HEALING CEREMONY
From: Non State Actors Reparations commission
Subject: Healing ceremony
Non-State Actors Reparations Commission (NSARC) Barbados
MEMORANDUM
To: People of African Descent in the Battle for Economic and Spiritual Liberation.
Dear Comrades,
RE: Trident Healing Ceremony for Caribbean and Latin America Territories: 6-10-12, October 2014
This year marks the 522nd anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, which was followed by 500 plus years of unprecedented acts of genocide, slavery and colonialism. This month April marks the 20th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide of some 800,000 men, women and children in less than 100 days. It is also the 46th anniversary of the assignation Martin Luther King Jr. and the 51st anniversary of the Coral Gardens onslaught against Rastafari “dead or alive” which took place in Jamaica dubbed “Bad Friday”. April 2014 is the right time to call for an appropriate healing process.
It is for these and other painful reasons that the Non State Actors Reparations Commission of Barbados (NsARC) is writing to ask for understanding and participation in a Caribbean wide Regional Healing Ceremony. The objectives are as follows:
1. To release the collective energy necessary to start a genuine healing process from the pain, shame and anger that is trapped in people’s subconscious because of chattel enslavement and colonialism; freeing the mind from Mental Slavery.
2. To release the spirits of African and Indigenous Ancestors that are trapped in Caribbean territories. The spirits of these Ancestors are seeking understanding and acceptable resting places.
3. To call on the Ancestors to help us in the battle for Reparations and full sovereignty.
Indicators that the time is right for healing also include Pope Benedict XV1 resignation in 2013 being the first of such for a Pope. This led to the appointment of the most unconventional Pope in history. It is evident that Pope Francis intends to move the Church away from tradition by uttering untold truths. Information is being circulated that Pope Francis has said; “All religions are true in the hearts of all who believe in them. Truth is not absolute or set in stone. God is changing and evolving as we are, for God lives in us and in our hearts. Like the fable of Adam and Eve, we see hell as a literary device...” If such quotations from the Pope are actuated we are in revelations times.
The African Union has declared 2013 the Year of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. 2013 was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity. The anniversary commemorated the African narratives of past, present and future that will enthuse and energize the African population and to use our constructive energy to accelerate a forward looking agenda of Pan-Africanism and Renaissance in this 21st century.
In September 2013 the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) established a CARICOM Reparations Commission to start to process of calling for a formal apology and for compensation from former European Colonial states for their crimes against humanity suffered by indigenous peoples, enslaved African and their descendants.
In December 2013 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly formally endorsed a proposal from the UN Human Rights Commission that a Decade for People of African Descent (DPAD) be proclaimed. The DPAD will commence January 1, 2015 and continue until December 31, 2024. The theme for this decade is “People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice and Development”.
The Non State Actors Reparations Commission (NsARC) of Barbados wishes to congratulate the many countries, organisations and individuals who have made the CARICOM Reparations Commission a reality and the designated UN decade possible. These are important milestones in the history of African people.
The impact of the transatlantic trade in Africans, slavery and colonialism was nowhere more obvious than in the Americas, the Caribbean and on the African continent itself. The Human Rights violations from that legacy of genocide, brutality, other heinous crimes and violence have caused much pain, shame and anger for which there has never been an appropriate healing process. As a result such pain, shame and anger are passed from generation to generation.
Presently the African continent and its Diaspora in particular the Caribbean region and the United State of America are experiencing much violence dubbed black-on-black crime, due mainly to the ongoing trauma of slavery and colonialism. The region is rated among the highest in murder rates annually. Other serious violence and crimes including rape, child abuse and domestic violence are on the increase and so too are dysfunctional families.
There is now a call for an ‘African Heritage Season’ that links the months from February to October usually these two months are celebrated as ‘Black History Months’ in the Caribbean / America and Europe respectively. During this period, the 12th October shall be celebrated as ‘International Reparations Day’. The NsARC lauds the African Union leadership for their bold decision in choosing the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe as Deputy Chairman. The time is now right for the healing process to begin in earnest.
We are of the view that colonized people of the Diaspora are in the final battles of liberation. We are also of the view that similar Healing Ceremonies must be held in the Continent of Africa during the UN’s decade for African people.
Participants in Spiritual Liberation
African spirituality and its belief systems may not now be accepted by a majority of African (black) people who have become deeply influenced by Western Religions due to the legacy of slavery. It is believe that Pope Francis has also said; Catholicism is now a “modern and reasonable religion, which has undergone evolutionary change and the time has come to abandon all intolerance”. Therefore those officiating in this Ceremony must be persons who not only believe in the pre-eminence of African and Indigenous spirituality, but are also committed to enhancing our economic and social equality.
The Healing Ceremony is proposed to take place in Barbados over a three days period within a week of activities this October; first on “International Aviation Terrorism Day” 6th October, this is the date in 1976 when the Cubana Airline flight 455 was blown out of the sky in Barbados’ waters. This was the first aviation bombing, claiming the lives of 73 innocent persons. Secondly, on 10th October “World Mental Health Day”, and finally on 12th October “Reparations Day” as this date in 1492 was the foundation for most of today’s challenges.
Why Barbados? Because this small island was the first British colony to legally codify Africans as chattel – non-humans, as in its Slave Code of 1661. It was also an important Administrative Centre for the British Caribbean (West Indies) colonies, and a major transshipment point of enslaved Africans to other British colonial territories.
These events will be a prelude to the Decade for People of African Descent, which commences January 1, 2015 and for moral and spiritual support to the International Reparations Movement. Participants from all CARICOM member states and from Cuba, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Latin America states, USA, Canada, England and Europe and from the African Continent are specially encouraged to participate. All persons interested in this Regional Healing Ceremony should indicate by emailing us at nsarcbarbados@gmail.com
Representatives from African religious and spiritual faiths who desire to be facilitators should make their interest known by 31st May 2014.
We thank you for your consideration.
I can also be contacted at: buddylarrier@caribsurf.com and (246) 265-8849
Yours in the struggle
Elder Rev. Buddy A. Larrier
For – NsARC
~ Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement
Freedom Begins with the Freeing of the Mind and Soul
C/o 282 High Road, Leyton, London E10 5PW; Tel: 020 8539 2154, 07908 814 152
EMERGENCY VICTORY UPDATE
ARM - Determined to Continue Serving You!
We are pleased to announce that we had a small but significant victory in the courts today. The repossession order was set aside and we were given until 12th May to pay the arrears. This was despite the fact that the corporate gangsters came into court demanding possession while their vultures (bailiffs) were hovering round our property (taking pictures), ready to swoop.
Thankfully, your contributions were critical in demonstrating financial capacity. However, we had to battle hard against a very determined and belligerent opposition and against the odds. The fact that we came out of it with a reprieve is, without a doubt, also Divine intervention – MWARI (God) and Mudzimu-Mukuru (The Great Ancestors) be praised.
Our focus now is the 12th May, by when we MUST pay the rest of the arrears. We have now raised £3,300. We need to raise another £2,200 over the next 9 days. Please do keep your contributions coming, knowing that every penny will come back to you in service. Please also keep your prayers and well wishes coming. They are as important. This building was purchased in love, to house Afrikan Liberation work, to be passed to future generations. It is thus sacred space: a gift from the Divine and must be preserved at all cost. Ase-oo!
Please make your direct payments to: Mama Afrika – Nat West PLC – Acc No: 23503351 – Sort Code: 56-00-17; or call Bro Omowale on 07939 292 720 or 020 8539 2154 to make arrangements.
Unite Organise Now or Perish!
Rise You Mighty People!
OBITUARY
JUAN FORMELL (Aug 2, 1942 – May 1, 2014). Director of Los Van Van, bassist, composer, arranger. Although his professional career began aged 15 Juan Formell had an impeccable musical pedigree coming from a family of musicians and arrangers going back to his trumpeter grandfather while his father, Francisco Formell, was director of the Radio CMO Orchestra and arranged for Ernesto Lecuona. In 1959 the young Formell was a bassist in the Musical Band of the Revolutionary Police. He then joined Elio Reve’s Orquesta Reve and was the driving force behind their success in the early 1960s, where among their singers was Elena Burke.
The big move came in 1969 when he left Orquesta Reve taking many of the musicians with him and set up Los Van Van, meaning The Go Gos, and taken from a revolutionary slogan used to increase sugar production. This was to cause the group no end of problems with the right-wing Cuban exiles who stupidly assumed that anybody who stayed in Cuba after the revolution and did not openly denounce Fidel Castro and plan acts of sabotage and economic disruption was a communist stooge. Many of the big name musicians of the 40s and 50s heyday had either left the island or stopped playing when the racist American mafia who controlled most of the nightclubs fled. The space was there for a new sound and that was filled by the innovators of Los Van Van who brought in increased electronic instrumentation and a funk attitude alongside some sterling Afrikan percussion breaks that matched where Latin music was going across the rest of the American continent with the creation of bugalu / boogaloo and ‘salsa’.
