The MUSIC is BLACK.

Posted on May 1, 2026 by Paul Brad

The Music Is Black: A British Story, has been 4 years in the making and as the summer arrives in the capital this much anticipated exhibition is finally open to the people. Welcome to V&A East.

“Music is the soundtrack to our lives, and one of the most powerful tools of
unification. In The Music is Black: A British Story, we celebrate the richness and
versality of Black and Black British music as instruments of protest, affirmation,
and creativity, and reveal the untold stories behind some of the world’s most
popular music of all time.” Jacqueline Springer, Curator of The Music Is Black: A
British Story, and Curator of Africa and Diaspora Performance at the V&A

Back in 2024 I was commissioned to edit the book that accompanied the British Library’s ground breaking ‘Beyond The Bassline: 500 Years Of British Black Music’ exhibition and, as a result, was involved in numerous enlightening discussions with its curators. Both Aleema Gray and Mykaell Riley have Jamaican roots and I was privileged to witness first hand how they negotiated the hierarchy of political and cultural power that drives a national institution like the British Library. Armed with these insights and experiences I headed off to the former Olympic Park in Stratford to join former Straight No Chaser scribe, Andy Thomas, for the press launch of The Music Is Black: A British Story.

The Music Is Black is the V&A East’s opening salvo. It’s a landmark exhibition and I’d definitely say it’s big deal. It’s been four years in the making and is billed as a multi-sensory exhibition. It has definitely been taken to new heights by equipping the visitor with headphones and Sennheeiser technology which relays a specific choice of music that connects us to a particular visual or an artefact that we encounter as we travel through the spaces.

We arrived at the V&A East in time to catch a few words from the museum director, Gus Casely-Hayford, who has been enthusiastically cycling around the schools in the neighbourhood giving insight into the role that this institution can play in their lives. He reckoned to have addressed around eleven thousand school kids on his travels and one can only hope that these, mostly working class, young east Londoners gain special access to this show and other forthcoming events the V&A East have in the pipeline. The £10 fee for students/under 26 might still be a touch prohibitive.

Undoubtedly, there is pressure on V&A East to deliver, especially as shows at the V&A Kensington, like the David Bowie and the Alexander McQueen, successfully attracted a huge amount of traffic. Historically, the V&A was created to showcase “makers” and in the case of The Music Is Black we get over 200 objects drawn from the V&A’s collection plus a host of important loans. Each artefact delivers its own story. Think: Winifred Atwell’s battered “other” piano / Stormzy’s iconic 2019 Glastonbury stab-vest designed by Banksy / Carol Thompson’s fur coat from her debut LP / Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar / Duke Vin’s 7″ record boxes / Jme’s Super Nintendo & Mario Paint game – think beats! On the fashion tip we get outfits worn by Little Simz (lovin’ that Comme des Garçons silhouettte), Seal, Pauline Black, Dame Shirley Bassey, Sade and Skin. We even get the one and only DJ Paulette’s sequined Knickerbox designed pants!

Top: Bond Girl – Shirley Bassey’s sequined dress / Below: Duke Vin’s 7″ singles box

There are four spaces in the exhibition and if we want to get to the heart of the narrative – “the spine of popular music in the West” – we have to look to its curator, Jaqueline Springer. During a short talk delivered on the day, she referred to the initial space as Act 1, describing it as a vertebrae of understanding which confronts colonial and imperial conduct and underpins the subsequent rebellions against repression and enslavement, whether in the form of revolution or subversion.

We enter Act 1 through a dimly lit space that offers a deeper historical and political context. There are original copies of both a massive King James Bible and a specially redacted “Slaves Bible” which was first published in 1807 by British missionaries and planters in the Caribbean. The ethereal melisma of Allegri’s ‘Miserere mei, Deus’ played as we looked upon each of these Bibles. We have to marvel at the brazen editing whereby Moses’ exodus from Egypt – his freeing of the slaves from the tyranny of the Pharoah – was eradicated from the Slaves Bible.

Especially for our current King – Charles III – there are signed documents that link King Charles II directly to the slave trade. All these items evocatively sit alongside a specially commissioned artwork by British Guiana born, London / NYC based painter Sir Frank Bowling.

Message to the Royal Family – *“Do you remember the days of slavery… history can recall… ” Burning Spear*

In Act 1, a berimbau – a musical bow of Africa origin, currently associated with the Afro Brazilian martial art of Capoeira – is prominently displayed as a foundational, symbolic instrument representing the roots of Black diasporic music and its journey from Africa to the world. We loved that it physically connects two rooms in the exhibition.

Also on display is an early‑20th‑century African thumb piano – sanza, mbira or kalimba – ingeniously made using a Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin as its sound box. Huntley & Palmers were the world’s largest biscuit company, exporting across Africa, the Americas, Asia and beyond. In this context, the thumb piano quite rightly becomes a powerful convergence of music, industry, empire, creativity and cultural survival.

While the Beyond The Bassline exhibition spanned 500 years and approached the Black presence in Britain via the sea, the oceans, the tides, the trade and the tribulation that ensued in the form of slavery, the focus of The Music Is Black is the last 125 years – from 1900 to the present day. Act 2 of the exhibition is split into two parts. The first part as “Modernity and how identity is politicised and speaks within the bodies of the those colonised” … through the music of jazz, calypso, hi-life, ska, rocksteady, reggae.

In Springer’s view jazz and reggae are forms of imported music. They are the source of what this exhibition defines as Black British music in 2026. For the older music heads this is where the exhibition burst into life. Personally, I think the exhibition underplays the organic evolution and impact of an array of pre and post WW2 musicians from West Africa and the Caribbean. It was the creative endeavours of groundbreaking musicians like Ambrose Campbell, Mulatu Astatke, Lord Kitchener, Shake Keane and Joe Harriott – to name but a few – combined with radical recordings of jazz and blues from America that shaped the unique qualities and sounds of 1960s street level music in the UK. If we are to describe the Black presence in British music as its vertebrae we must recognise the vital energy it transmits and how pivotal it remains in UK music’s global success. Would the Beatles achieved worldwide fame had they not met calypsonian Lord Woodbine or listened to the Isley Brothers? Would Mick Jagger and Keith Richards gone on to form the Rolling Stones had they not met on a train each carrying their latest Blues acquisitions? Would Jimi Hendrix have achieved global notoriety had he not opted to relocate to London?

Part two of Act 2 – room three in exhibition – is defined as the “Rebel yells / youth-quake”… and is jammed to capacity with images and artefacts. This room is pivotal to the exhibition. It’s the beating heart of the exhibition and showcases eight distinct Black British genres: lovers rock, Brit funk, 2 Tone, jungle, drum & bass, trip hop, UK garage and grime. There’s a lot to read in this third room. I takes time to dive in and join the dots, to visualise the connections between the flow of words from jungle to grime and the shifting sands of electronic beats and basslines that provide the sonic soundtracks woven into our inner cities.

BRISTOL: Trip Hop – Tricky, Portishead, Smith n Mighty

If you are a follower of reggae music and sound system you’ll be disappointed that those hard working operators who criss crossed nation week in and week out, through rain and snow, delivering words, sound and power in the form of the latest music and lyrical commentary are not given a cohesive nod of respect.

For those who are rooted in post rave club culture you will immediately feel there are obvious gaps in the mix like the Co-op / Broken Beat posse and the nu-generation jazz crews – Ezra Collective et al. Plus why no props for a Mercury winning Roni Size / Reprazent or innovators like 4 Hero? Did I miss that? Similarly, with pirate radio… while there’s some nice film footage of Lepke and DBC (Dread Broadcasting Company) it provoked another punter watching the footage to ask, “Why no KIssFM?”

Hewan Clark’s Blaupunkt ‘Bluespot’ radiogram + banner from Norman Jay’s Shake & Fingerpop + Blue Note sign!

In her short address to the press the curator added that there are clearly more genres than the eight included but sadly decisions /edits had to be made on the basis of space! This leads us to the conclusion that this show inevitably skims the surface of all the genres included – that there was no space to go deep. Like Beyond The Bassline and other exhibitions that went before it, The Music Is Black is therefore a potential launch pad for more specific, genre led exhibitions in the future. However, as there is no permanent space that can house all the material that has been sourced through hundreds of hours of research there remains no tangible foundation to build on. Where is our Labour Minister for Culture in these these “anti-woke” times. Surely we need to do battle with the long term prospect of a shadowy, racist Reform led government? What the fuck. Why can’t Lisa Nandy find us the finance and the space that can become our “Smithsonian”. Something like the former Salts mill that houses the Hockney collection in Yorkshire? Sadly, the material that is collected together in this exhibition will be returned their owners or scattered to the wind. So, yeah, back to square one….

