archives; projects such as this show it is very much alive.

"Salford has a strong tradition of pushing the boundaries of music and a number of bands people think are Manchester-based are actually from Salford.

"It will be fascinating to see what memories and memorabilia we collect."

To send in memories for the music map please email salfordmusicmap@googlemail.com or send them via the website at www.myspace.com/salfordmusicmap.

If you have memorabilia to donate to the exhibition, please contact Heather or Amy on 0161 778 0885 or email: lifetimes@salford.gov.uk.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, New_Order, poster

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