Los Van Van’s contribution was called Son-go (a contraction of the musical styles of Son and Go-Go). The big tunes are tracks such as ‘Sandunguera’, ‘La Habana No Aguanta Mas (Havana Can’t Take Any More)’, ‘Soy Todo’, ‘El Cheque’ and their mocking ‘Solo Queria Baila Lambada (She Only Wanted to Dance Lambada)’. However, due to the American boycott of Cuba the group found it difficult to play in the main market outside Cuba although their records were well received and gigs in other countries were invariably sell-outs. As the millennium approached Songo became known as Timba having already been accepted as ‘salsa’ many years before. They won a Latin / Best Salsa Performance Grammy for their album ‘Llego Van Van (Van Van Is Here)’ which surprised them as only a few months earlier one of their rare American gigs was picketed by 7,000 hostile protestors. In 2013, the Latin Grammy Academy honored Formell with a special career Award for Artistic Excellence which he dedicated to Cuban musicians and to all of the Cubans around the world. At the time of Formell’s passing Los Van Van were finishing the album, ‘La Fantasía’, which is due out this summer. His ashes were on view in the lobby of Havana’s Cuban National Theater on May 2. The next day artists across Cuba paid tribute to him for his role in developing and promoting Cuban music. The Havana tribute was in Trillo Park, a gathering place for Afrikan-Cuban percussionists.
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
MAY PROMOS
~ ‘WE TEACH THEM’ - Junior English [International English – Out Now]
“Dear Fans,
“I am honoured to let you know that through the spiritual Upliftment of the most high I listened to great teachers like The Honourable Marcus Garvey, Doctor Henrick Clark, Professor Walter Williams and Ashra & Marira Kwesi. By listening to these teachers I have learnt about my history, so I began writing songs about life, People, History and Government. When I look around the world today I wouldn’t want to be remembered only as a Lovers Rock singer but also as a conscious man.
“So that when my journey is completed I will leave behind enough information for the next generation so please listen to this CD thoroughly and you will get a full understanding of what I am trying to convey.
“Yours Truly
“Junior English”
As we are in Afrikan Liberation Month we felt it proper to start this review with the sleevenotes Junior English himself wrote for this 20-track album. While there are a few of Junior’s trademark lovers in the selection the album definitely veers strongly towards the cultural with some penetrating analysis on top of top-notch rhythms provided by the Ruff Cutt veterans. One track that really stood out lyrically was ‘Beauty’ - “A make your hair so long when your parents are not Indian? / A make your hair so long when your parents are not Chinese? / A make your hair so long when your parents are not European? / Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder / Time for you know yourself / Time for you love yourself / You can’t spend the rest of your life trying to be someone else /…Stop support the man who a sell the hair piece and the bleaching cream / ...Like you no like what you see when you look in the mirror.”
There are powerful titles like ‘Contention’ and ‘Share It’. On ‘False Teachings’ Junior intones: “We’ve been too long down in the valley / We must get out somehow / If we have to climb, fly or use a rope / We must get out somehow / We must take the blindfold from our eyes / So we can see the way / …We don’t need no more false teaching / No more false preaching / We must know that nature is the source of life.”
He returns to that theme again on ‘Nature Don’t Play’ on the ‘Smile’ rhythm. Junior condemns the hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of those who consider themselves leaders and members of the self-appointed ‘international community on ‘Calling’. “Dem claim dem don’t have no money to spend but yet them a purchase arms fighting in Afghanistan / While there are people on the street can’t find no place to stay / I’m calling on the President / Calling on the government / Calling on the leaders / Calling on the United Nations.”
He gets to the crux of the matter of the long-standing theft and ongoing mismanagement of the earth’s resources on ‘Bad Mind’. “Bad mind ting a noh we start it / Red eye ting a noh we who start it / Grudgeful ting a noh we start it / But dem blame we for everyting / We used to live up in a peace and tranquility / Until they invade we. / Oh yes dem come like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. / And they stole everything. / …Same ting dem gwan with from a long time ago / A the same thing dem a gwan with now / They cause destabilisation among the people and their leaders / And then they step in and pretend to solve their problems.”
While on ‘Piece of Africa’ he wonders how comes everyone has a piece of Afrika when Afrika belongs to the Afrikans? Junior recounts the story of the sabotage of the UNIA’s shipping company, the Black Star Line, in ‘Marcus Garvey’ on Dennis Brown’s evergreen ‘Have You Ever’ rhythm. “They should have left Marcus Garvey alone / By now we would have been home / Down there in Afrika. / If they did leave Marcus Garvey / I know he would a free we / If they did leave Marcus Garvey / He would have take us home to the Motherland. / …Marcus Garvey, he never failed because of negligence / But because of the oppressors.”
The same rhythm gets a reworking on the closer ‘Hard Ears’. “Babylon teachings lead us astray / Until now we can’t find our way. / …Dem say hard ears pickney will feel it.”
The title track, ‘A We Teach Them’, is a straightforward statement of historical facts and injustice. “We civilised the whole of Europe / And don’t take the praise / What’s going on down there in Afrika / Who do you think they blame / Mathematics, a we teach them / Science, a we teach them / Reading, a we teach them / Writing, a we teach them / …They came and mash up our plans / Sold us to Mr Smith, Mr James and Mr Brown.”
On ‘Honour Them’ Junior urges us all to learn history and to remember and honour our ancestors and icons. His soulful falsetto gives us ‘Why Must They Be Like This’ and ‘It’s Not Too Late’ which are both straight out of the classic Curtis Mayfield school of consciousness. While the front cover artwork is of images related to western educational attainment the images on the back cover, inside sleeve notes and sleeve casing are of the pyramids, hieroglyphics and representations of the Kamitian deities and life-affirming principles. Junior English has self-produced and delivered an uplifting roots album that not only can he be proud of it but it deserves to be widely heard.
~ ‘YOUTHMAN - THE LOST ALBUM (ERROL BELLOT MEETS JAH BUNNY & RAS ELROY INA 80’S STYLE)’ - Errol Bellot [Reggae Archive Records – Out Now] The reggae industry is littered with records that should have been massive but stayed parked in the vaults on the master tapes never seeing the light of day and artists who should have been better known and rewarded for their talent. Errol Bellot has been one of our favourite singers on the British reggae scene for three decades. He is often underrated and his career has been punctuated by false starts and periods where he has kept a low profile but we were glad to see that he has come back strong both as a singer and producer in the last few years under his own name and also as Gideon Zinger. Having started out with the S&G label his career really took off after he left there and especially when he started moving with Unity sound who had access to some of Prince Jammy’s top digital rhythms in the mid-80s just as he was conquering the world and becoming King Jammy.
This 17-track album - which includes disco mixes or dubs to most tracks - was recorded in the run up to the digital explosion and most of the tracks were unreleased until this outing but they chronicle how the reggae music scene changed in the period 1983-85. Using musicians from the east London camp around Black Slate and the Cimarons it kicks off with Errol’s first self-production ‘The Wicked Them’ trying to fight the sufferers down. The first half continues in that vein while the rhythms in the second half are more in the dancehall style that was sweeping all comers by the time the album was originally due for release. ‘Rootsman’ is the only other track from the set to be released and that was two decades later in 2006. As the sleevenotes say this is ‘an essential slice of British reggae history featuring many of the key players from the scene’.
NUBIART LIBRARY – MAY MEDIA
We will only review books we have read and DVDs we have seen and that are available at reasonable prices online or in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and film production there may be books and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘THE ORCHARD OF LOST SOULS’ - Nadifa Mohamed [Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-47111-529-8] This novel is set in Hargeisa in the late 1980s just as the regime of General Mohamed Siad Barre is approaching its downfall as the rebels move their main base of operations from London to inside Somalia. Since the country shook of British and Italian colonialism and merged it has faced drought, famine, mismanagement and wars against its neighbours, Ethiopia and Kenya, as it tries to ‘reunite’ the five points of the star on its flag – Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, the Ogaden in Ethiopia and northern Kenya.
‘The Orchard of Lost Souls’ starts as a rally is planned to mark Siad Barre’s 18 years in power. Mohamed’s focus is on the lives of women and how the changing circumstances impact them. The public are harassed into attending the rally in a sports stadium under the watchful eye of the military police and the Guddi, the local neighbourhood watch organisation. The three main characters are nine-year-old Deqo, an orphan and refugee camp ‘veteran’ who attends the rally to perform in the celebrations but eventually escapes from that brutality to face many others. Kawsar is an elderly widow confined to her bed following a brutal police beating. Filsan is a soldier from Mogadishu who, like many, considers Hargeisa unsophisticated and can’t wait to deal the rebels a decisive blow so she can return to her beloved capital city by the sea. None of them could have foreseen the conflict that nearly three decades on has led to the secession of Somaliland and left Somalia as a byword for failed states, sea piracy, internecine warfare and warlordism and a homeland for Islamist terror and brutality affecting all the neighbouring countries.
It was only since ‘independence’ that the Somali language was fully formalised in written form for the first time and school books produced in the language. However, the glee of becoming a modern part of the ‘world community’ is soon undermined by the reality of the inadequacy of central government to manage a land where as one person told us ‘every Somali is his own government and thinks he can do the job better than anybody else’. The regime’s brutality is revealed in its treatment of protestors, sweeps through towns to press gang the youths into the military and the ‘bleeding’ of children and opponents to death in order to supply blood for injured soldiers. Mohamed’s writing captures the ongoing trauma of Somalis both inside the country and in the diaspora.