Throughout the exhibition we are invited to embrace a host of carefully placed physical and innovative artworks by Dame Sonia Boyce, Zak Ové, Sokari Douglas Camp CBE, Sir Frank Bowling, Denzil Forrester, and LR Vandy. It’s an essential touch that connects the black creative community across the cultural spectrum. Progressing to the final Act we get to focus on the style ‘n’ fashion aspects of the culture. This is more V&A-ish and despite an array of outfits from Little Simz, Stormzy, Seal, Pauline Black, Poly Styrene, Sade, Mel & Kim, Skin and DJ Paulette, we leave the exhibition not with bang but a feeling of “Is that it?”. It’s a feeling that’s confirmed by the large TV screen which seems to encompass all the peeps who couldn’t fit into the exhibition elsewhere. From there it’s exit through the gift shop to buy the catalogue.

The 360 page hardback book offers essays by Denise Noble, Lisa Amanda Palmer, Kenny Monrose, Julia Toppin, Robert Strachan, James McNally, Jaqueline Springer and Monique Charles plus a host of solid in depth interviews with Janet Kay, Dennis Bovell, Carroll Thompson, Jerry Dammers, Neville Staple, Rhoda Dakar, Mike Vernon, ‘Bluey’ Maunick, Kenny Wellington, A Guy Called Gerald, Hewan Clarke, Ragga Twins, Fabio & Grooverider, DJ Storm, Smith & Mighty, Morcheeba, Spoony, Mega, DJ Target, Chad Stennett, Slimzee and Chantelle Fiddy. In my humble view I’d say that The Music Is Black catalogue is a 3 out 10 for design but verbally a good addition to the solid foundation that was laid down by the award winning Beyond The Bassline book (which sold out in hardback and is now available as a paperback!).

In conclusion, it’s all well and good to big up yourself but I wasn’t convinced that The Music Is Black lives up to its claim to be “The first major exhibition on this scale to explore how Black British music has shaped British culture and its global impact – sharing a long-overdue story of Black excellence, struggle, resilience, and joy.” That said, The Music Is Black succeeds in rightfully acknowledging the contribution of the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout the summer they will hosting a plethora of events to supplement the actual exhibition. Get on the mailing list. Go and visit. A luta continua.

PS: Happy that Straight No Chaser made it onto the wall of black music mags. Nice! Respect is due.

Posted in Art, Culture, Deep stuff, fusion, Is That Jazz?, Just Runnings, music, Sound & Power, Urban runnings..., Words, Sound & Power | Tagged 2 Tone, 4 Aces, :Leroy 'Lepke' Anderson, A Guy Called Gerald, Afrobeats, Art, ‘Bluey’ Maunick, Beatles, Blue Note, Brit funk, Broken Beat, Calypso, Carnival, Carroll Thompson, Chad Stennett, Chantalle Fiddy, Co-op, Dame Sonia Boyce, Dennis Bovell, Denzil Forrester, DJ Paulette, DJ Storm, DJ Target, Dread Broadcasting Company / DBCC, drum & bass, Duke Vin, Fabio & Grooverider, grime, Gus Casely-Hayford, Hewan Clarke, Hi Life, Janet Kay, Jaqueline Springer, Jazz, Jerry Dammers, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Armatrading, Julia Toppin, Jungle, Kenny Wellington, Little Simz, Lord Woodbine, lovers rock, LR Vandy, Mega, Mel & Kim, Mike Vernon, monique Charles, Morcheeba, museums, music, Neville Staple, Pauline Black, Poly Styrene, Ragga Twins, Reggae, reviews, Rhoda Dakar, rocksteady, Sade, Seal, Seklecter, Shake & Fingerpop, Sir Frank Bowling, Ska, Skin, Skin and DJ Paulette, Slaves Bible, Smith & Mighty, Sokari Douglas Camp CBE, Specials AKA, Stormzy, trip hop, UK Garage, Wimifred Atwell, writing, Zak Ove | Leave a comment

AIM, SHOOT, STOP, FIX!

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Paul Brad

**Four legendary music photographers unite for a joint photography exhibition – Aim, Shoot, Stop, Fix . It kicks off on 10th March and runs until 9 April 2026**

AIM, SHOOT, STOP, FIX brings together four of the most influential music photographers of their generation — Peter Anderson, Chris Clunn, David Corio and Lawrence Watson — in a rare group exhibition celebrating the raw, intimate, analogue age of music photography.

All four began their formative careers at the legendary British music weekly New Musical Express (NME) during the 1970s and 1980s — a period when music journalism shaped culture and photographers were granted remarkable creative freedom and unprecedented access to emerging artists.

This was before corporate gatekeeping, before image control strategies and social media curation. It was a time when trust, instinct and proximity defined the image. These photographers were embedded in the scene — backstage, on the road, in studios, at home — documenting artists not yet mythologised, not yet media-managed.

The excellent imagery of Chris, David and Lawrence also featured in Straight No Chaser magazine during the Nineties and post the millienia.

The result is an archive of images that helped define how the world sees modern music.

Among the hundreds of artists they photographed are: George Clinton, Marvin Gaye, Fugees, Tribe Called Quest, Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Ian Dury, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, The Clash, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, David Bowie, Madonna, Paul Weller, Sade, Oasis, Joy Division, New Order, Run DMC, Snoop Dogg, Tricky, The Specials, Pogues, Eurythmics, Blur, Nick Cave, Jamiroquai — and countless more.

AIM, SHOOT, STOP, FIX offers a visual re-examination of the cultural moment when post-punk fractured into new wave, hip-hop crossed into the mainstream, Britpop exploded, and club culture reshaped Britain. These are not simply portraits — they are documents of musical history in the making.

Each photographer emerged from — and remains devoted to — analogue practice. In an era long before digital preview screens, every frame carried weight. Film had to be developed by hand. Prints were crafted in the darkroom. Light, chemistry, timing and instinct were inseparable from authorship.

Most works in the exhibition are hand-printed by the photographers themselves, offering audiences rare insight into the full photographic process — from contact sheet to final print. Grain, contrast, tonal depth and paper choice become part of the narrative. These are not digital reproductions of history; they are original, tactile artefacts.

Though each photographer has since built a wide-ranging career beyond music, this exhibition revisits the period that shaped their visual language — when experimentation was encouraged, access was open, and visual identity was being invented in real time.

AIM, SHOOT, STOP, FIX brings together some of the most enduring images in music, made in a time of extraordinary access and trust. These works capture musicians at decisive moments in their careers — unguarded, ambitious, unfiltered — exactly as they were.

All roads lead to: WORLDLY WICKED & WISE GALLERY, 81 Salusbury RD , London NW6 6NH

www.worldlywickedandwise.co.uk

Posted in Art, Deep stuff, music, Sound & Power, Words, Sound & Power | Tagged @chrisclunn, @david.corio, @lawrencewatsonphotgraphy, @peterandersonphotos, Afrobeat, analogue, Art, funk, Hip Hop, indie, Madchester, Manchester, Mod, music, NME, NYC, P Funk, Photography, Punk, Rebel music, Reggae, Straight No Chaser, travel, writing | Leave a comment

“Art does not have to be specific to our struggles to be helpful to us in dealing with them. And this is because art is not about itself, but about us. It is what it does to us, what it opens up in us that counts.”

Posted on February 17, 2026 by Paul Brad

Respect to the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2026. If you’re reading this, please take time out, kick back and check this speech by Sir Ben Okri – pure inspiration for anyone willing to tune in.

The renowned poet and novelist Sir Ben Okri delivered a poignant and rousing welcome address at The Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2026. It was truly what we needed on the night… it lifted our spirits and confirmed the need to press on in these turbulent times.

Ben’s words were a visceral testament to power of artists to respond to and transcend personal and collective crisis, and a powerful reflection on why the universal spirit of art really matters.

For those of you not familiar with the Arts Foundation, it is a registered charity that supports individual artists and creatives in the UK with unconditional financial Fellowships through the Arts Foundation Futures Awards.

Since 1993, the Arts Foundation has awarded over £2 million to the most promising artists in the UK at a pivotal moment in their careers to enable them to concentrate on their creative development, experiment, and realise their artistic potential.

Historically, the annual Arts Foundation Futures Awards has provided five transformative £10,000 Fellowships, with all Shortlisted Artists receiving £1,000 towards the development of their practice. In 2025, the Arts Foundation raised the Fellowship Award amount to £20,000 to ensure it continues to have the same life-changing impact and responds to inflation, the ongoing cost of living crisis and low artist income precarity experienced across the contemporary arts in the UK.

For 2026, the Foundation was thrilled to support the award categories: Film, Literature, Music, Theatre, and Visual Art.

