Back to the South

Emmanuel Idowu

Another day another waka. I spent Saturday at UEL selling Proud to be Nigerian sweatshirts and hoodys and Born in the UK Made in Nigeria T shirts and sweatshirts at the Nigerian Student Union UK launch.

Alongside all the hoopla and extravaganza I met Emmanuel Idowu the man behind the Naija ‘What's my name (Pounded Yam) Remix'.

Considering I pissed myself laughing (not literally oh abeg) watching that video I went into crazed fan mode when I recognised him.

It turns out Emmanuel is not actually a comedian but a professional actor with credits in Elminas Kitchen, Doctors, Holby City and so on with an upcoming parts in which he plays a Nigerian and also got the producers to play Wizkids tracks as well! Very Proud to be Nigerian on that one, we look forward to Emmanuel’s new work coming out and seeing his work blossom, one day as he’s receiving his Oscar I’ll be reminding him about ‘Pounded Yam’!

Afrikan Boy

Nurture 1^st Foundation held their fundraising party at the Funky Brown, Crouch End, well attended with prizes from Proud to be African Clothing, Lekan and Krispy Kreme. Next week we will be wandering and perambulating again.

Friday will see us at Rich Mix, 35–47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA where The Shrine presents 2 giants of UK/ Nigerian hip hop Ty and Afrikan Boy supported by Nogabe Randriaharimalala, Max Reinhardt and DJ Juls.

 Afrikan Boy otherwise known as Olushola Ajose has risen to prominence first with his underground track ‘One day I went to Lidl’ and his partnership with M.I.A. on her album Kala, this June he released his mixtape ‘What Took You So Long’ on his website.

Ty

Ty as we all know is one of the most innovative rappers on the scene with 4 studio albums, numerous collaborations and an ability to mix wicked beats with thought provoking lyrics as well as always repping Nigeria, (check out the tune ‘Jekelewa’ with Tony Allen), he’ll be wowing the crowd at Rich Mix.

A night to look forward to, £6.00 in advance and £10.00 on the door,  you can’t get more Born in the UK Made in Africa than this!!!!

Saturday the 4^th December sees AfridiziakGifts and Occasions Christmas Shopping Boutique on the 1st Floor and 2nd Floor, at The Bussey Building, CLF Art Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, SE15 4ST, this Christmas market will start at midday and end at 7pm and involves retailers selling culturally inspired gifts for men, women, and children including hair and beauty products, books, toys, educational gifts, paintings, jewellery, accessories, bags, clothing, gifts for the home and greeting cards too.

There’s lot of free stuff as well either a mini cup cake by The Fancy Baker, a mini Dee’s Luxury Jamaican Rum cake or a small cup of warm sorrel to the first 50 shoppers. There will be lots of children’s stuff, complimentary face-painting for the first 25 children by Estar Artistics and free card making workshops by Strange Fruit

The winner of the best card design will receive a family ticket to see Cinderella at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) will be in residence with a raffle draw by Jimmy Akingbola  of Holby City and  Rev actor and ACLT supporter at 4pm.

Afterwards at 7pm to 2am there’s the after party however PTBA will be at the eLook Casting and Dre Designs Website Launch and Sickle Cell Charity Fund Raiser at Portobello Earl, 36 Golborne Road, North Kensington, W10 5PR. The event starts at 7pm, with the fashion show starting at 8pm, followed by a launch party, raffle with plenty, plenty giveaways. £5 all night!

Lewisham Market will also be hosting a Christmas Market on the High Street which we hope to be attending

You people have been buying hoodys at such a rate that I’m out of stock of Large Black and Greys but don’t worry more are on order.

See you in South London this weekend

Nigerian Students and Nurture 1st

When you wear a hoody with Proud to be African on it or a sweatshirt with Born in the UK, Made in Nigeria, it kind of drops a broad hint as to what your about and where you’re from, so it is a little bit surprising that at an event last week someone decided to engage me in conversation in fluent German.  As my Deutcsh is limited to ‘Ja’ and ‘nein’ (those school boy comics) this was not just a surprise but a rather awkward moment.

So I will start with a hello, move on to a jambo and follow up with a sannu!

After the British Youth Achievement  Awards last Saturday at the Jurys Inn Hotel, Croydon, and Natural November event at the Africa Centre we spent the week checking stock and consolidating but this weekend.