~ FIND YOUR VOICE PRESENTS
- ‘Creating a Farmers’ Market’. A call for planners, designers and fellow eco-activists to come together to make a local farmers’ market possible. On Wed 7 May at 7pm at Chestnuts Park Community Centre, St Ann’s Road, London, N15. Adm: Free.
- ‘The Truth About Cancer Pt 2’. Looking at the works of Dr Llaila Afrika and others there will be a panel discussion with experienced health practitioners and networking. On Sat 31 May at 4.30–7pm at Park View Academy, West Green Road, London, N15 3RB. Adm: £5.
For both events tel: Douglas on 07960 239 493 / 07882 403 871. E-mail: findyourvoice@hotmail.co.uk
~ ROYAL AFRICAN SOCIETY PRESENTS WOLE SOYINKA @ 80. Marking his 80th birthday, Soyinka joins editor and critic Margaret Busby to reflect on his large body of work and the relationship between culture and politics, exploring how literature and the arts speak to the contemporary African experience. On Thurs 8 May at 6.30pm at British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB. Contact Sheila Ruiz, RAS Programme Manager. Tel: 020 3073 8337. Web: sheila.ruiz@soas.ac.uk.
~ BBM / BMC, AKOBEN AWARDS, BTWSC & TAOBQ (THE AFRICAN OR BLACK QUESTION) PRESENT TALKING MARCUS GARVEY / UNIA @ 100. Facilitated by Akoben Award’s Kwaku, and hosted by Harrow Mayor Cllr Nana Asante.
- ‘The Look How Far We’ve Come: Getting Racism Back on the Agenda’ Conference’. On Thurs 8 May at 6-9pm at The Abbey Centre, Westminster, London, SW1. E-mail: btwsc@hotmail.com or editor@BritishBlackMusic.com Web: www.BritishBlackMusic.com
- Session 9 – ‘African British Civil Rights: The Remixed Documentaries’ (Kwaku). On Mon 12 May at 6.30-8.30pm.
- Session 10 – ‘Exploring London’s Black Music History (tbc)’. On Mon 26 May at 6.30-8.30pm.
Both events at the Mayor’s Parlour in Harrow Civic Centre 1, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY. Adm: Free. Dress code: Smart casual. No trainers, track suit or leggings. Tel: 020 8450 5987. E-mail: editor@britishblackmusic.com or akobenawards@gmail.com Booking: www.XtraHistory and eventbrite.com booking page.
~ JOYFUL NOISE PRESENT JUWON OGUNGBE AND THE LIFE FORCE BAND. On Sun 11 May at 8pm at Vortex, 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, London, N16 8AZ. Adm: £12.50. Tel: 020 7254 4097. Web: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/256867
~ THE LIGALI ORGANISATION PRESENT ‘BEAUTY IS...’ SCREENINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. This film by community educator and guerrilla film maker Toyin Agbetu asks ‘what is beauty?’ and examines the answer from a philosophical position through discussions on hair, skin shade, body image and character. “Every time you get a hair burn it is evidence of something going wrong, something getting into your skin” – Toyin Agbetu at ‘Beauty Is’ screening premiere. Web: www.ligali.org/beautyis Twitter: @beautyIs_film Facebook: facebook.com/beautyisfilm
- ‘Beauty Is’ Screening. On Mon 12 May at 7-9.30pm at Black History Studies, PCS Headquarters, Clapham Junction, 160 Falcon Road, London, SW11. Adm: £5. Tel / Fax: 020 8881 0660. Mobile: 07951 234 233. E-mail: info@blackhistorystudies.com Web: http://www.blackhistorystudies.com
- ‘Beauty Is Screening + Q & A’. On Fri 23 May at 7pm at Black Cinema Club, The Phoenix Centre, 73 Oxford Street, London, W1D 2EP. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackCinemaClub
~ BLACK HISTORY STUDIES IN ASSOCIATION WITH CHANYA CULTURE PROMOTIONS PRESENTS ‘THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES’ BY COREY HARRIS. American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader Corey Harris will speak about the birth and evolution of the blues, relating it closely to the history that led to its formation. As a musician rooted firmly in the traditional blues styles of the early twentieth century, he will also perform both original and traditional compositions to demonstrate. The presentation will highlight the individual art of playing, singing and composing the blues and how the blues is a language that different players and instruments can use to create a collaborative performance. Corey will demonstrate a concept of the blues that includes other types of Black music (reggae, ska, jazz) in the west that originated in Afrika. On the night, Corey Harris will introduce and do a book signing of his new book ‘Jahtigui: The Life and Music of Ali Farka Toure’ which examines the life and music of the Malian music legend through the eyes of those who knew him best. Compiled from both interviews and first hand experiences with the guitar master in his desert home in Niafunke, northern Mali. On Wed 14 May at 7-9pm at the PCS Headquarters, 160 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, London, SW11 2LN, Adm: £5 / Under-16s - Free. Tel / Fax: 020 8881 0660. Mobile: 07951 234 233. E-mail: info@blackhistorystudies.com Web: http://www.blackhistorystudies.com
~ CEZANNE PRESENTS AN EVENING OF SEDUCTIVE, SENSUAL & SULTRY POETRY. On Wed 14 May at 7-10pm at The Phoenix Centre, Oxford Street, W1. Adm: £6.50 (adv / £10 (OTD). Tel: 07944 244 116. Web: www.cezannepoetess.com/events Twitter: http s://twitter.com/#!/CezannePoetess
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cezanne-Poetess/194864583903441
Blog: ‘Black Sex & Spirituality’ http://wp.me/p4aX5h-1i
~ WORLD AFRIKAN DIASPORA UNION PRESENT AN AMBASSADOR DUDLEY THOMPSON PAN AFRICAN LEGEND TRIBUTE. To Baba John Watusi Branch, a Pan African cultural icon and businessman. With His Excellency Tete Antonio, African Union Ambassador; Dr Leonard Jeffries, President, WADU; Nana Yaa Farika, Vice President, WADU. On Thurs May 15 at The African Union Nelson Mandela Hall, New York City. Contact Min Menelik Harris at amenelik@aol.com
~ AFRICAN ODYSSEYS PRESENTS THE SCREENING OF ‘FORWARD EVER: THE KILLING OF A REVOLUTION’. Dir: Bruce Paddington. Q and A with Professor Gus John and Colin Prescod. Epic story of the revolutionary government of Grenada that came to power in 1979 through to its demise with the bloody killings of October 19, 1983. On Sat 17 May at 2pm at BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XT. Adm: £6.50. Box Office: 020 7928 3232.
~ BLACK HISTORY WALKS GUIDED WALKS ON THE 3500 YEARS OF AFRIKAN HISTORY IN LONDON. The walks cover World Imperialist and Colonial Wars 1 and 2, ancient Afrikan civilizations, gentrification, Sou Sou / Partner, Sus, the National Front, Afrikan troops of the 18th century, freedom fighters, Afrikan revolutionaries, Afrikan inventors, education, architecture, finance, politics and more.
- Trafalgar Square Walk. On Sun 18 May at 12pm.
- Notting Hill Walk. On Sun 18 May at 3pm.
- Fitzrovia / Soho Walk. On Sun 25 May at 12pm
- Elephant & Castle Walk. On Bank Holiday Mon 26 May at 11am.
- St Pauls / Bank Walk. On Bank Mon 26 May at 2pm.
For all events e-mail: info@blackhistorywalks.co.uk Web: blackhistorywalks.co.uk
~ FRINGE SAINT LUCIA FESTIVAL! (BRIGHTON, LONDON & ST LUCIA)
- ‘Lime Cocktail: The Launch of Fringe Saint Lucia’. Saint Lucia on the Fringe - Come limin’ at The Waterbar, the ‘official’ Fringe Saint Lucia venue to celebrate the launch of the first Fringe Saint Lucia festival! Visiting poets, performers and filmmakers from Saint Lucia and UK come together to produce a mini-festival within the Brighton Fringe Festival. Meet the artists, hear Victor Romero Evans sing from his new album. The evening also features renowned flautist Keith Waithe and local acapella girl group Embrace! Carnival Queens, jugglers and lime cocktails!! Plus a chance to win a hamper! Courtesy of the Saint Lucian Tourist Board. On 19 May at 7.30pm at Limin’@The Waterbar, Thistle Hotel, King’s Road, Brighton, BN1 2GS. Adm: Free (RSVP). Web: http://liminatthelaunch.eventbrite.com
- ‘Limin’ @ Fringe St. Lucia’. Listen to a range of Saint Lucian and Brighton voices read and perform poetry, prose and have a lime cocktail in between. Writers appearing from Saint Lucia include Adrian Augier, Alphonse ‘Fish’ George, Kendel Hippolyte and Vladimir Lucien. Writers appearing from the UK include John Agard, Grace Nichols, Umi Sinha, Dean Atta, Jacob Ross and Monika-Akila Richards. Films made by Davina Lee based on the short stories and poetry of Saint Lucian writers. Each evening is split into ‘Early Lime’, starts at 7.30pm and ‘Late Lime’, starts at 9pm. On Tues 20 / Wed 21 / Thurs 22 May at TheWaterBar, Thistle Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2NG. Adm: £10 – whole lime / £6 - half a lime. (Group booking discounts apply).