These awards support UK-based, promising artists at pivotal career moments. The twenty artists shortlisted were announced on 7 January 2026, with the five artists receiving the no-strings-attached £20,000 Fellowship revealed at a celebratory Award Ceremony on 2 February in London.

The AFA’s Winners were: Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu (Theatre), Zein Majali (Visual Art), Dorothy Allen-Pickard (Film), Fahad Al-Amoudi (Literature), and William Marsey (Music), with each receiving a £20,000 fellowship.

I immediately went home and ordered a book by the Winner of the Arts Foundation Futures Award for Poetry – Al-Amoudi, Fahad – ‘When the Flies Come’ . It’s published by Oxford Brookes University and they appear to have a wealth of new, fresh poetic works– all modestly priced . Nice!)

Basically the Art Foundation Future Awards deliver a host of wonderful stuff… you can delve further into the Arts Foundation Futures Awards here… start browsing at https://artsfoundation.co.uk/

Enuff said! And finally, once more, BIG respek to Sir Ben Okri…. 🔥🔥🔥

Posted in Art, Culture, music, Urban runnings..., Words, Sound & Power | Tagged 'When the Flies Come', AFFA, Arts Foundation, Arts Foundation Futures Awards, Books, Cassie Kinoshi, Dorothy Allen-Pickard, Fahad Al-Amoudi, Film, news, Nneka Cummins, Oxford Brookes University Press, review, Sasha Scott, Sir Ben Okri, Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, William Marsey, writing, Zein Majali | Leave a comment

BEYOND THE BASSLINE: 500 Years Of Black British Music

Posted on December 10, 2025 by Paul Brad

The Award Winning British Library publication which was released in a hardback format to coincide with widely acclaimed exhibition is now available as a paperback!!

What’s in this book? Edited by myself, in consultation with the exhibition curators, Aleema Gray and Mykael Riley, the book gathers together over 40 contributors to take us on a journey from the court of Henry VIII to the digital warriors who reside in the ends of 21 century East London and beyond.

Scan the Contents pages below to get the vibe… Seen?

An assortment of influences: Digging in my archive

The original 50’s/60s Jazz Warriors : Joe & Shake pave the way for the now generation.

Saturday afternoon at the Cavern , Liverpool 1963

Rock Against Racism: A Movement we need to revive?

UK Stylee…Dub Poets, Hip Hop, Ragga, Junglists, Grime,…

There’s a whole heap of words in this book… check the contents above for the contributors and what they cover … it reveals a host of wonderful and knowledgeable peeps … too many to name here. It’s definitely a book I’m proud of… big respek to all those who contributed… and the team of Maria Ranauro, Steve Russell and Roland Hall.

If your looking for a present to give someone for Xmas or New Years… Beyond The Bassline might just fit the bill.

Available at all good book shops and online.

Posted in Art, Culture, Deep stuff, Follytricks!, Is That Jazz?, Just Runnings, music, Sound & Power, Urban runnings..., Words, Sound & Power | Tagged Afrobeats, Ambrose Adeyoka Campbell, Bamboo Club, Benjamin Zephaniah, Billy waters, Blues, Bristol, Britain, British Library, Cleo Laine, Derek walcott, George Bridgetower, gospel, grime, Hip Hop, Jah Shaka, Jazz, Joe Harriott, John Blanke, Jungle, Ken 'Snakehips'Johnson, Kitch, Little Simz, Liverpool, Londo, London Lagos Accra, lovers rock, Neneh Cherry, Notting Hill Carnival, Pauline Black, R&B, Rastafari, Reggae, Roaring Twenties, Sancho, Selectert, Shirley Bassey, Sir Coxsone . Sound System, Slavery, Soho, Sonny Roberts, Soul II Soul, Southern Syncopated Orchestra, Steel Pan, Stormzy, Straight No Chaser, The Beatles, The Cavern, The Marquee, The Reno, Two Tone, UK Garage, West African Rhythm Brothers, Windrush | Leave a comment

UNFILTERED: IN CONVERSATION WITH OSUNLADE

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Paul Brad

Live ‘n Direct from Mason & Fifth – Osunlade meets Straight No Chaser’s Paul Bradshaw… We go DEEPER! Tune in!

A couple a weeks ago, at Mason & Fifth in Westbourne Park, we were treated to a revealing ‘n’ wonderful un-filtered in conversation session with Osunlade The St Louis, Missouri, born DJ / Producer went deep into his childhood – summers in Chicago… musical discovery and sexuality, his A&R groundings in LA and his transition into NYC’s house community. He revealed in some detail his immersion into the spiritual practices and ancient belief / divination system of Ifa/Santeria and simultaneously projected a radical ‘in the moment’ perspective on life that reflects his nomadic lifestyle. For Osunlade it’s all about legacy and the music. He is a restless soul. Respect to those who turned out on a chilly Monday night… & to those who didn’t… you missed out.

That said, you lucky people, here is a recording of that precious and illuminating conversation done by the Mason & Fifths’ sound engineer. As someone who has done a whole heap of interviews over the years, this recording is most definitely up there! Herein lies a borderless approach to music, creativity and livity.

‘Nuff said, “Tune in… it kicks in at 4: 40 with ‘Blackman’ “

You can browse and buy Osunlade / Yoruba Soul releases /artists at

https://yorubasoul.bandcamp.com/

https://www.beatport.com/label/yoruba-records/6649

Respek to Kyri Patsalides: Check R2 x Yoruba Records – 25 Years feat Karizma / Osunlade / Afefe Iku / Mr Flip

Posted in Deep stuff, Is That Jazz?, Urban runnings..., Words, Sound & Power | Tagged A&R, Adelaide, ancestral house, BBE, Body & Soul, Chicago House, DJ, House Music, Ifa, Jazz, LA, Mason & Fifth, Nomad, NYC, Prince, Producer, R2 Records, Santeria, Santorini, Sexuality, Soul Jazz, Straight No Chaser, Yoruba Records | Leave a comment

DRAX OF DRAX HALL: A deep dive in Squirarchy, a Dorset family’s past and the legacy of slavery.

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Paul Brad

Investigative journalist, Paul Lashmar, delivers a searing, in depth exposé of how a single British family built – and preserved – its fortune through centuries of slavery, land ownership, and imperial exploitation.

Prior to sitting down at the Mac to write this piece I scanned the comments about Drax Of Drax Hall: How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery on Amazon and tucked way at the bottom was a one line missive from someone called Hermione who declared the book to be “Utter bilge. Based on the author’s personal animus against Richard Drax.” Clearly this was someone who has not read the book. Basically, should you pick and read this book you will need to wade through 352 pages of Drax family history –16 generations – plus their political and economic impact on Dorset and Barbadian life in order to arrive at the few pages in the book that are dedicated to life and career of Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, the former Conservative MP for South Dorset and current head of the Charborough Estate.

As someone who has read the book, I can honestly say – in defence of the author – that he has been incredibly fair handed and extremely diligent when it comes to his research in laying out before us the history of this family of landed gentry and former slave owners, Our journey commences in 1627 when James Drax boards a ship and heads for the West Indies. Just for reference, he embarked on his journey during the reign of King Charles1 and just 15 years before the English Civil war broke out. Landing on the island of Barbados, Colonel James Drax was set to make his fortune despite the odds. He had arrived on the island with £300 – a substantial sum of money (look it up) – which was invested in sugar and rum. According to one visitor to the island, Drax “lived like a king” and as the estate expanded so they they moved beyond indentured labour and into dark exploitation of chattel slavery. This is a the story that bonds Barbados to Britain over centuries and offers up a complex history which gives us a genuine insight into the huge amount of wealth that was generated by the labour, trauma, torture and death of tens of thousands of enslaved people.

I have long known Paul Lashmar through our shared passion for music from around the world – ancient to future. Both he and I had long wondered about that brick wall on the A31 which seems to go on forever ever as one drives toward Dorchester and the West. It’s a formidable piece of bricklaying that seals the Charborough Estate off from the prying eyes of the general public. However, it was the the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement globally that finally turned the spotlight on Richad Drax MP and his 15,000 acres estate plus his ancestors’ role in slavery in Barbados and Jamaica. In 2025, Richard Drax remains the inherited owner the Drax Plantation in Barbados . It is described locally as the “killing fields” as there is no marked graveyard on a plantation which would have contributed to and witnessed the deaths of potentially 30,000 enslaved African people.

Around 5,000 slaves are thought to have been shipped annually from Gold Coast (Ghana) to the New World.
Photo Credit: Aeon.co

In 2025 it is estimated that just 50 acres of the 617 acre Drax plantation would currently be worth around £3 million. The current Barbadian Government recently withdrew an offer to buy part of the plantation switching to the more radical view that the whole estate should be handed over to the nation as part of a reparations settlement.

