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