- ‘Saint Lucia Lime’. A night of Saint Lucian talent sponsored by the Saint Lucian Tourist Board featuring dramatist George ‘Fish’ Alphonse plus other artists to be confirmed. On 24 May at 7.30pm
at Limin’@TheWaterBar, Thistle Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2NG. Adm: Free (RSVP). Web:
http://stlucialime.eventbrite.co.uk
- ‘A Bowl of Limes’. Caribbean Broast: Lunch / Brunch Buffet with the Saint Lucia Fringe artists. Followed by a Creative Mash Up: Discussion and networking session on UK, Saint Lucia, and West African opportunities in the Creative Industries led by Adrian Augier with Kadija George, chaired by Nigel Allyson Ryan. On Mon 26 May at 1pm at The Writer’s Place, 9 Jew Street, Brighton, BN1 1UT. Adm: £10 - Caribbean Broast and discussion / £5 discussion only. Web: http://bowloflimes.eventbrite.co.uk
- ‘Under The Lime Tree’. Vladimir Lucien launches his new book, ‘Sounding Ground’ at the Fringe Saint Lucia End of Festival Party! Plus Kendel Hippolyte re-launches ‘Night Vision’ in the UK. Both books published by Peepal Tree Press. On Wed 28 May at 6.30pm at the Saint Lucia High Commission in London, 1 Collingham Gardens, London, SW5 0HW. Adm: Free (RSVP). Web: https://underthelimetree.eventbrite.co.uk / http://www.fringestlucia.com/programme/other-uk-events/
Web: www.fringestlucia.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fringestlucia Twitter: @fringestlucia
ink361.com/fringestlucia
~ ‘A FUSION OF WORLDS: ANCIENT EGYPT, AFRICAN ART AND IDENTITY IN MODERNIST BRITAIN’ EXHIBITION. An exploration of the ways in which modernist artists – Jacob Epstein, Edna Manley and Ronald Moody – have been inspired by Ancient Egypt. The exhibition places these artists’ reworking of Egyptian art in context of their political, spiritual and gendered expressions of identity. Drawing on the influence of the Harlem Renaissance and ‘discovering’ African Art, this display repositions the work of artists, such as Jamaican born Ronald Moody, in the public memory. Until Sat 24 May at 1-5pm (Tues-Sat) at Petrie Museum, UCL, Malet Place, London, WC1. Tel: 020 7679 4138. Adm: Free. E-mail: events.petrie@ucl.ac.uk
~ PAN-AFRICAN CONGRESS MOVEMENT ALD 2014. The theme is ‘Africa, the Issue of Culture’, & ‘UNIA 100th Year Anniversary’. Speakers include: Prof James Small, Ekua ‘Esther’ Stanford-Xosei, Petronilla Mwakatuma, Cecil Gutzmore, Tafadzwa ShakaRa Mbandaka, Dr Makeddah Idawah and Chipo Sibanda and Clarrie Roots. Sun 25-Mon 26 May at the Light House, 100 Alma Way, Aston, Birmingham, B19 2LN. Tel: 0121 554 2747 / 07940 709 311. E-mail: ald.birmingham2014@gmail.com
~ KWAME NKRUMAH AFRIKAN LIBERATION DAY STREET PARLIAMENT. On Sun 25 May at Peki Adzokoe New Town, Ghana.
~ ‘AFRICA AT SPITALFIELDS’. Festival of “music, food, fashion, art, dance, games, and everything in between celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of Africa” is back. On Mon 26 May at 10am-4pm at Spitalfields Market, Brushfield Road, London, E1W 6AA. E-mail: info@africaatspitalfields.co.uk.
~ WISDOM & VITALITY NATURAL HEALTH EVENT. Speakers on the day will be Israel Ajose, Lekia Lee, Nkechi Aligbe-Abeng, Malvia Kenlock. The talks will focus on balancing masculine and feminine energies to bring about healing, self-love and positive self-image. Workshops will provide the audience with effective tools to achieve spiritual harmony and emotional healing. Moyo will inspire with poetry. On Sun 1 June at 12-7pm at School 21, New Mount Street, Stratford, London, E15 3PA. Adm: £10. Early bird ticket online only at £7.50 until 10 May. Stalls are available. E-mail: adwoa@wisdomandvitality.com Web: www.wisdomandvitality.com or facebook.com/wisdomandvitality
~ LEIGHTON HOUSE PRESENTS FROM ‘JAMAICA TO NOTTING HILL, RUDI PATTERSON’S VISIONS IN COLOUR’. For over forty years, following a career as an international model and actor, Rudi Patterson dedicated himself to painting. From the three successive council flats he lived in around Notting Hill he produced a vast body of work, exhibiting widely in London, the UK and internationally – from New York to Melbourne - throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Following his death last year, this exhibition explores a single theme; Rudi’s extraordinarily potent and vivid representations of his native Jamaica. Including many works never previously exhibited these depictions of mountain landscapes, plantation villages, luxuriant tropical vegetation, rivers and beaches conjure a compelling sense of place, intuitively made from the vantage point of a West London window. Until Fri 13 June at Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, London, W8.
~ ‘CHRIS MARKER: A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT’ EXHIBITION. Widely credited with inventing the essay film, Marker brilliantly treads the line between documentary and personal reflection. This long overdue retrospective screens seminal sci-fi short ‘La Jetée’ - with an alternative intro - and excerpts from his hypnotic meditation on memory, ‘Sans Soleil’. One of the most powerful films here is ‘Statues Die Also’ which explores the denigration and commodification of Afrikan cultural and spiritual traditions. The title film is a three-hour examination of the role of radical politics in France. There are also photos, texts, his cover art, and a guided tour of Marker’s Second Life museum led by his cat. You should put aside a whole day for the exhibition or schedule a return visit. Until 22 June at Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7QX. Tel: 020 7522 7888. E-mail: info@whitechapelgallery.org Web: http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/chris-marker-a-grin-without-a-cat
~ NATIONAL AFRICAN RELIGION CONGRESS/NARC WORLD INTERNATIONAL PRESENT THE ‘ELEVENTH AFRICAN RELIGION CONFERENCE AND WORLD CEREMONY OF CEREMONIES: SPIRITUALITY IN WORLD CONNECTION - HEALTH, FAITH & WEALTH’. Within the United States, Afrikan-based religions are poorly understood and are often subjected to persecution and prejudice. The National African Religion Congress / NARC World International certifies priests and priestesses to assure that they have been properly trained according to the traditions of their respective religions and that they uphold the moral and ethical standards of their religion. The Afrikan-based religions represented are: Lucumi / Regla de Ocha / Santería (Cuba / Puerto Rico), Candomble (Brazil), Orisa (Trinidad & Tobago), Voodoo (Haiti), Ifa / Isese / Yoruba (Nigeria) and the Akan (Ghana). On 26–29 June at Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. Registration before 15 May: $325 - NARC Members / $350 – Non-NARC Members. Includes (CD-ROM) NARC World Directory of Priests and Priestesses 11th Edition with Conference Proceedings 2014. After 15 May directory not included. Contact: National African Religion Congress / NARC World International, 5104 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19141, USA. Tel: 215 455 0815. Fax: 215 455 0818. E-mail: narcworld@aol.com Web: www.narcworld.com
~ BUNDU DIA KONGO (BDK). Afrikan cultural and spiritual group working towards the spiritual and psychological growth and development of Afrikans all over the world. Let us make a positive change now. Learn about Afrikan prophets, Afrikan history and Afrikan spiritual practices at our weekly Zikua.
- Sun at 1.30–4.30pm at Chestnuts Community & Arts Centre, 280 St Ann’s Road, Tottenham, London, N15 5BN. Tel: Makaba - 07951 059 853.
- Sun at 12.30–3.15pm at Malika House, 81 George Street, Lozells, Birmingham, B19 1Sl. Tel: Mbuta Mayala – 07404 789 329.
~ THE AUSAR AUSET SOCIETY GI GONG CLASSES. Every Monday at 7.30–9pm at Hazel Road Community Centre, Hazel Road, Kensal Green, London, NW10 5PP. Adm: £5 per class. Tel: 07951- 252-427. E-mail: Tauinetwork.europe@gmail.com
~ EXHIBITION APPEAL: RETIRED CARIBBEAN NURSES IN HACKNEY / NEWHAM / EAST LONDON. Hackney Museum is working with Black Women in the Arts Project on an exhibition about Retired Caribbean Nurses to take place in Sep 2014 at Hackney Museum. Do you know of any retired Caribbean Nurses in Hackney / Newham / East London area? Contact: Cheryl Bowen, Community Education Manager, Health and Well Being, Hackney Museum Technology and Learning Centre, 1 Reading Lane, London, E8 1GQ. Tel: 020 8356 2658 / 2545. E-mail: cheryl.bowen@hackney.gov.uk
Web: www.hackney.gov.uk/hackneymuseum
Contact: Kubara Zamani, Afrikan Quest International, PO Box 35165, London, SE5 8WU. Tel: 07811 494 969. E-mail: afrikanquest@hotmail.com NB: Nubiart Diary can also be read at www.ligali.org
External Links
Afrikan Quest International
From: Non State Actors Reparations commission
Subject: Healing ceremony
Non-State Actors Reparations Commission (NSARC) Barbados
MEMORANDUM
To: People of African Descent in the Battle for Economic and Spiritual Liberation.