To go back to the beginning, Lashmar illuminates how James Drax revolutionised sugar production on the island of Barbados and correspondingly introduced slavery into his production process. This was the age of piracy and colonial wars between European nations and the author paints a detailed picture of how the economy of sugar and slavery evolved and what the lifestyle of these colonisers entailed. As for the slaves who arrived from West Africa, life was brutal and short. The harsh conditions of sugar production on the Drax estate combined with yellow fever and malaria, poor diet, and physical violence led to a life expectancy sometimes as low as five years after arrival.

“It is deeply regrettable, but no one can be held responsible today for what happened hundreds of years ago.”

Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax

While some archaeological findings from Barbados suggest a birth-to-death expectancy of around 29 years (with low infant mortality), this conflicts with historical accounts showing high infant death and shorter overall lives, often placing the average around 20 years or even just a few years after landing.

James Drax returned to England around 1658 and died there in 1662, having achieved his goal of becoming a wealthy landed magnate at home while continuing to profit from his Barbados estates. It was down to his son, Henry, who, in preparing to depart for England in 1679, drew up detailed instructions for his overseer on how to manage the plantation and its enslaved people in his absence. This established a pattern of absentee ownership, with management handled by attorneys, estate managers, and overseers on the island while the wealth was channeled back to the family’s estates in Dorset, England.

Sugar and cotton fuelled Britain’s industrial revolution. For the Drax family it apparently provided around a quarter of their annual income profit, the rest coming from their estates. Basically, if in 1823 the Drax family made £3000 from their plantation in Barbados that amount today would be £250,000 – a quarter of a million! History is complex and nuanced and my own class-driven preoccupations were more than satiated by Lashmar’s willingness to build a picture of how, over centuries, one family still controls a hugely disproportionate amount of land in this country. Building on Guy Shrubsole’s book Who Owns England? Lashmar homes in on the county of Dorset to reveal how, in great detail, these people maintained their control – politically and economically – while the English working class, laboured and lived in comparative squalor. The devil is indeed in the detail.

The landed gentry controlled the courts. They had representatives in Parliament. The working people didn’t even have a vote. The local elections were a rowdy and often drunken events. The 1865 Wareham election which was won by the scoundrel and “squire from the north”, John Drax, is vividly depicted in this book.

Basically, those who owned the land also owned (and still own) the properties on it. In turn they owned the people in them. The name “tied cottages” says it all. The dwellings were squalid and cold. Life was hard for the landed farm labourer but Lashmar’s research shows the land owners continued to rake in the money. In the case of Drax family it was a combination of profit from slavery combined with the exploitation of local labour on their farm land. It might be said that it was the same, albeit distant hand that wielded the whip on a Barbados plantation which cast a shadow over the judgement of six men from the Dorset village of Tolpuddle.

The landed gentry were seriously spooked by the French revolution and by the English Captain Swing Riots. In 1834 six farm workers from Tolpuddle – a mere 8 miles from Charborough – were arrested. They were charged with having taken “an illegal oath”. But their real crime in the eyes of the landed establishment was to have formed a trade union to protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week – the equivalent of 30p (or roughly £50 when adjusted for inflation to today’s money) and the third wage cut in as many years. They were found guilty and sentenced to seven years of deportation to Australia. After this brutal sentence was pronounced, the English working class rose up in support of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. A massive demonstration marched through London and an 800,000-strong petition was delivered to Parliament protesting about their sentence. It was this movement that led to the sentences being revoked and gave rise to the formation of the Trade Union movement.

I was delighted to see that Paul Lashmar was invited to join in and give a reading from his book at that annual gathering in Tolpuddle that celebrates the victory of the the Martyrs over the establishment. One can’t help but feel his book should be made mandatory reading for the Reform, Tory, Labour voting residents of Dorset. It should at least be in every local and school library in both Dorset and its neighbouring counties.

A farm labourer’s dwelling in Morden (on the Charborough Estate)

As the book moves into the 20th century Lashmar gives credit where credit is due to generations of Draxes who have played a role in the higher echelons of the military including the current incumbent, Richard Drax who has followed the well worn path of the upper classes going from prep school to Harrow and eventually onto Sandhurst and into the Coldstream Guards where he rose to the rank of captain. During his seven years in the army he served in numerous countries and did three tours of Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

After a 17 year long career in broadcasting – nine of which were spent as a local reporter for regional TV / BBC South Today. Drax opted to follow his ancestors into Parliament as a Tory MP. On the advice of Prime Minister David Camerom he dropped his full name of Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax and stood as Richard Drax. He was elected to parliament in 2010 standing as an ardent anti-immigration Brexiteer (while accepting millions of pounds in EU Common Agricultural subsidies). He was acknowledged as the wealthiest land-owning member of the House Of Commons and his voting record shows that Drax generally voted against climate change mitigation, equality and rights legislation, same sex marriage and gay rights. He opposed tax rises for higher earners, windfall taxes and a bankers levy. Though he had a sizeable majority of 7000+ in his constituency his nine year stint in Parliament was ended when Reform split the Tory vote and allowed a Labour MP to nick the seat. Drax simply returned to Charborough to focus on the more traditional activities of farming, hunting, shooting, fishing and horse riding.

Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax / Drax Plantation – Barbados

Lashmar estimated the 2020 value of Drax / Charborough estate at around £150,000,000. It’s undoubtedly much more today and therefore no surprise that Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax maintains a very low profile. He keeps well schtrum about the issues of slavery and reparations. He is against reparations and is on the record as saying, “It is deeply regrettable, but no one can be held responsible today for what happened hundreds of years ago.” That said, the fraught, controversial issues surrounding the Drax Plantation in Barbados are far from over, especially if Prime Minister Mia Mottley QC has anything to do with it. Stay tuned.

To conclude, as one Observer reviewer succinctly put it: “Lashmar’s book is a necessary, damning reminder that the ghosts of empire are not distant – they are living, breathing and, in some cases, still collecting rent.’

Drax Of Drax Hall: How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery is published by Pluto Press (Hdbk) and is available at all good bookshops and online.

Posted in Deep stuff | Tagged anti immigration, barbados, Black Lives Matter, BREXIT, Captain Swing, caribbean, Charborough, David Olusoga, Deportation, Dorset, Drax Hall, Drax Of Drax Hall, Drax Plantation Barbados, history, James Drax, Paul Lashmar, Pluto Press, Reparations, Richard Drax, Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, Slavery, Squirarchy, Tolpuddle Martyrs, Tory MP, Trade Union, travel, Wareham, Who Owns England? | 1 Comment

TO THE FONDATION MAEGHT : THE CYCLICAL ROUTE OF THE AVANTE GARDE – SUN RA to the PYRAMIDS

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Paul Brad

In July 1970 La Fondation Maeght in the South of France hosted a series of concerts, curated by Daniel Caux, a French musicologist, essayist, journalist, music critic, and radio producer. These extraordinary events showcased both electronic / minimalist music and avante garde free jazz alongside with the bold visual and conceptual art of the time. Fifty five years on – almost to the day – La Fondation Maeght , along with DJ/broadcaster/producer Gilles Peterson, has just hosted ‘Impressions’, their second 2 day event at the gallery, and it was a blast. It revived the groundbreaking musical spirit of the now legendary 1970 concerts – Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Terry Riley, Cecil Taylor, Milford Graves, LaMonte Young, Terry Riley, Pierre Boulez, John Cage and Marian Zazeela – and introduced a new generation of listeners and art lovers to the works of Celine Dessberg, Joweee Omicil and Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids.

As we ascend the hill that takes us to La Fondation Maeght, the commune of St Paul-De-Vence comes into view. One the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera it had long held a serious rep as a centre for contemporary art. It has been home to both Henri Matisse and James Baldwin. Of all the galleries in St Paul-De-Vence it’s La Fondation Maeght that carries the swing. Upon arriving in the gardens surrounding the modernist buildings which host their impressive collection of artworks, you are hit by a mind blowing array of sculpture that shares the space with the towering pines. A carpet of sound is laid down by an army of crickets.

It’s Friday evening and the people have yet to arrive. We pass through the gallery entrance and exit onto the courtyard which is home to Giacometti’s The Walking Man sculptures. Everywhere is a gentle sound track of running water and it’s immediately obvious that three of the biggest sculptors of the 20th century – Georges Braque, Joan Miró and Alberto Giacometti – had a significant free hand in helping to create La Fondation Maeght.

Memories of the previous year’s event flooded back. Together with his good friend, the late Emmanuel Delavenne of Hotel Amour in Nice, Gilles Peterson had convinced La Fondation’s executive director, Nicolas Gitton, and the Maeght family that an event celebrating 1970’s Nuits De La Fondation Maeght could be of significant value both culturally and musically. If the event was deemed successful, an annual happening might have the potential to introduce La Fondation Maeght and its work to a new generation of art and music lovers both at home and globally.