I’m in Naija mode again because Saturday sees the grand launch of the Nigerian  Students Union of the UK (NSUUK).  This event marks the start of an organisation that will be the umbrella (or is that umbullerra?) organisation for the various Nigerian student Unions around the country. The jam packed event will see business and networking (na Naija people after all, business first!), a fashion show and entertainment and key note speeches by invited guests such as the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK Dr Dalhatu Tafida, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (Ogun State Governor) and Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi Federal Minister for Youth Development. This FREE event starts at 11am on Saturday the 26^th November and is being held at the Docklands Campus of the University of East London (UEL), Room 2, Ground Floor, 4-6 University Way, London, E16 2RD.

Proud to be African Clothing will be there selling and grooving so make una bring money!

Later on that evening at 9.30pm the Nurture 1st Foundation will be holding, their  launch at Funky Brown, 5 Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, N8 9DJ.

Proud to be African Clothing is always seeking out organisations that talk less and do more and Nurture 1st is one of these, having set up a school in Obigbo, Rivers State and is providing, education and training for 520 school children ranging from nursery to secondary school level, with 205 children on full scholarship and is supplied with uniform and books.

In addition to a Head Teacher the school has 15 teachers, 2 lab assistants, a nurse, a bus driver and 4 security men. Everything is provided by the charitable donations of the members and through fundraising events such as this, so please turn up show support at 9.30pm at Funky Browns, Crouch End, tickets are £10.00 and there will be DJ’s, Male and Female Auction, Raffles and Prize giving

This night is part of their fundraising efforts and alongside a wide range of entertainment they will be selling some items. Funky Brown is right next to Hornsey Rail station

On Sunday we will be back in North London for the 1st Annual Ghana-UK Fashion Show-. This is taking place at RS Lounge, 20 Woodford New Road, E17 3PR and will see top African designers all under one roof, tickets are available from Bongo Bar, Kumasi Market and Kenkey House

Other events we have an interest in are TedX Euston on Saturday, unfortunately tickets are sold out but this fascinating event with a focus on Africa will be taking place at Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), 66, Portland Place, W1B 1AD London. The theme is ‘Inspiring Ideas about Africa’ and will feature great presentations from people such as Lola Shoneyin, Femi Temowo, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Paula Akugizibwe, Rt. Hon Paul Boateng MP, Arnold Ekpe and so many others.

Saturday evening at the New Empowering Church Dalston, Dele Sosimi will be demonstrating that Afrobeat never die, with his Afrobeat Vibration Sessions.

Last week’s events were hectic enough but as you can see we will be running around trying to be in as many places as possible, if you see me and you are the first person to tell me who wrote ‘Things fall apart’ I will give you a free T shirt.

A Colon and a Bracket aka Dat Facebook Song Single Launch

Oneness Sankara launched her new single ‘A Colon and a Bracket aka Dat Facebook Song’ at the Tabernacle, Powis Square this Friday, complete with Ty, JonziD, LyricL, Geniyo, Best Kept Secret and dancers dressed in Proud to be African Clothings finest attire!

The single launch by the renowned spoken word poet, songstress, actress, director and song writer saw performances by various luminaries of the Spoken word and hip hop scene.

The show was hosted by JonziD and kicked off with a moving performance by Nigerian/British hip hop/ spoken word performer LyricL entitled ‘Daddy Does’.

Best Kept Secret Collective

The three male elements of the Best Kept Secret Collective, with each dressed all in white approaching the stage from different parts of the hall in starting with AmeN NoiR then Tuggs.t.a.r ending with ShakaRa.

Each performed a spoken word piece ending up with Oneness making her first appearance on stage also dressed in white at the end of Tuggs.t.a.r’s contribution, where she gave an interesting interpretation of Angie Stone’s ‘Brotha’ sharing her love for her poetic bretheren.

JonziD then introduced the legendary UK hip hop performer Ty, the former Mercury prize nominee didn’t disappoint launching into a hilarious story that most Nigerian kids can relate to of his stern fathers' attempt at giving them a colour television, suffice to say as a typical Nigerian father his solutions were not quite what you’d think.

He then launched into an acapella rap on that touched on the immigrant experience with all the verve one would expect.

The interval was characterised not just by frenetic selling by the various stall holders but also by a game where people went around sticking ‘Like’ stickers ala Facebook, taking photos and emailing them in.

The second half started with Oneness backed by her all female band and two backing singers, she began with Hair a paean to black women’s hair (yes that again!!), following up with I love you accompanied by a touching dance by two dancers poking each other. This hauntingly poignant tune seemed to resonate with alot of the audience, a tale of love gone sour.

A humorous interlude spoof with a faux Skype conversation was alongside a lovely hymn to her home island of Grenada.

The gig was characterised of by several brilliant interpretations of standards, such as Bob Marleys ‘No Woman No Cry’,with Trenchtown becoming Tottenham!

Oneness with Geniyo, wonder what the girls kept screaming about?