Dear Comrades,
RE: Trident Healing Ceremony for Caribbean and Latin America Territories: 6-10-12, October 2014
This year marks the 522nd anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, which was followed by 500 plus years of unprecedented acts of genocide, slavery and colonialism. This month April marks the 20th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide of some 800,000 men, women and children in less than 100 days. It is also the 46th anniversary of the assignation Martin Luther King Jr. and the 51st anniversary of the Coral Gardens onslaught against Rastafari “dead or alive” which took place in Jamaica dubbed “Bad Friday”. April 2014 is the right time to call for an appropriate healing process.
It is for these and other painful reasons that the Non State Actors Reparations Commission of Barbados (NsARC) is writing to ask for understanding and participation in a Caribbean wide Regional Healing Ceremony. The objectives are as follows:
1. To release the collective energy necessary to start a genuine healing process from the pain, shame and anger that is trapped in people’s subconscious because of chattel enslavement and colonialism; freeing the mind from Mental Slavery.
2. To release the spirits of African and Indigenous Ancestors that are trapped in Caribbean territories. The spirits of these Ancestors are seeking understanding and acceptable resting places.
3. To call on the Ancestors to help us in the battle for Reparations and full sovereignty.
Indicators that the time is right for healing also include Pope Benedict XV1 resignation in 2013 being the first of such for a Pope. This led to the appointment of the most unconventional Pope in history. It is evident that Pope Francis intends to move the Church away from tradition by uttering untold truths. Information is being circulated that Pope Francis has said; “All religions are true in the hearts of all who believe in them. Truth is not absolute or set in stone. God is changing and evolving as we are, for God lives in us and in our hearts. Like the fable of Adam and Eve, we see hell as a literary device...” If such quotations from the Pope are actuated we are in revelations times.
The African Union has declared 2013 the Year of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. 2013 was the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity. The anniversary commemorated the African narratives of past, present and future that will enthuse and energize the African population and to use our constructive energy to accelerate a forward looking agenda of Pan-Africanism and Renaissance in this 21st century.
In September 2013 the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) established a CARICOM Reparations Commission to start to process of calling for a formal apology and for compensation from former European Colonial states for their crimes against humanity suffered by indigenous peoples, enslaved African and their descendants.
In December 2013 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly formally endorsed a proposal from the UN Human Rights Commission that a Decade for People of African Descent (DPAD) be proclaimed. The DPAD will commence January 1, 2015 and continue until December 31, 2024. The theme for this decade is “People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice and Development”.
The Non State Actors Reparations Commission (NsARC) of Barbados wishes to congratulate the many countries, organisations and individuals who have made the CARICOM Reparations Commission a reality and the designated UN decade possible. These are important milestones in the history of African people.
The impact of the transatlantic trade in Africans, slavery and colonialism was nowhere more obvious than in the Americas, the Caribbean and on the African continent itself. The Human Rights violations from that legacy of genocide, brutality, other heinous crimes and violence have caused much pain, shame and anger for which there has never been an appropriate healing process. As a result such pain, shame and anger are passed from generation to generation.
Presently the African continent and its Diaspora in particular the Caribbean region and the United State of America are experiencing much violence dubbed black-on-black crime, due mainly to the ongoing trauma of slavery and colonialism. The region is rated among the highest in murder rates annually. Other serious violence and crimes including rape, child abuse and domestic violence are on the increase and so too are dysfunctional families.
There is now a call for an ‘African Heritage Season’ that links the months from February to October usually these two months are celebrated as ‘Black History Months’ in the Caribbean / America and Europe respectively. During this period, the 12th October shall be celebrated as ‘International Reparations Day’. The NsARC lauds the African Union leadership for their bold decision in choosing the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe as Deputy Chairman. The time is now right for the healing process to begin in earnest.
We are of the view that colonized people of the Diaspora are in the final battles of liberation. We are also of the view that similar Healing Ceremonies must be held in the Continent of Africa during the UN’s decade for African people.
Participants in Spiritual Liberation
African spirituality and its belief systems may not now be accepted by a majority of African (black) people who have become deeply influenced by Western Religions due to the legacy of slavery. It is believe that Pope Francis has also said; Catholicism is now a “modern and reasonable religion, which has undergone evolutionary change and the time has come to abandon all intolerance”. Therefore those officiating in this Ceremony must be persons who not only believe in the pre-eminence of African and Indigenous spirituality, but are also committed to enhancing our economic and social equality.
The Healing Ceremony is proposed to take place in Barbados over a three days period within a week of activities this October; first on “International Aviation Terrorism Day” 6th October, this is the date in 1976 when the Cubana Airline flight 455 was blown out of the sky in Barbados’ waters. This was the first aviation bombing, claiming the lives of 73 innocent persons. Secondly, on 10th October “World Mental Health Day”, and finally on 12th October “Reparations Day” as this date in 1492 was the foundation for most of today’s challenges.
Why Barbados? Because this small island was the first British colony to legally codify Africans as chattel – non-humans, as in its Slave Code of 1661. It was also an important Administrative Centre for the British Caribbean (West Indies) colonies, and a major transshipment point of enslaved Africans to other British colonial territories.
These events will be a prelude to the Decade for People of African Descent, which commences January 1, 2015 and for moral and spiritual support to the International Reparations Movement. Participants from all CARICOM member states and from Cuba, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Latin America states, USA, Canada, England and Europe and from the African Continent are specially encouraged to participate. All persons interested in this Regional Healing Ceremony should indicate by emailing us at nsarcbarbados@gmail.com
Representatives from African religious and spiritual faiths who desire to be facilitators should make their interest known by 31st May 2014.
We thank you for your consideration.
I can also be contacted at: buddylarrier@caribsurf.com and (246) 265-8849
Yours in the struggle
Elder Rev. Buddy A. Larrier
For – NsARC
~ Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement
Freedom Begins with the Freeing of the Mind and Soul
C/o 282 High Road, Leyton, London E10 5PW; Tel: 020 8539 2154, 07908 814 152
EMERGENCY VICTORY UPDATE
ARM - Determined to Continue Serving You!
We are pleased to announce that we had a small but significant victory in the courts today. The repossession order was set aside and we were given until 12th May to pay the arrears. This was despite the fact that the corporate gangsters came into court demanding possession while their vultures (bailiffs) were hovering round our property (taking pictures), ready to swoop.
Thankfully, your contributions were critical in demonstrating financial capacity. However, we had to battle hard against a very determined and belligerent opposition and against the odds. The fact that we came out of it with a reprieve is, without a doubt, also Divine intervention – MWARI (God) and Mudzimu-Mukuru (The Great Ancestors) be praised.
Our focus now is the 12th May, by when we MUST pay the rest of the arrears. We have now raised £3,300. We need to raise another £2,200 over the next 9 days. Please do keep your contributions coming, knowing that every penny will come back to you in service. Please also keep your prayers and well wishes coming. They are as important. This building was purchased in love, to house Afrikan Liberation work, to be passed to future generations. It is thus sacred space: a gift from the Divine and must be preserved at all cost. Ase-oo!
Please make your direct payments to: Mama Afrika – Nat West PLC – Acc No: 23503351 – Sort Code: 56-00-17; or call Bro Omowale on 07939 292 720 or 020 8539 2154 to make arrangements.
Unite Organise Now or Perish!
Rise You Mighty People!
OBITUARY
JUAN FORMELL (Aug 2, 1942 – May 1, 2014). Director of Los Van Van, bassist, composer, arranger. Although his professional career began aged 15 Juan Formell had an impeccable musical pedigree coming from a family of musicians and arrangers going back to his trumpeter grandfather while his father, Francisco Formell, was director of the Radio CMO Orchestra and arranged for Ernesto Lecuona. In 1959 the young Formell was a bassist in the Musical Band of the Revolutionary Police. He then joined Elio Reve’s Orquesta Reve and was the driving force behind their success in the early 1960s, where among their singers was Elena Burke.
The big move came in 1969 when he left Orquesta Reve taking many of the musicians with him and set up Los Van Van, meaning The Go Gos, and taken from a revolutionary slogan used to increase sugar production. This was to cause the group no end of problems with the right-wing Cuban exiles who stupidly assumed that anybody who stayed in Cuba after the revolution and did not openly denounce Fidel Castro and plan acts of sabotage and economic disruption was a communist stooge. Many of the big name musicians of the 40s and 50s heyday had either left the island or stopped playing when the racist American mafia who controlled most of the nightclubs fled. The space was there for a new sound and that was filled by the innovators of Los Van Van who brought in increased electronic instrumentation and a funk attitude alongside some sterling Afrikan percussion breaks that matched where Latin music was going across the rest of the American continent with the creation of bugalu / boogaloo and ‘salsa’.