The very first incarnation of what has become ‘Impressions’ arrived in August 2024 and showcased an eclectic, outernational line up that embraced AACM / Chicago based Kahil El Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; Mongolian jazz singer / songwriter Erkhembayar Enkhjargal aka Enji; Austrian alto, soprano, tenor saxophonist and composer Muriel Grossmann and finally, award winning Paris born / Syrian flautist/vocalist/composer, Naïssam Jalal Naïssam and her Rhythms of Resistance.

As I was there to select the music between sets I can testify as to the power of the music that was delivered over two spectacular nights. The line up for 2025 looked equally promising.

GP & Paul Brad SNC

Paris based Céline Dessberg proved an intriguing presence. A singer songwriter whose music echoes her roots on the steppes of Mongolia took the stage with acoustic guitar and the somewhat dramatic yatga – a large, traditional Mongolian zither-harp hybrid. As the rays of the setting sun slid through the trees she plied her audience with short evocative songs, sung in French. Though the lyrics were over this listener’s head, a good french speaking friend was smitten with her words. She was on the edge of tears. There’s a profound poetic nostalgia at work Céline’s songs that you can explore further on the EP – ‘Hödöö’- and the single ‘Selenge’ b/w ‘Chintamani’.

Jowee Omicil is a Haitian-Canadian jazz musician and his set was destined to take us into another dimension. The posters for ‘Impressions’ session promised a Freedom Suite based on a pivotal moment in Haitian history – the Bwa Kayiman / Bois Caïman – a secret gathering of slaves born in Saint-Domingue or Africa which took place in 1791. It was led by the legendary Vodou priest Boukman and the ceremony sparked the slave revolts which led to freedom and independence from France in 1804 . Across centuries, the Bwa Kayiman has remained a controversial symbol of Haitian resistance and unity. Based on his current album – Spiritual Healing: Bwa Kayiman Freedom Suite – the ensemble filed onstage with Jowee blowing frantically into a long horn, a vaksin, that holds a central place in Haiti’s RaRa ensembles.

As the sun retreated and night time descended so the music shifted and morphed in intensity. Underpinned by two trap drummers and traditional tanbou drums, Jowee Omicil channeled the spirits. He offered us a dynamic range of sound born of an impressive familiarity with his instruments which included alto and tenor saxes, bass clarinet, flute, pocket trumpet and an electronic device which replicated the sound of the accordion, evoking the sound of acoustic Haitian twoubadou music. It was down to their impressive pianist, Jonathon Jurion, to take flight from the propulsive rhythms of the drummers and open up space for his impressive solos. As a possessed Jowee stalked along the wall in front of the stage he regaled the audience seeking their vocal participation. Both impressionistic and intense, the shape shifting music of Jowee Omicil won the ensemble a well deserved encore that took them right up to curfew.

Saturday night a La Fondatiom Maeght offered something different. Headlining the night was Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids who had flown in from the West Coast in the States and their set was to be followed by a “late night” two hour DJ set by Gilles Peterson.

The choice of Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids was, in part, inspired by their connection to pianist / composer Cecil Taylor who performed at Nuits de la Fondation Maeght on July 29, 1969. As students at Antioch College, a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, the founding members of the Pyramids –Idris Ackamoor, Margaux Simmons and Kimanthi Asante – all grew as musicians under the tutelage of the Visiting Professor of Music and Artist In Residence, Cecil Taylor. The pianist had arrived at Antioch in 1971 with a whole entourage that included Jimmy Lyons (alto) , Andrew Cyrille (drums), James Thompson (poet), Sam Rivers / Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (tenor) and Clifford Sykes (percussion) and Ken Miller (dancer). For Idris: “working with Cecil was like being on another planet” and for Margaux: “It was all music from there on in.”

According to Idris, there was one class that Cecil taught which was to significantly shape his life along with Margaux and Kimathi’s: “He also taught a class on black music history, the history of black music, which involved not only jazz, American jazz, but it involved history, and a lot of history of Africa, going back a long time ago. He brought in a multitude of historical information that we had not received elsewhere, we learned a lot about ancient traditions.”

Cecil Taylor Nuits De La Fondation Maeght Vol. 1 1972

Upon finishing the course at Antioch, Idris and Margaux decided to form a band and go to Europe and Africa. Through Antioch International’s ‘Your Own Plans’ project they secured round the world tickets and a $300 monthly stipend. Kimathi came on board and the trio’s first stop was Paris which was overflowing with jazz musicians. After an intensive six week course of learning French at the University of Besanson they decided to name their group the Pyramids. Following an encounter with beat poet Ted Joans in Amsterdam they set off for Africa, first landing in Tangiers. From there they travelled to Dakar and then onto Ghana where they took up a residency. From Accra they ventured north to Bolgatanga and Tamale to explore the traditional music – which they professionally recorded. In Bolgatanga they encountered the animist / juju beliefs of the Fra Fra and In the Islamic kingdom of Dagbom they played with the drummers of the royal court. Their stop off in Uganda was cut short when Idi Amin took over and one soldier declared, “Cut your beard or we will cut your neck!”

During their two month stay in Kenya they travelled from village to village studying the music, singing, dancing and food of the Masai and the Kikuyu. Idris maintains it was a miraculous time and it paved the way for the next journey. While Kamathi headed for Egypt and the pyramids, Idris and Margaux traveled to Ethiopia in search of Lalibela and the rock churches that Cecil Taylor had told them about.

“Lalibela was like, wow. That was the place to be, ” says Idris. We had a guide take us to the rock churches, we must have visited three or four of the churches. But the most unbelievable [part] of all of this is that the priests were making all this amazing music inside the churches, and they allowed me to tape their ceremonies. It was unbelievable.”

From there it was back to the USA. Now working as the Pyramids they recorded three, seminal, self produced albums – ‘Lalibela’, ‘King Of Kings’, ‘Birth /Speed/Merging’ – which were built around the deep experiences of traveling and living across the African continent. Over the decades these LPs ensured the cult status of an ensemble that was sadly short-lived. Basically, the Pyramids were ahead of their time leading each member to go their separate ways. However, in 2010 through Strut records the Pyramids were reborn.

After years in the trenches dealing with activism, theatre and music in the San Francisco area, Idris was ready to deliver a 21st century version of the Pyramids with a vivid, wide screen, musical vision that embraced their own roots from the Cecil Taylor workshops to the drummers of the Dagbom to the funk of Sly Stone and Funkadelic to the militancy of Fela Kuti to the Afrofuturism of Sun Ra. They have cut four albums for Strut – ‘We Are All Africans’, ‘ An Angel Fell’, ‘Shaman’, Afrofuturist Dreams’ – which has put them back on the global stage including the La Fondation Maeght.

Onstage at La Fondation the Pyramids are a joy to behold. The flamboyant Idris is accompanied by Margaux on flutes, the magical Sandy Pointdexter on violin and the long, tall, Bay Area don Bobby Cobb on guitar and they are joined by their excellent Italian rhythm section of Giole Pagliaccia on drums, Lorenzo Gasperoni on percussion and Ricardo Di Vinci on bass. The 700 strong audience are clearly in the presence of four life loving elders, possessed with both deep musical knowledge and skills born of the African diaspora.

The timeless, call and response, afrobeat driven ‘We are All Africans Now’ launches the set and sets the vibe with its tuff drum ‘n’ conga rhythms, Idris’ raw tenor solo has shades of Pharaoh and offers us a stratospheric violin solo. The follow up ‘Erotictress’ is not a composition we’re familiar with and it segues into ‘Thank You God’ with its uplifting invocation on alto and violin. It’s immediately recognisable, as is the sweet singalong chorus of.. “Jahova, Elegba, Allah, Jah … Oh Thank You Go, Oh Thank You… ” which is delivered by Margaux and Sandy. This is spiritual jazz that goes straight to the dancing feet and offers echoes of Leon Thomas, Trane and Ra. It’s a song for the healing of the planet and ‘Moonlight and Sunshine’, taken from Idris’ recent collaboration with choreographer /activist Rhodessa Jones and actor Danny Glover, continues the theme and elevates the spirit. There’s no mistaking the rootical funky intro of ‘Rhapsody In Berlin’ which grooves hard and has this listener watching guitarist Bobby Cobb closely. There are rippling conga riffs and hard horn solos. ”Now ‘ urges us to “live our lives NOW”… to look into ourselves to stop the hate and stop the wars. It’s a poignant message over a circular violin riff and bass line that heads straight to the heart of a troubled world from Gaza to Ukraine and beyond. ‘Shaman’ is the perfect culmination of a set that had those gathered, on their feet and cutting some steps on the gravel. Building on Margaux’s flute and Idris’ spoken word intro ‘Shaman’ gives an opportunity for all to shine. Solid Afro-Funk drums with crisp rhythm guitar, an ethereal flute, soaring violin, bubbling bass and congas… a sax solo that rises up in the trees and a night sky that is lit by a dramatic half moon.