 An even greater crowd pleaser was the duet with brilliant singer/ songwriter Geniyo of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgeralds ‘Baby its cold outside’, fleshing out  this story of romantic temptation, with a back story of how she met 
the warmth seeking lothario in the first place, attempting to involve the ladies in the audience in the decision making process. As most of the women seemed to cheer spontaneously every time Geniyo sang, methinks there was an element of hypocrisy in them telling her to go home!

Oneness ended up with the reason we were all there, the ‘Colon and a Bracket song’ a take on the current Facebook obsession, (obviously I can’t comment on that!), this catchy finale was made all the better by the spontaneous Electric slide performed at the end by ShakaRa, AmenNoir, JonziD and the dancers.

A Colon and a Bracket is available here

1 Jazz Festival and 6 courses

Winter has rolled upon us, I know this because the hoodys and sweatshirts are now outselling the T shirts on the Proud to be African Clothing website and people are hinting I should up my children’s collection from just baby bodysuits and children’s T shirts to all weather onesies.

My reply as ever is buy more and I’ll see what I can do!!

A packed week beckons us with loads of events,  the first being the African Foundation for Development  (AFFORD UK) Enterprise week a series of weeklong events with topics as diverse and varied as ‘Linking Remittances to Business & Savings’ (Monday 6pm at the House of Commons) to ‘Diaspora & Creative Enterprises in Africa’(Thursday 1-5pm Reed Smith, Broadgate Tower) . AFFORD UK was founded in 1994 aiming to organize UK based Africans to contribute to Africa’s economic development. Having been to several of their events I can attest to the fact that these are the people who walk the walk rather than just talk the talk. With a series of trips back home by UK based African professionals they have contributed to capacity building in the Nigerian education sector, enterprise development in Lagos, money transfer and remittances in Sierra Leone. A group well worth watching.

On Wednesday PTBA favourite Femi Temowo teams up with fascinating percussionist  Adriano Adewale for a promising gig at the 606 Club as part of the London Jazz Festival, tickets are £12.00 and the show starts at 8.00pm. This is the last Orin Meta London show for this year so if you’ve missed the last two London gigs you need to get to this one as this promises to be a sublime fusion of Africa and Brazil. A little bit of tropical sunshine to chase away the winter! And for those of us (like myself!) who are a little tardy in their Christmas shopping the Orin Meta CD and limited edition T shirt are definite stocking fillers!

Come Friday there is another extra special event, Oneness Sankara; renowned spoken word poet, songstress, actress, director and song writer and part of the Best Kept Secret  poetry Collective is launching her new single ‘A Colon and a Bracket’ at the Tabernacle, Powis Street, Notting Hill. I had the pleasure of hearing her perform at the Mama Africa event this past Friday at the same venue her repertoire and skills are amazing as you can tell from this.

Oneness has performed on BBC Radio 4, Choice FM, BEN TV, BBC Midlands and even in Norway on Oslo TV. She’s graced the stage at Glastonbury Festival and performed with artists such as Mica Paris, Terri Walker, Swiss, Black Twang, Dead Prez to name a few. She is also the first person outside of the USA to win a prize at The Toronto International Poetry Slam in Canada.
Its not an event to be missed,  it will be hosted by Jonzi D, with special guests UK/ Nigerian hip hop artist Ty (yes Ty!!), Lyric L, Joy Joseph, Geniyo and KMT the Freedom Teacher on the decks.  The Tabernacle Friday the 18^th, doors open 7.00pm and tickets are £7.00.

On Saturday we will be attending the Black Youth Achievement Awards at the Jurys Inn Hotel, Croydon. The Black Youth Achievement Awards seeks to reverse the negative image of the nation’s youth; there will be a 3 course meal, performances and special guests and Proud to be African Clothing will be there to support the cause.

Also on Saturday the 100 Black Men of London will be holding their gala dinner on Saturday evening as well at the Cumberland Hotel Marble Arch. This 3 course gala meal (yes another 3 courses!) has the theme of Conceive, Believe, Achieve, again this is an extremely worthy organisation that is out there doing the things that need to be done rather than just talking about them. Running a highly successful mentoring programme, this unsung organisation operates purely through member’s subscriptions and purely through the efforts of its highly dedicated volunteers. Get your tickets here

We round up the week at Natural November on Sunday the 2oth at the Africa Centre, this natural cultural hair, health and beauty event aims of Natural November is to offer an alternative and to showcase the very best in natural hair and beauty products, Afrocentric fashion and accessories, cultural art and crafts, inspiring books and educational seminars. Tickets are £12.50 or 2 for £20.00