Los Van Van’s contribution was called Son-go (a contraction of the musical styles of Son and Go-Go). The big tunes are tracks such as ‘Sandunguera’, ‘La Habana No Aguanta Mas (Havana Can’t Take Any More)’, ‘Soy Todo’, ‘El Cheque’ and their mocking ‘Solo Queria Baila Lambada (She Only Wanted to Dance Lambada)’. However, due to the American boycott of Cuba the group found it difficult to play in the main market outside Cuba although their records were well received and gigs in other countries were invariably sell-outs. As the millennium approached Songo became known as Timba having already been accepted as ‘salsa’ many years before. They won a Latin / Best Salsa Performance Grammy for their album ‘Llego Van Van (Van Van Is Here)’ which surprised them as only a few months earlier one of their rare American gigs was picketed by 7,000 hostile protestors. In 2013, the Latin Grammy Academy honored Formell with a special career Award for Artistic Excellence which he dedicated to Cuban musicians and to all of the Cubans around the world. At the time of Formell’s passing Los Van Van were finishing the album, ‘La Fantasía’, which is due out this summer. His ashes were on view in the lobby of Havana’s Cuban National Theater on May 2. The next day artists across Cuba paid tribute to him for his role in developing and promoting Cuban music. The Havana tribute was in Trillo Park, a gathering place for Afrikan-Cuban percussionists.
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
MAY PROMOS
~ ‘WE TEACH THEM’ - Junior English [International English – Out Now]
“Dear Fans,
“I am honoured to let you know that through the spiritual Upliftment of the most high I listened to great teachers like The Honourable Marcus Garvey, Doctor Henrick Clark, Professor Walter Williams and Ashra & Marira Kwesi. By listening to these teachers I have learnt about my history, so I began writing songs about life, People, History and Government. When I look around the world today I wouldn’t want to be remembered only as a Lovers Rock singer but also as a conscious man.
“So that when my journey is completed I will leave behind enough information for the next generation so please listen to this CD thoroughly and you will get a full understanding of what I am trying to convey.
“Yours Truly
“Junior English”
As we are in Afrikan Liberation Month we felt it proper to start this review with the sleevenotes Junior English himself wrote for this 20-track album. While there are a few of Junior’s trademark lovers in the selection the album definitely veers strongly towards the cultural with some penetrating analysis on top of top-notch rhythms provided by the Ruff Cutt veterans. One track that really stood out lyrically was ‘Beauty’ - “A make your hair so long when your parents are not Indian? / A make your hair so long when your parents are not Chinese? / A make your hair so long when your parents are not European? / Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder / Time for you know yourself / Time for you love yourself / You can’t spend the rest of your life trying to be someone else /…Stop support the man who a sell the hair piece and the bleaching cream / ...Like you no like what you see when you look in the mirror.”
There are powerful titles like ‘Contention’ and ‘Share It’. On ‘False Teachings’ Junior intones: “We’ve been too long down in the valley / We must get out somehow / If we have to climb, fly or use a rope / We must get out somehow / We must take the blindfold from our eyes / So we can see the way / …We don’t need no more false teaching / No more false preaching / We must know that nature is the source of life.”
He returns to that theme again on ‘Nature Don’t Play’ on the ‘Smile’ rhythm. Junior condemns the hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of those who consider themselves leaders and members of the self-appointed ‘international community on ‘Calling’. “Dem claim dem don’t have no money to spend but yet them a purchase arms fighting in Afghanistan / While there are people on the street can’t find no place to stay / I’m calling on the President / Calling on the government / Calling on the leaders / Calling on the United Nations.”
He gets to the crux of the matter of the long-standing theft and ongoing mismanagement of the earth’s resources on ‘Bad Mind’. “Bad mind ting a noh we start it / Red eye ting a noh we who start it / Grudgeful ting a noh we start it / But dem blame we for everyting / We used to live up in a peace and tranquility / Until they invade we. / Oh yes dem come like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. / And they stole everything. / …Same ting dem gwan with from a long time ago / A the same thing dem a gwan with now / They cause destabilisation among the people and their leaders / And then they step in and pretend to solve their problems.”
While on ‘Piece of Africa’ he wonders how comes everyone has a piece of Afrika when Afrika belongs to the Afrikans? Junior recounts the story of the sabotage of the UNIA’s shipping company, the Black Star Line, in ‘Marcus Garvey’ on Dennis Brown’s evergreen ‘Have You Ever’ rhythm. “They should have left Marcus Garvey alone / By now we would have been home / Down there in Afrika. / If they did leave Marcus Garvey / I know he would a free we / If they did leave Marcus Garvey / He would have take us home to the Motherland. / …Marcus Garvey, he never failed because of negligence / But because of the oppressors.”
The same rhythm gets a reworking on the closer ‘Hard Ears’. “Babylon teachings lead us astray / Until now we can’t find our way. / …Dem say hard ears pickney will feel it.”
The title track, ‘A We Teach Them’, is a straightforward statement of historical facts and injustice. “We civilised the whole of Europe / And don’t take the praise / What’s going on down there in Afrika / Who do you think they blame / Mathematics, a we teach them / Science, a we teach them / Reading, a we teach them / Writing, a we teach them / …They came and mash up our plans / Sold us to Mr Smith, Mr James and Mr Brown.”
On ‘Honour Them’ Junior urges us all to learn history and to remember and honour our ancestors and icons. His soulful falsetto gives us ‘Why Must They Be Like This’ and ‘It’s Not Too Late’ which are both straight out of the classic Curtis Mayfield school of consciousness. While the front cover artwork is of images related to western educational attainment the images on the back cover, inside sleeve notes and sleeve casing are of the pyramids, hieroglyphics and representations of the Kamitian deities and life-affirming principles. Junior English has self-produced and delivered an uplifting roots album that not only can he be proud of it but it deserves to be widely heard.
~ ‘YOUTHMAN - THE LOST ALBUM (ERROL BELLOT MEETS JAH BUNNY & RAS ELROY INA 80’S STYLE)’ - Errol Bellot [Reggae Archive Records – Out Now] The reggae industry is littered with records that should have been massive but stayed parked in the vaults on the master tapes never seeing the light of day and artists who should have been better known and rewarded for their talent. Errol Bellot has been one of our favourite singers on the British reggae scene for three decades. He is often underrated and his career has been punctuated by false starts and periods where he has kept a low profile but we were glad to see that he has come back strong both as a singer and producer in the last few years under his own name and also as Gideon Zinger. Having started out with the S&G label his career really took off after he left there and especially when he started moving with Unity sound who had access to some of Prince Jammy’s top digital rhythms in the mid-80s just as he was conquering the world and becoming King Jammy.
This 17-track album - which includes disco mixes or dubs to most tracks - was recorded in the run up to the digital explosion and most of the tracks were unreleased until this outing but they chronicle how the reggae music scene changed in the period 1983-85. Using musicians from the east London camp around Black Slate and the Cimarons it kicks off with Errol’s first self-production ‘The Wicked Them’ trying to fight the sufferers down. The first half continues in that vein while the rhythms in the second half are more in the dancehall style that was sweeping all comers by the time the album was originally due for release. ‘Rootsman’ is the only other track from the set to be released and that was two decades later in 2006. As the sleevenotes say this is ‘an essential slice of British reggae history featuring many of the key players from the scene’.
NUBIART LIBRARY – MAY MEDIA
We will only review books we have read and DVDs we have seen and that are available at reasonable prices online or in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and film production there may be books and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘THE ORCHARD OF LOST SOULS’ - Nadifa Mohamed [Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-47111-529-8] This novel is set in Hargeisa in the late 1980s just as the regime of General Mohamed Siad Barre is approaching its downfall as the rebels move their main base of operations from London to inside Somalia. Since the country shook of British and Italian colonialism and merged it has faced drought, famine, mismanagement and wars against its neighbours, Ethiopia and Kenya, as it tries to ‘reunite’ the five points of the star on its flag – Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, the Ogaden in Ethiopia and northern Kenya.
‘The Orchard of Lost Souls’ starts as a rally is planned to mark Siad Barre’s 18 years in power. Mohamed’s focus is on the lives of women and how the changing circumstances impact them. The public are harassed into attending the rally in a sports stadium under the watchful eye of the military police and the Guddi, the local neighbourhood watch organisation. The three main characters are nine-year-old Deqo, an orphan and refugee camp ‘veteran’ who attends the rally to perform in the celebrations but eventually escapes from that brutality to face many others. Kawsar is an elderly widow confined to her bed following a brutal police beating. Filsan is a soldier from Mogadishu who, like many, considers Hargeisa unsophisticated and can’t wait to deal the rebels a decisive blow so she can return to her beloved capital city by the sea. None of them could have foreseen the conflict that nearly three decades on has led to the secession of Somaliland and left Somalia as a byword for failed states, sea piracy, internecine warfare and warlordism and a homeland for Islamist terror and brutality affecting all the neighbouring countries.
It was only since ‘independence’ that the Somali language was fully formalised in written form for the first time and school books produced in the language. However, the glee of becoming a modern part of the ‘world community’ is soon undermined by the reality of the inadequacy of central government to manage a land where as one person told us ‘every Somali is his own government and thinks he can do the job better than anybody else’. The regime’s brutality is revealed in its treatment of protestors, sweeps through towns to press gang the youths into the military and the ‘bleeding’ of children and opponents to death in order to supply blood for injured soldiers. Mohamed’s writing captures the ongoing trauma of Somalis both inside the country and in the diaspora.
