Ok
let me throw one greeting your way
People
of the north I greet you, people of the south may our lands be bountiful,
people of the east may, the sun is out the sky is blue, Euro 2012 is drawing to
a close, Wimbledon has started and the Olympics are around the corner. Proud to
be African Clothing is in full effect around town and do we have a super duper
groovy week lined up for you!!!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Again
there are a wide variety of events for all you lucky, lucky people!
On
the 26th of June, is a book launch ‘Grape-The Vineyards of
South Africa’, between 5 and 7pm at the South Africa High Commission, Trafalgar
Square, London, WC2N 5DP. It is hosted by Democratic Alliance Abroad and covers
the fluctuating fortunes of South Africa’s wine industry and how it affected
the coloured community and how it has adapted to changes in climate and the
economy. Register here for this free event
Also on Tuesday the 26th our good friend Inua Ellams new show ‘KnightsWatch’ opens in Sheffield. This rhythmic combo of poetry with a live
soundtrack from Drummer Aki Fujimoto and flautist Mikey Kirkpatrick is the
story of Michael who is seeking to avoid the violence of city life but is drawn
into the gang culture he abhors as the battle lines are drawn can he succeed in
ending the impending gang war.
First show is at the International
Drama Students Festival with London shows at Camden Peoples Theatre, 58-60
Hampstead Road, London, NW1 2PY on Friday the 29th June and Saturday
the 30th, tickets are £10 (£8 concs). Inua will also be at Poetry Parnussus at
the Southbank Centre until the 1st of July. But more from Inua
later, he is a busy bee this week I see!!
On the 27th as well are the Ebony Business and Recognition Awards 2012
starting 6.00pm at the Proud 2 at The 02, Peninsula Square, SE10 0DX. The Ebony
Business awards look to recognise the achievements of Black owned businesses,
with categories as ranging from Youth Entrepreneur, International Trade and
Travel and Transport, the full list of categories are here, where you can vote
or nominate someone (or yourself) for an award. Tickets range from £20.00 to
£30.00 and can be bought here, with discounts for group bookings
On Friday the 29th at 6:30pm is the African-Caribbean Entrepreneurs Networking evening, taking place at
UnLtd, 123 Whitecross Street, Islington, EC1Y 8JJ. This event is a must if you want to learn firsthand about some of the funding and
other support opportunities which are on offer for social enterprises. Speakers
include Dan Lehner (UnLtd's Interim Head of Ventures) who will give an overview
of some of the current funding programmes offered by UnLtd, including the Big
Venture Challenge and Sunny Lambe (Founder and Executive Director of the Black
Business Initiative) who will discuss the 2012 Black Business Awards,
RSVP here
Also on Friday the 29th Star 100 the
Ghanaian networking group will be holding their monthly meet up at Balls
Brother Minster Exchange, Minster Pavement, Mincing Lane, EC3R 7PP. The
evening’s special guest is Lesley ‘Super’ Sackey a British Ghanaian female
boxer, who successfully juggles her boxing career, with media and personal
training work; she’s also the first British woman to win the European Union
Championships in 2008 on first entry. Contact the organisers here for this
interesting event to round up the week. Its £10.00 in advance and £15.00 on the
door but free to Star 100 members (incentive to join eh, do so here!)
But the
Christmas and New Yam Festival come early this Friday as the Back2Black Festival at the Old BillingsgateVaults. This stunning event involves 3 days of live music with an eclectic
line up of African, Brazilian and international artists across 3 stages all
hosted by Brazilian superstar Gilberto Gil. Taking place in the stunning new
riverside venue of Old Billingsgate
Market, 1 Old Billingsgate Walk, 16 Lower Thames
Street, EC3R 6DX, transformed for the occasion by Brazilian
visual artist Miguel Rio Branco.
There are 3 stages and the line up is as follows for
Friday
On the Main Stage we have:
- Macy
Gray!!
- Luiz
Melodia
- Linton
Kwesi Johnson & Dennis Bovell
- Marcelo
D2
- DJ Nuts
On
the Vault stage
- Vieux Farka Touré
- Baile Funk - feat. DJ Sany Pitbull, Passinhos & Fininho
- Emicida
- Drum Heads & Pracatum Drumming School
Day
tickets are £35 / £20 (under 16's) on Friday and £45/ £25 (under 16's) for
Saturday and Sunday or a weekend pass at £120 covers you for the entire
festival
For Saturday
and Sunday you are all in for such a treat it’s unbelievable! Unfortunately
both are happening over the same period so you better get your roller skates on
as you will be zipping between them!
The
Back 2 Black Festival continues on Saturday
with more great musicians and talks by Diaspora artists
On
the main stage for Saturday we have
- Roots
Manuva
- Criolo
feat. Mulatu Astatke
- Hugh
Masekela
- Femi
Kuti & The Positive Force
- Fatoumata
Diawara
- Mart'nalia
- Gilles
Peterson
On
the Terraces Stage
- Shrine
Synchro System
- Candylo
- Gomanchi
- Talk:
Cultural Identity & Communities: City
of God author Paulo Lins joins musician and poet Kalaf
Ângelo and Professor David Treece to explore how music,
literature and other artforms can act as a medium to define and forge
identities and how the Afro-Brazilian experience compares with the
multiple identities inherent in contemporary Britain.
- Talk:
Music in Exile: Gilberto Gil (Brazil)
and trumpeter Hugh Masekela (South Africa) are both Cultural
ambassadors for their respective countries on the world stage making them
uniquely well placed to reflect on the relationship between Brazil and
Africa today and how music can revitalise Brazil’s African roots.