There’s a sense of euphoria in the air as the musicians leave the stage and Gilles Peterson takes on the challenge of maintaining and building the vibe. The Maeght’s director, Nicolas Gitton, is curious to see how that’s done. He’s not sure if it’s actually possible. That said, Peterson rapidly lays that question to rest. He gets busy plundering a large bag of vinyl and commences building a typically innovative eclectic set consciously free of a 4-to-floor mindset. There is a genuine sense of improvisation as he shifts rapidly from on tune to next dropping in a range of voice samples including Albert Ayler and Sun Ra. Watching him work a crowd is a joy to behold. I’m sure most of those present have never heard him play before. There’s jazz, funk, Latin, Brazil… I spot my good friend Janine Neye’s bucket hat dipping and bobbing in time to the music. She’s captured a spot to the side of the DJ booth. I’m sure her feet are flying. I also caught sight of the violinist, Sandy Pointdexter, grey dreads tied back, boogieing with a posse of women overlooking the dance space. As the two hour set neared its end it was tremendous to hear Ra’s version of ‘Enlightenment’, recorded at The Maeght five decades earlier, and experience it connecting with today’s dancers. As Gilles said after the session and the space emptied, “That was a moment. It felt like the circle had been completed.”

Idris & Gilles: Post session.. . Jus’ chillin’!

Posted in Art, Deep stuff, Is That Jazz?, New Africa, Sound & Power, Urban runnings..., Words, Sound & Power | Tagged Africa, Afrobeat, Albert Ayler, Antioch, Art, Bobby Conn, Bois Caiman, Boukman, Bwa Kayiman, Cecil Talor, Celine Dessberg, Emmamuelle Delavenne, FraFra, France, Free Jazz, Giacometti, Gilles Peterson, Haiti, Idris Ackamoor, Impressions, James Baldwin, John Cage, Jowee Omicil, Kahil El Zabar, La Fondation Maeght, Margaux Simmons, Matisse, Muriel Grossman, Naissam Jalal, Nuits De La Fondation Maeght, Paul Bradshaw, Rara, Sanda Pointdexter, St Paul De Vence, Straight No Chaser, Strut Records, Sun Ra, Sun ra Arkestra, Terry Riley, The Pyramids, vodou | 2 Comments

PURE VIBES ‘n’ LIQUID LOVE: Gilles Peterson reflects on his four decade long journey with the man and the music of the ubiquitous Roy Ayers.

Posted on March 15, 2025 by Paul Brad

The first time I played Roy Ayers on the radio was March 2nd, 1982 from his ‘Feelin’ Good’ album… ‘Turn Me Loose”. I was 16 sharing the airwaves with my next-door neighbour and pirate buddy Ross Tinsley (aka Ross Travone to avoid recognition by the DTI). Our station was Civic Radio and used our recently acquired aerial and transmitter purchased from local boffin Stuart from who’s garden we broadcast as it had the highest elevation on our road. We never actually got busted by the DTI, but we were discovered by other curious pirates including Chris Phillips and Jeremy Vine with their tracking devices but that’s another story…

Let’s rewind back to my first introduction to Roy. Many would imagine ‘Running Away’ or ‘Love Will Bring Us Back Together’ as the entry point and indeed I would have heard those tunes on Invicta 92.4, Robbie Vincent’s show on Radio London or Greg Edwards’ Best Disco in Town on Capital. But the album that had a profound impact on me was ‘You Send Me’. Featuring an impeccably dressed Roy on the cover – wearing a rakish Panama hat and crushed linen jacket (perhaps subliminally channelling the sartorial excellence of Trevor Eve as Detective Shoestring from the TV show of the same name). And then I heard the entirety of Side A on repeat (remember those turntables that went back to the start of the record?) that night at Anne Marie’s house in Epsom in what was another seminal moment in my young life…

The fact is Roy Ayers – both the man and his music – became enduring companions throughout my entire life. No artist encapsulates the full spectrum of music flowing from jazz through funk, soul, disco into house, hip-hop and broken beat quite like he did.

From his heyday as a purveyor of West Coast vibrational cool, he cut his teeth playing with the likes of Curtis Amy and Jack Wilson under the wing of Bobby Hutcherson and following in the footsteps of Milt Jackson and Cal Tjader eventually joining forces with Herbie Mann who gave him a valuable lesson on the intersection of hip playing and commercial appeal.

From there he travelled East where his chilled elegance, fused with New York’s urban grit, helped define the core components of his musical DNA. His 3-album tenure with Atlantic saw him combine forces with new scene heavyweights such as Charles Tolliver and Gary Bartz as well as still young veterans like Joe Henderson and Ron Carter. This sequence of albums really highlights that moment in which acoustic jazz is going electric, when records like Max Roach’s ‘Members Don’t Get Weary’ or Herbie Hancock’s ‘Fat Albert Rotunda’ are bringing modal jazz, the Fender Rhodes and late 60s politics into the mix. To my ears this is one of the most important and exciting inflection points in the history of jazz and for Roy to be in the thick of it is a testament to his journey. What I wouldn’t give to travel back in time to that moment!

As that decade faded into the rear-view mirror, Roy made another major move signing to Polydor and deciding to leave the more conventional Roy Ayers Quartet name behind by baptising his group Ubiquity as a better descriptor of the fluidity, openness and universality he was exploring through his music.

At this point it’s really worth checking the ‘Live At The Montreux Festival’ album from his June 1971 date where this new group made up of Clint Houston on bass, David Lee on drums and a new young creative force on piano… Harry Whitaker…laid down a set for the ages. This line up also tells you how hip Roy was to finding the best emerging talent. Harry would go on to write several big tunes for Roy including ‘We live in Brooklyn’, as well as making major contributions for Roberta Flack, Eugene McDaniel’s and of course his own iconic Black Renaissance project…

The music on the Montreux album ranges from open ended jazz into an extra spaced out ‘In a silent way’ to the first known live recordings with Roy using his voice to bring his subtle funk to proceedings… another fascinating recording from the period is the ‘cut at 45’ 2 disc set recorded for Japan with Sonny Sharrock , Bruno Carr and Miroslav Vitous – check the stoner vibrazonic take of ‘Scarborough Fair’!

Nippon Columbia 45rpm Direct Cutting Series – 1969

From here an utterly mesmerising (indeed ubiquitous) sequence of 13 stone cold classic albums ensued that could easily constitute a life’s work for most. ‘Mystic Voyage’, ’Vibrations’, ‘Red Black and Green’, ‘A Tear to a Smile’, ‘Virgo Red’, ‘He’s Coming’, ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine’… on and on!! And the singers… Dee Dee, Carla Vaughn, Chicas… wow! And lets not forget the players… Philip Woo, James Mason, David Davis (before he left for Bowie and Young Americans) … arranger William Allen and percussionist Chano O’ Ferral who both came from the Latin jazz scene. -a secret ingredient into the mix.

As if this body of work wasn’t enough, in 2003 while still at Talkin’ Loud records I receive a call from Pete Adarkwah at BBE who tells me that he is with Roy in a warehouse in NYC going through boxfuls of unreleased Ubiquity treasures… The world stopped turning in this moment – a combination of envy and excitement – which ultimately resulted in the label releasing 2 LP’s under the title ‘Virgin Ubiquity’. But far from being the sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped this find served up some incredible unheard gems and unearthed previously unknown collaborations with the likes of Merry Clayton, Terri Wells and more that would provide fuel for future hip hop classics notably the song ‘Liquid Love’ which was sampled by many from Knxwledge to Kali Uchis. One of Roy’s many Ninja moves was taking home the master tapes from his Polydor studio sessions without ever telling the label – a rare example of artistic expropriation. Meanwhile, Pete was kind enough to give me one of those tracks as an early taster which I released on my Worldwide Exclusives album… I don’t think Pete realised quite how spectacular ‘Reaching for the Highest Pleasure’ was when he passed it to me though… and finally released that track himself a few years ago!

From 1977 while being adored by the disco movement and played in all the clubs from Studio 54 to Le Palace in Paris, his ‘disco adjacent’ sound continued to build his music edifice further demonstrating his hipness to sounds that could connect with new ears. But unlike many at the time, before he got lost in the mirror ball, he did two significant things that kept him fresh and relevant.

