Sorry to hear of the passing of Manchester legend Alphonso ‘Fonso’ Bullah.
Anyone who was on the scene in the late eighties early nineties would have met/heard/danced with, or hung out with this legend who brought the vibe to every nook and cranny of the city that he was passing through. With his ‘Manchester vibes in the area’ chant, his 24 hour party people dancing, and his own M.V.I.T.A acronym, Fonso was as much part of the city’s brilliant, crazy years as anyone else and was a star in the madcap circles of the time.
Peak Fonso was his own night at the Midland Hotel in West Didsbury. What is now a respectable suburban pub was then a wild party central with dancing on the bars and non-stop dance music like a 24/7 rave in ahuge old building that was instigated by the man himself, who lived virtually next door. It was one of the moments of Madchester at its most mercurial, and there he was, the dreadlockled pied piper ringleader dancing on the bar and running around the room giving out his exotic, complex handshake and shouting at any passersby to ‘come on over’ and join the party.
Fonso was one of the hearts and should of the scene and a colourful vibrant character that summed up the period when the axid shifted and Manchester learned to dance. He was the instigator and the perpetrator and he never seemed to stop dancing even in recent years when he lived in Cornwall and sent WhatsApp messages that were as colourful as his persona and full of wild emojis that no one else knew existed.
He was the eternal cosmic dancer and the life and soul of any room he occupied…shine on you crazy diamond.
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