Nubiart Diary
~ FIND YOUR VOICE PRESENTS- ‘Creating a Farmers’ Market’. A call for planners, designers and fellow eco-activists to come together to make a local farmers’ market possible. On Wed 7 May at 7pm at Chestnuts Park Community Centre, St Ann’s Road, London, N15. Adm: Free.
- ‘The Truth About Cancer Pt 2’. Looking at the works of Dr Llaila Afrika and others there will be a panel discussion with experienced health practitioners and networking. On Sat 31 May at 4.30–7pm at Park View Academy, West Green Road, London, N15 3RB. Adm: £5.
For both events tel: Douglas on 07960 239 493 / 07882 403 871. E-mail: findyourvoice@hotmail.co.uk
~ ROYAL AFRICAN SOCIETY PRESENTS WOLE SOYINKA @ 80. Marking his 80th birthday, Soyinka joins editor and critic Margaret Busby to reflect on his large body of work and the relationship between culture and politics, exploring how literature and the arts speak to the contemporary African experience. On Thurs 8 May at 6.30pm at British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB. Contact Sheila Ruiz, RAS Programme Manager. Tel: 020 3073 8337. Web: sheila.ruiz@soas.ac.uk.
~ BBM / BMC, AKOBEN AWARDS, BTWSC & TAOBQ (THE AFRICAN OR BLACK QUESTION) PRESENT TALKING MARCUS GARVEY / UNIA @ 100. Facilitated by Akoben Award’s Kwaku, and hosted by Harrow Mayor Cllr Nana Asante.
- ‘The Look How Far We’ve Come: Getting Racism Back on the Agenda’ Conference’. On Thurs 8 May at 6-9pm at The Abbey Centre, Westminster, London, SW1. E-mail: btwsc@hotmail.com or editor@BritishBlackMusic.com Web: www.BritishBlackMusic.com
- Session 9 – ‘African British Civil Rights: The Remixed Documentaries’ (Kwaku). On Mon 12 May at 6.30-8.30pm.
- Session 10 – ‘Exploring London’s Black Music History (tbc)’. On Mon 26 May at 6.30-8.30pm.
Both events at the Mayor’s Parlour in Harrow Civic Centre 1, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY. Adm: Free. Dress code: Smart casual. No trainers, track suit or leggings. Tel: 020 8450 5987. E-mail: editor@britishblackmusic.com or akobenawards@gmail.com Booking: www.XtraHistory and eventbrite.com booking page.
~ JOYFUL NOISE PRESENT JUWON OGUNGBE AND THE LIFE FORCE BAND. On Sun 11 May at 8pm at Vortex, 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, London, N16 8AZ. Adm: £12.50. Tel: 020 7254 4097. Web: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/256867
~ THE LIGALI ORGANISATION PRESENT ‘BEAUTY IS...’ SCREENINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. This film by community educator and guerrilla film maker Toyin Agbetu asks ‘what is beauty?’ and examines the answer from a philosophical position through discussions on hair, skin shade, body image and character. “Every time you get a hair burn it is evidence of something going wrong, something getting into your skin” – Toyin Agbetu at ‘Beauty Is’ screening premiere. Web: www.ligali.org/beautyis Twitter: @beautyIs_film Facebook: facebook.com/beautyisfilm
- ‘Beauty Is’ Screening. On Mon 12 May at 7-9.30pm at Black History Studies, PCS Headquarters, Clapham Junction, 160 Falcon Road, London, SW11. Adm: £5. Tel / Fax: 020 8881 0660. Mobile: 07951 234 233. E-mail: info@blackhistorystudies.com Web: http://www.blackhistorystudies.com
- ‘Beauty Is Screening + Q & A’. On Fri 23 May at 7pm at Black Cinema Club, The Phoenix Centre, 73 Oxford Street, London, W1D 2EP. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackCinemaClub
~ BLACK HISTORY STUDIES IN ASSOCIATION WITH CHANYA CULTURE PROMOTIONS PRESENTS ‘THE BIRTH OF THE BLUES’ BY COREY HARRIS. American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader Corey Harris will speak about the birth and evolution of the blues, relating it closely to the history that led to its formation. As a musician rooted firmly in the traditional blues styles of the early twentieth century, he will also perform both original and traditional compositions to demonstrate. The presentation will highlight the individual art of playing, singing and composing the blues and how the blues is a language that different players and instruments can use to create a collaborative performance. Corey will demonstrate a concept of the blues that includes other types of Black music (reggae, ska, jazz) in the west that originated in Afrika. On the night, Corey Harris will introduce and do a book signing of his new book ‘Jahtigui: The Life and Music of Ali Farka Toure’ which examines the life and music of the Malian music legend through the eyes of those who knew him best. Compiled from both interviews and first hand experiences with the guitar master in his desert home in Niafunke, northern Mali. On Wed 14 May at 7-9pm at the PCS Headquarters, 160 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, London, SW11 2LN, Adm: £5 / Under-16s - Free. Tel / Fax: 020 8881 0660. Mobile: 07951 234 233. E-mail: info@blackhistorystudies.com Web: http://www.blackhistorystudies.com
~ CEZANNE PRESENTS AN EVENING OF SEDUCTIVE, SENSUAL & SULTRY POETRY. On Wed 14 May at 7-10pm at The Phoenix Centre, Oxford Street, W1. Adm: £6.50 (adv / £10 (OTD). Tel: 07944 244 116. Web: www.cezannepoetess.com/events Twitter: http s://twitter.com/#!/CezannePoetess
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cezanne-Poetess/194864583903441
Blog: ‘Black Sex & Spirituality’ http://wp.me/p4aX5h-1i
~ WORLD AFRIKAN DIASPORA UNION PRESENT AN AMBASSADOR DUDLEY THOMPSON PAN AFRICAN LEGEND TRIBUTE. To Baba John Watusi Branch, a Pan African cultural icon and businessman. With His Excellency Tete Antonio, African Union Ambassador; Dr Leonard Jeffries, President, WADU; Nana Yaa Farika, Vice President, WADU. On Thurs May 15 at The African Union Nelson Mandela Hall, New York City. Contact Min Menelik Harris at amenelik@aol.com
~ AFRICAN ODYSSEYS PRESENTS THE SCREENING OF ‘FORWARD EVER: THE KILLING OF A REVOLUTION’. Dir: Bruce Paddington. Q and A with Professor Gus John and Colin Prescod. Epic story of the revolutionary government of Grenada that came to power in 1979 through to its demise with the bloody killings of October 19, 1983. On Sat 17 May at 2pm at BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XT. Adm: £6.50. Box Office: 020 7928 3232.
~ BLACK HISTORY WALKS GUIDED WALKS ON THE 3500 YEARS OF AFRIKAN HISTORY IN LONDON. The walks cover World Imperialist and Colonial Wars 1 and 2, ancient Afrikan civilizations, gentrification, Sou Sou / Partner, Sus, the National Front, Afrikan troops of the 18th century, freedom fighters, Afrikan revolutionaries, Afrikan inventors, education, architecture, finance, politics and more.
- Trafalgar Square Walk. On Sun 18 May at 12pm.
- Notting Hill Walk. On Sun 18 May at 3pm.
- Fitzrovia / Soho Walk. On Sun 25 May at 12pm
- Elephant & Castle Walk. On Bank Holiday Mon 26 May at 11am.
- St Pauls / Bank Walk. On Bank Mon 26 May at 2pm.
For all events e-mail: info@blackhistorywalks.co.uk Web: blackhistorywalks.co.uk
~ FRINGE SAINT LUCIA FESTIVAL! (BRIGHTON, LONDON & ST LUCIA)
- ‘Lime Cocktail: The Launch of Fringe Saint Lucia’. Saint Lucia on the Fringe - Come limin’ at The Waterbar, the ‘official’ Fringe Saint Lucia venue to celebrate the launch of the first Fringe Saint Lucia festival! Visiting poets, performers and filmmakers from Saint Lucia and UK come together to produce a mini-festival within the Brighton Fringe Festival. Meet the artists, hear Victor Romero Evans sing from his new album. The evening also features renowned flautist Keith Waithe and local acapella girl group Embrace! Carnival Queens, jugglers and lime cocktails!! Plus a chance to win a hamper! Courtesy of the Saint Lucian Tourist Board. On 19 May at 7.30pm at Limin’@The Waterbar, Thistle Hotel, King’s Road, Brighton, BN1 2GS. Adm: Free (RSVP). Web: http://liminatthelaunch.eventbrite.com
- ‘Limin’ @ Fringe St. Lucia’. Listen to a range of Saint Lucian and Brighton voices read and perform poetry, prose and have a lime cocktail in between. Writers appearing from Saint Lucia include Adrian Augier, Alphonse ‘Fish’ George, Kendel Hippolyte and Vladimir Lucien. Writers appearing from the UK include John Agard, Grace Nichols, Umi Sinha, Dean Atta, Jacob Ross and Monika-Akila Richards. Films made by Davina Lee based on the short stories and poetry of Saint Lucian writers. Each evening is split into ‘Early Lime’, starts at 7.30pm and ‘Late Lime’, starts at 9pm. On Tues 20 / Wed 21 / Thurs 22 May at TheWaterBar, Thistle Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2NG. Adm: £10 – whole lime / £6 - half a lime. (Group booking discounts apply).