On
the Vaults Stage
- Tono
- Flavio
Renegado
- Soul
Caribbean
- Drum
Heads & Pracatum Drumming School
As if that weren’t enough for Saturday the first Royal Africa Society, Africa Writes Festival
starting at Midday runs concurrently at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre in
the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). This weekend long series of book
launches, readings, panel discussions, children's workshops and other
activities also featurs a two day international book fair of publishers of
African writing and an outdoor pan-African food market featuring dishes from
all four corners of the continent.
Proud to Be Africans favourite poet Inua Ellams (wandering
about alot, maybe he has sokugo!) will be in attendance alongside other poets such
as Modeste Hugues, Oxmo Pucion, Kety Nevyabandi Bikura, Shalija Patel, T.J.
Dema, Paul Dakeyo, Bewketu Seyoum, Abdulahi Botaan Hassan 'Kurweyne', Warsan
Shire, Sam Elmi, Elmi Ali,,Yemisi Blake, Safia Elhillo.
Participating authors include Ellen Banda-Aaku,
Nuruddin Farah, Kojo Laing, Lily Mabura, Jack Mapanje, Obi Okigbo, Noo
Saro-Wiwa, E. E. Sule, Goretti Kyomuhendo and the five shortlisted Caine Prize
writers for 2012, namely Rotimi Babatunde, Billy Kahora, Stanley Kenani,
Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, and Constance Myburgh. Participating, Mariama Khan,
Togara Muzanenhamo, and Lemn Sissay.
2012 marks the 50th anniversary of
the African Writers Series and the sublime Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie will be delivering the main lecture focusing on the legacy of
the series. For those of us who grew up reading such classics as Burning Grass,
Weep not Child, The Concubine, Things Fall Apart this is not to be missed. Just
writing about this takes me back to my youth sitting in the guava tree reading
Burning Grass and then accusing everyone of using baduhu on me (if you don’t know what I’m on about buy the book!!)
The lecture
begins at 6.00pm and as we know from past experience, she is an excellent
speaker with an intelligent perspective on literature and the modern African
diaspora perspective; this should be a cracking one! RSVP here.
Also in
London is the Ghanaian Old School
Reunion taking place at Bacons College, Timber Pond Road, SE16 from 10.00am
to 6.00pm, this event aims to reunite people in the UK who attended Ghanaian
schools, colleges or universities, for a fun filled day of activities for all
the family. Tickets are £10.00 for adults and £5.00 for children.
If you can’t make it and you’re stuck in Milton Keynes then an excellent alternative event is the MK 2012 which will hold at Willen Lake Park 6, between 10.00am and 10.00pm.
The grooviness
continues on Sunday 1st July
with the Back2Black Festival at Old
Billingsgate Vault continuing from 12 midday to 8pm with performances on
the Main Stage by
- Gilberto
Gil and special guests
- Jorge
Ben Jor
- Amadou
& Mariam
- Toumani
Diabaté + Arnaldo Antunes + Edgar Scandurra
The Vault
stage features
- Jupiter
& Okwess International
- DJ
Joao Brasil
- DJ
Nepal
- Mwalimu
Express
- Talk:
Literature & Democracy: Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie (she’s a busy lady!!) and Tahar Ben Jelloun (Morocco);
two of Africa’s finest writers come together to discuss the role of
literature in the process of Africa's democratisation and development. How
can writers probe, reflect and stimulate cultural and political change
across the continent?
The Terrace
stage
- Natasha
Llerena
- All
Comers Drumming Workshop
- Afrik
Bwantu
- Baia
The RAS Africa Writes Festival proceeds
procedurally as well at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre SOAS on Sunday with book
fair, food market, more poets and authors’ than you can shake a calabash at!!!
Another literary feast beckons this Sunday at the South Bank Centre, with Africa Utopia, a month long
(yeah month long, no excuses!) celebratory combination of African talents in
the realm of spoken word and music. Taking place in the Clore Ballroom at
6.00pm it features the Caine Prize Readings which are a brilliant snapshot of
contemporary African fiction. Five shortlisted authors will read at this event,
and discuss their work with Ellah Allfrey, Deputy Editor of Granta the chairperson.
This year's shortlisted
authors are: Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria), Billy Kahora (Kenya), Stanley Kenani (Malawi),
Melissa Tandiwe Myambo (Zimbabwe) Constance Myburgh (South Africa).
Book Tickets form here, this is a month long series and I’ll
write more about it this weekend
In the
evening we are reunited with our good friends at Arise. This talk show type
event see’s luminaries of the Black community interviewed in front of a live
audience. Taking place at the Tabernacle, 35 Powis Square, London W11 2AY, this Sundays
guests are Judith Jacobs, Leo Muhammed and Shaun Wallace. Hosted by Daddy Ernie
with music by the resident band D22 featuring Bastedo it is a lovely way to end
a stimulating and energetic weekend. Phone 07792767142, 07770266067 for tickets
are £10.00 in advance, more on the door,
Can you
honestly say you have a reason to be bored this weekend, I’ve given you
literature, music, reunions, talks, talk shows, free, and not so free. And I’ve
not even asked you to buy a T shirt!!!
Remember
that in the countdown to the Olympics, you’ll be able to get 10% off all
purchases with the code ‘Olympic10’. And if I spot you at any
events wearing a Proud to be African T shirt, I’ll either give you a discount
or a present so stop by and say hi!!
See you
around this weekend!!