First, he created his own independent label Uno Melodic where he developed new artists and created classics like Ethel Beatty ‘s ‘It’s your love’, Eighties Ladies’ ‘Turned On To You’, Sylvia Striplin’s ‘You Can’t Me Turn Away’ as well as producing the legendary RAMP (Roy Ayers Music Productions) album with what some consider an equally good version of ‘Everybody Loves The Sunshine’ – a debate that will run forever.

Second, he went to Nigeria where he found a new comrade in music adventurism – the mighty Fela Kuti – playing at the Kalakuta Republic which led to the 2 of them recording the song ‘Africa Center of the World’ on Fela’s ‘Music of Many Colours’ album. Roy then took that song home and made a whole album with his band based on his African experiences… a must have… in fact, I gave my copy to Thundercat for his birthday in the knowledge that they would inevitably work together some day…

Another memory I have connected to this period in Roy’s life was watching the film of that Kalakuta Republic concert with him on a dusty VHS at his NYC apartment and thinking about how it needed to find a wider audience! There is a great bit in the film where Fela’s band is performing, and you can make out Roy’s silhouette and vibes shimmering in time and space. Two further anecdotes about that apartment were that he had bought it from James Baldwin and that in the corridor there was the original painting of Virgo Red which I was sorely tempted to make an offer for…

And then – full circle to Epsom and the ‘You Send Me’ moment – to the first time I ever saw him live at Ronnie Scott’s around 81/82 with a band that I remember featured original member Philip Woo and the voice of Chicas. At the time bands used to do one-to-two-week residencies and I had my Ronnie Scott membership card which allowed me £2 entry Monday through Thursday – needless to say I went every night.

But this 80s period also corresponded with a shift in jazz listening tastes in America. Jazz radio had gone smooth and labels like GRP and Verve were championing a new saccharine version of the music which would be of great value to the musicians but would also consume them. From Jeff Lorber to Lonnie Liston Smith to Bobbi Humphrey to Roy Ayers. Smooth jazz was now the enemy for us bass and drum heads.

It was at this point in 1985 when I first met him in person at the New York Jazz Explosion at the Hammersmith Odeon where I had been invited to present the concert as a Radio London DJ with my Mad On Jazz show.

And this is where the special role of the UK in making sense of his music and then helping “export” it back to the US comes into the story. That moment of British discovery of his old records arrived with the growth of the Rare Groove scene. Built around warehouse parties and back-room energy DJs like Jonathan Moore, Dez Parkes and Jazzy B – Roy’s music was foundational with ‘Life Is Just A Moment’ as its bedrock!

It was here that we were able – thanks to my dear friend and co-pilot of Dingwalls, Janine, with her enterprising spirit and convertible 2CV – to get Roy down to the club on his one Sunday off from a 2 week Ronnie’s residency. As soon as he entered and felt the energy, he immediately said he wanted to play there and so the following Sunday there he was and when I suggested he do one of our favourites ‘We Live In Brooklyn” he did and it became a staple in all his future sets.

Worth noting that Roy was taking a huge risk in playing for us as he was exclusively contracted to Ronnie’s so we had to promote in secret – no fliers, no web, just word of mouth and over 800 people turned up – but Ronnie’s had no clue and we got away with it. Props to Roy for doing it in the first place as we wouldn’t have been the only ones in trouble!

Luckily for all of us, Roy realised through these visits to the UK that there was an audience desperate to hear the music that he was not being recognised for in America. And this rediscovery then led to his elevation in the ears of his home market as the nascent producers of the golden era of hip hop became aware of his extensive and highly sampleable back catalogue.

The earliest instance of this was A Tribe Called Quest – the first American group that dug deeper than the obvious using ‘Daylight ‘by RAMP for Bonita Applebum. The other key pioneers in this were Gangstarr – DJ Premier and Guru would come to Dingwalls when they were in London, often borrow records from me for remixes they were doing while over and with whom I forged a relationship in music leading to me advising as well as being at the recording sessions for Guru’s Jazzamatazz which featured both Roy and Donald Byrd.

Further cementing these trans-Atlantic connections, it was a source of great pride and pleasure to bring together the US and British scenes at the 1990 Jazz FM Weekender at Camber Sands which featured Roy, Pharoah Sanders, A Tribe Called Quest, Steve Williamson, Working Week, Galliano, Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Snowboy and a host of DJs. I suppose looking back on it, what seemed like a crazy idea made total sense and at the heart of it was Roy Ayers who gave it its meaning… I must confess there was another first for me in his presence which we will save for the memoir…

Through all these interactions, Roy became really close to us as a community and would often hang in the house on Brownswood Road. As I started the label Talkin’ Loud he was an artist I championed to the deaf ears of money men in an attempt to sign him, but we managed a golden moments on Galliano’s debut album ‘In Pursuit of the 13^th Note’ where he guested on the track ‘57^th minute of the 23^rd Hour’ absolutely nailing the accompaniment to what is one of the high points of Rob G’s spoken word poetic output. This also led to demos featuring him with the Young Disciples, Paul Weller and Dill Harris as well as an unreleased version of ‘All I have In Me’ with playing vibes. Wow I had totally forgotten about that – raw to the floor – I’ll play it on my next radio show!

Over the years I went on to promote and book him for multiple gigs including the Montreux Miles Davis hall event in 2003 when I was able to get Jamiroquai to join him on stage. The deep relationship with Roy stuck to the very end and I was eventually able to put him into the studio with Thundercat and Ommas Keith as well as on stage with Bad Bad Not Good and Ed Motta on two separate occasions at the Worldwide Festival in Sete. I’ll never forget Ed using Roy’s ‘Searching’ to describing how his music was modernist and architectural on the same level as Miro or Mondrian.

We also got to work together on the Nuyorican Soul project. This concept record released in 1997 is up there as one of my most cherished releases and a vital node joining club culture with Jazz and Latin blood lines. A record helmed by Kenny Dope and Louie Vega -who remain to this day two of the most vital and impactful music producers in the game – this project was one of a kind and within it Roy delivered another key moment with an incredible version of ‘Sweet Tears’ bringing his voice, vibes and Vince Montana Jr’s string arrangement to the proceedings. I was talking to Orphy Robinson the other day and he made a good point about the sound of Roy Ayers throughout the Polydor years being the product recording at Electric Ladyland in NYC or Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. For Kenny and Louie to add that authentic Philly sound by recording the strings at Sigma was a master stroke. Even though it was a tune recorded by Roy on other occasions – this version took forcefully into the present.

Gilles talks to Roy: Straight No Chaser Vol 2 Issue 29 Spring 2004

This time also carries with it memories of seeing him with some of the titans of music like Tito Puente, George Benson, Eddie Palmieri , Jocelyn Brown and La India at an unforgettable launch party in Times Square’s ’Supper Club’ … what a night! As well as going on a radio tour with him and being present for a special show he presented with Isaac Hayes on WRKS-FM 98.7… legends

Everything we ever did together was predicated on my deep desire to see him elevated to the level of giants such as James Brown, Donald Byrd and George Clinton – the plane on which he rightfully belonged.

So it was very moving to see such extensive coverage of his passing across the board and particularly to read Alexis Petridis’ article in the Guardian especially so soon after his piece on James Hamilton’s crucial Disco Pages which illustrated that peculiar alchemy that makes the UK such a unique and potent place for discovering and championing music regardless of fortune or fashion. In that spirit, I hope that this reflection on Roy’s life and work shows this – he was so important to us and in some way we were for him.

Rest in peace Roy and thank you – been a pleasure travelling with you for the past 45 years.

Roy & GP. Respect. One Love.

Check : Gilles Peterson’s tribute to Roy Ayers on BBC 6 Music – 15th March 2025. Tremendous.