- ‘Saint Lucia Lime’. A night of Saint Lucian talent sponsored by the Saint Lucian Tourist Board featuring dramatist George ‘Fish’ Alphonse plus other artists to be confirmed. On 24 May at 7.30pm
at Limin’@TheWaterBar, Thistle Hotel, Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2NG. Adm: Free (RSVP). Web:
http://stlucialime.eventbrite.co.uk
- ‘A Bowl of Limes’. Caribbean Broast: Lunch / Brunch Buffet with the Saint Lucia Fringe artists. Followed by a Creative Mash Up: Discussion and networking session on UK, Saint Lucia, and West African opportunities in the Creative Industries led by Adrian Augier with Kadija George, chaired by Nigel Allyson Ryan. On Mon 26 May at 1pm at The Writer’s Place, 9 Jew Street, Brighton, BN1 1UT. Adm: £10 - Caribbean Broast and discussion / £5 discussion only. Web: http://bowloflimes.eventbrite.co.uk
- ‘Under The Lime Tree’. Vladimir Lucien launches his new book, ‘Sounding Ground’ at the Fringe Saint Lucia End of Festival Party! Plus Kendel Hippolyte re-launches ‘Night Vision’ in the UK. Both books published by Peepal Tree Press. On Wed 28 May at 6.30pm at the Saint Lucia High Commission in London, 1 Collingham Gardens, London, SW5 0HW. Adm: Free (RSVP). Web: https://underthelimetree.eventbrite.co.uk / http://www.fringestlucia.com/programme/other-uk-events/
Web: www.fringestlucia.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fringestlucia Twitter: @fringestlucia
ink361.com/fringestlucia
~ ‘A FUSION OF WORLDS: ANCIENT EGYPT, AFRICAN ART AND IDENTITY IN MODERNIST BRITAIN’ EXHIBITION. An exploration of the ways in which modernist artists – Jacob Epstein, Edna Manley and Ronald Moody – have been inspired by Ancient Egypt. The exhibition places these artists’ reworking of Egyptian art in context of their political, spiritual and gendered expressions of identity. Drawing on the influence of the Harlem Renaissance and ‘discovering’ African Art, this display repositions the work of artists, such as Jamaican born Ronald Moody, in the public memory. Until Sat 24 May at 1-5pm (Tues-Sat) at Petrie Museum, UCL, Malet Place, London, WC1. Tel: 020 7679 4138. Adm: Free. E-mail: events.petrie@ucl.ac.uk
~ PAN-AFRICAN CONGRESS MOVEMENT ALD 2014. The theme is ‘Africa, the Issue of Culture’, & ‘UNIA 100th Year Anniversary’. Speakers include: Prof James Small, Ekua ‘Esther’ Stanford-Xosei, Petronilla Mwakatuma, Cecil Gutzmore, Tafadzwa ShakaRa Mbandaka, Dr Makeddah Idawah and Chipo Sibanda and Clarrie Roots. Sun 25-Mon 26 May at the Light House, 100 Alma Way, Aston, Birmingham, B19 2LN. Tel: 0121 554 2747 / 07940 709 311. E-mail: ald.birmingham2014@gmail.com
~ KWAME NKRUMAH AFRIKAN LIBERATION DAY STREET PARLIAMENT. On Sun 25 May at Peki Adzokoe New Town, Ghana.
~ ‘AFRICA AT SPITALFIELDS’. Festival of “music, food, fashion, art, dance, games, and everything in between celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of Africa” is back. On Mon 26 May at 10am-4pm at Spitalfields Market, Brushfield Road, London, E1W 6AA. E-mail: info@africaatspitalfields.co.uk.
~ WISDOM & VITALITY NATURAL HEALTH EVENT. Speakers on the day will be Israel Ajose, Lekia Lee, Nkechi Aligbe-Abeng, Malvia Kenlock. The talks will focus on balancing masculine and feminine energies to bring about healing, self-love and positive self-image. Workshops will provide the audience with effective tools to achieve spiritual harmony and emotional healing. Moyo will inspire with poetry. On Sun 1 June at 12-7pm at School 21, New Mount Street, Stratford, London, E15 3PA. Adm: £10. Early bird ticket online only at £7.50 until 10 May. Stalls are available. E-mail: adwoa@wisdomandvitality.com Web: www.wisdomandvitality.com or facebook.com/wisdomandvitality
~ LEIGHTON HOUSE PRESENTS FROM ‘JAMAICA TO NOTTING HILL, RUDI PATTERSON’S VISIONS IN COLOUR’. For over forty years, following a career as an international model and actor, Rudi Patterson dedicated himself to painting. From the three successive council flats he lived in around Notting Hill he produced a vast body of work, exhibiting widely in London, the UK and internationally – from New York to Melbourne - throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Following his death last year, this exhibition explores a single theme; Rudi’s extraordinarily potent and vivid representations of his native Jamaica. Including many works never previously exhibited these depictions of mountain landscapes, plantation villages, luxuriant tropical vegetation, rivers and beaches conjure a compelling sense of place, intuitively made from the vantage point of a West London window. Until Fri 13 June at Leighton House Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, London, W8.
~ ‘CHRIS MARKER: A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT’ EXHIBITION. Widely credited with inventing the essay film, Marker brilliantly treads the line between documentary and personal reflection. This long overdue retrospective screens seminal sci-fi short ‘La Jetée’ - with an alternative intro - and excerpts from his hypnotic meditation on memory, ‘Sans Soleil’. One of the most powerful films here is ‘Statues Die Also’ which explores the denigration and commodification of Afrikan cultural and spiritual traditions. The title film is a three-hour examination of the role of radical politics in France. There are also photos, texts, his cover art, and a guided tour of Marker’s Second Life museum led by his cat. You should put aside a whole day for the exhibition or schedule a return visit. Until 22 June at Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7QX. Tel: 020 7522 7888. E-mail: info@whitechapelgallery.org Web: http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/chris-marker-a-grin-without-a-cat
~ NATIONAL AFRICAN RELIGION CONGRESS/NARC WORLD INTERNATIONAL PRESENT THE ‘ELEVENTH AFRICAN RELIGION CONFERENCE AND WORLD CEREMONY OF CEREMONIES: SPIRITUALITY IN WORLD CONNECTION - HEALTH, FAITH & WEALTH’. Within the United States, Afrikan-based religions are poorly understood and are often subjected to persecution and prejudice. The National African Religion Congress / NARC World International certifies priests and priestesses to assure that they have been properly trained according to the traditions of their respective religions and that they uphold the moral and ethical standards of their religion. The Afrikan-based religions represented are: Lucumi / Regla de Ocha / Santería (Cuba / Puerto Rico), Candomble (Brazil), Orisa (Trinidad & Tobago), Voodoo (Haiti), Ifa / Isese / Yoruba (Nigeria) and the Akan (Ghana). On 26–29 June at Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. Registration before 15 May: $325 - NARC Members / $350 – Non-NARC Members. Includes (CD-ROM) NARC World Directory of Priests and Priestesses 11th Edition with Conference Proceedings 2014. After 15 May directory not included. Contact: National African Religion Congress / NARC World International, 5104 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19141, USA. Tel: 215 455 0815. Fax: 215 455 0818. E-mail: narcworld@aol.com Web: www.narcworld.com
~ BUNDU DIA KONGO (BDK). Afrikan cultural and spiritual group working towards the spiritual and psychological growth and development of Afrikans all over the world. Let us make a positive change now. Learn about Afrikan prophets, Afrikan history and Afrikan spiritual practices at our weekly Zikua.
- Sun at 1.30–4.30pm at Chestnuts Community & Arts Centre, 280 St Ann’s Road, Tottenham, London, N15 5BN. Tel: Makaba - 07951 059 853.
- Sun at 12.30–3.15pm at Malika House, 81 George Street, Lozells, Birmingham, B19 1Sl. Tel: Mbuta Mayala – 07404 789 329.
~ THE AUSAR AUSET SOCIETY GI GONG CLASSES. Every Monday at 7.30–9pm at Hazel Road Community Centre, Hazel Road, Kensal Green, London, NW10 5PP. Adm: £5 per class. Tel: 07951- 252-427. E-mail: Tauinetwork.europe@gmail.com
~ EXHIBITION APPEAL: RETIRED CARIBBEAN NURSES IN HACKNEY / NEWHAM / EAST LONDON. Hackney Museum is working with Black Women in the Arts Project on an exhibition about Retired Caribbean Nurses to take place in Sep 2014 at Hackney Museum. Do you know of any retired Caribbean Nurses in Hackney / Newham / East London area? Contact: Cheryl Bowen, Community Education Manager, Health and Well Being, Hackney Museum Technology and Learning Centre, 1 Reading Lane, London, E8 1GQ. Tel: 020 8356 2658 / 2545. E-mail: cheryl.bowen@hackney.gov.uk
Web: www.hackney.gov.uk/hackneymuseum
Contact: Kubara Zamani, Afrikan Quest International, PO Box 35165, London, SE5 8WU. Tel: 07811 494 969. E-mail: afrikanquest@hotmail.com NB: Nubiart Diary can also be read at www.ligali.org
Afrikan Quest International
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