Words from @questlove @louievega @deedeebridgewater @femiydfem @orphyvibes @bigbirdkuti @bartzoyo @tone2679

Tracklist

Roy Ayers – Love from the Sun
Roy Ayers – Fikisha (To Help Someone To Arrive)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – The Black Five
Roy Ayers – Liquid Love feat. Sylvia Cox
Roy Ayers – Reaching For The Highest Pleasure
Roy Ayers – The Memory
Sylvia Striplin – You Can’t Turn Me Away
Erykah Badu – Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)
Roy Ayers – Coffy Baby
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – A Tear To A Smile
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – This Side of Sunshine
Vi Redd – Summertime
Roy Ayers – Ricardo’s Dilemma
Jack Wilson – Harbor Freeway (Blue Note Version)
Curtis Amy Featuring Victor Feldman – Liberia
Roy Ayers – Lil’s Paradise
Lionel Hampton – Rhythm, Rhythm (I Got Rhythm)
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Roy Ayers Quartet – Scarborough Fair
Claude Nobs – Introduction for Roy Ayers (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, June 20, 1971)
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – In A Silent Way (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, June 20, 1971)
Herbie Mann – Can You Dig It
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Searchin’
Eighties Ladies – Turned On To You
Rick Holmes – Remember to Remember
RAMP – Daylight
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Ain’t No Sunshine
Young Disciples – Fire Weaver feat. Roy Ayers (Unreleased)
Young Disciples – As We Come feat. Roy Ayers (Unreleased Demo)
Tyler, The Creator – Find Your Wings
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Mystic Voyage
The Roots with Roy Ayers – Proceed II
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – We Live in Brooklyn, Baby
Roy Ayers – Intro / The River Niger
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti & Roy Ayers – Africa, Center of the World
Roy Ayers – Chicago
Roy Ayers Ubiquity – Running Away
Roy Ayers – Can’t You See Me (12″ Version)
Roy Ayers – Untitled
Roy Ayers – Our Time Is Coming
Roy Ayers – Don’t Stop The Feeling
Nuyorican Soul – Roy’s Scat
Nuyorican Soul – Sweet Tears feat. Roy Ayers Ubiquity
G. Keith Alexander – A Mother’s Blues
RAMP – Everybody Loves the Sunshine
Galliano – 57th Minute of the 23rd Hour
Buster Williams – Vibrations

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028rg1

Posted in Deep stuff | Tagged Africa Centre Of The World, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Tolliver, Daddy Bug, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Everybody Loves The Sunshine, Fela Kuti, funk, Galliano, Gary Bartz, Gilles Peterson, harry Whitaker, Herbie Mann, Hip Hop, Isaac Hayes, Jack Wilson, James Baldwin, Jazz, Jazz Is Dead, Jazzmatazz, Jazzy B, Joe Henderson, Jonathan Moore, Kalakuta Republic, Kenny Dope, Louie Vega, Masters at Work, Miles Davis, Nuyorican Soul, Orphy Robinson, Paul Weller, RAMP, Red Black and Green, Ron Carter, Ronnie Scotts, Straight No Chaser, Talkin Loud, Talking Loud @Dingwalls, Thundercat, Tribe Called Quest, Ubiquity, Uno Melodic, We Live In Brooklyn, Young Disciples | Leave a comment

THE DON CHERRY TAPES & TRAVELATIONS

Posted on March 12, 2025 by Paul Brad

Eternal Rhythm : The Don Cherry Tapes & Travelations is a collection of priceless cassette taped interviews woven together by writer Graeme Ewens – a confidant, travel companion and friend of the late great trumpeter and visionary. It’s a project that began back in 1979 and it gives us an unfiltered insight into the evolution and the working life of a musician who is globally recognised as one of the most unique and innovative voices to have emerged from the Sixties free jazz movement.

While Don Cherry’s rep and status as a jazz musician might just be set in stone he was more than that. He was nomadic, free spirited, natural mystic whose openness and command of a universal musical language allowed him to travel and break bread with like-minded souls wherever he touched down. I have a vivid memory of a concert, at the Old Vic in South London, with Codona – the incredible trio that featured Don Cherry, Brazilian master percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and the brilliant Colin Walcott who had studied sitar under Ravi Shankar and tabla under All Rakha. The ECM recordings of Codona were fresh and spiritually charged and ensured that there was a serious sense of anticipation in the theatre. There was rumour that Don had not yet arrived. He was reputedly on the “Magic Bus” that travelled regularly between London and Amsterdam. Colin Walcott and Nana took to the stage and commenced playing. It was while we were immersed in the conversation between these two master musicians that Don stealthily arrived onstage, sat down cross legged and proceeded to unload his duffel bag which contained his pocket trumpet, his flutes and his beloved Doussn’gouni. As he hit that first note it was as if he’d been there from the very beginning leaving all of us with an indelible imprint of the man and the moment.

Don Cherry’s roots through his grandmother were in the native Choctaw people while his father was a free black man born of formerly formerly enslaved African people. His life began in Tulsa , Oklahoma but in 1940 the four year old moved California. It is in Los Angeles that the story truly begins. I love this part of the book. Don’s own words transport us into another time. Hard times for sure but in post WW2 LA music is every where. I would love to have seen footage of Don and his sister Lindy Hopping or doing the Texas Hop or the Shake It’s also great that Don is so specific about the tunes of the day. It set this reader off on a mission listening to Jimmy Rushing, Lester Young. Johnny Otis, the Coasters amongst others. Central Avenue in Watts was the epicentre of the LA jazz scene. His father was head barman at the Plantation Club and from experience, he was reluctant for his son to follow the way of jazz. Dope and jazz, in his mind, were synonymous.

Don’s first experience of racism was at school where the role of first trumpet was always given to a white kid. But once his mother bought him his own trumpet he was gone, there was no going back. It was the radio shows that satiated his musical appetite – Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker. The Shrine Auditorium was where he eventually got to hear, live and direct, giants like Pres, Bird, Illinois Jacquet and Johnny Hodges. Musically, it was all going on… R&B, vocal groups, devotional music / gospel and jazz. As high school kids they they were busy playing the “dozens” – which is the roots of rap.

Don Cherry playing in Ornette Coleman’s famous Free Jazz quartet, ca. 1959

Watts in the Fifties had its own thing going on in he same way that Compton had its own thing compared to the Bronx in the late Eighties. In Don’s own words we follow him as he meets alto toting genius Ornette Coleman and gets immersed in the radical concept of Harmolodics. He reflects on feel within the music and players who could and couldn’t read music. I was amazed to read that James Clay didn’t read, especially when I hear him playing alongside David ‘Fathead Newman or much later playing flute on ‘Pavanne’. Don playing in Ornette Coleman’s famous Free Jazz quartet, ca. 1959

As one would expect his arrival in NYC was a trail by fire. There are encounters with Miles and being firmly in Ornette’s orbit ensure he was inevitably drawn into musical controversy. That said, it was radical time and the gates had been kicked open and the recording sessionss followed. Once he secured a passport Don’s ‘travelations” began. There were tours with Sonny Rollins and the spiritually possessed Albert Ayler… and once they were done he opted to stay in Paris. From there it was a hop, skip and a jump to Turkey and North Africa… Tangiers where Randy Weston was resident, as were Beat generation writers like Bryon Gysin and William Burroughs. There were musical dialogues with Turkish drummer Okay Temiz, the Master Musicians of Joujouka, the Gnawa of Morocco, South African master musicians: Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim and bassist Johnnny Dyani and Camerounian supestar Manu Dibango. The way was open and without consciously knowingly it he pioneered what was to become known as “world music”.

The interviews in Eternal Rhythm are remarkably honest about the heroin habit which he developed in NYC and slipped in and out of for the rest of his life. It’s something he negotiated while travelling, playing and raising a family in Sweden, along with his partner Moki – an artist in her own right. As I said, this short book… 160 pages… shoots from the hip and remains un-cut when it comes to documenting what has been an extraordinary life. Whether travelling in India or playing with Ian Dury and The Blockheads or Rip Rig and Panic, there’s simply a sense that it’s all one continuum, which is there to be embraced. And in the end, it’s Don Cherry’s music which spans generations and like a river that follows its own course. It offers us a “multikulti” vision, that speaks to the future – a brighter future should we wish to embrace it. It doesn’t feel like 30 years have slipped by since Don Cheery left this world. Grab a copy of Graeme Ewens’ pocket size book. It’s funky. It’s peppered with graffix and pics. It’s a labour of love and a ‘Project’ for which the contact has now been fulfilled.

PB /

* Graeme Ewens’ Eternal Rhythm: The Don Cherry Tapes and Travelations is a slim 172 page volume packed with deep content and is available from bukupress@gmail.com – (UK p&p FREE)

Posted in Deep stuff | Tagged Avante Garde, Be Bop, Charlie Parker, Choctaw, Codona, Colin Walcott, Dollar Brand, Gnawa, Graeme Ewens, Ian Dury, Jazz, Jazz Composers Orchestra, Johnny Dyani, Master Musicians Of Joujouka, Miles Davis, Moki Cherry, Multikulti, Nana Vasconcelos, Neneh Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Pocket Trumpet, Rip Rig & Panic, trumpet, Watts, William Burroughs, World Music. | Leave a comment

Andrée Blouin – Africa’s Pasionaria

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Paul Brad

The long awaited reprint of My Country, Africa: The Autobiography Of The Black Pasionaria by that late Andrée Blouin has arrived. If you saw the award winning documentary Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat and came way wanting to know more about the woman in dark glasses who stood at Lumumba’s side before the Belgian’s, the CIA, the UN and Mobutu orchestrated his downfall and death, you need to read this book.

It was back in November that I penned a few words about an excellent documentary that did indeed provide a “soundtrack to a coup d’etat” which took place in 1961 in the capital of the fledgeling Democratic Republic of the Congo. It resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba who, along with his allies, had spearheaded the movement for decolonisation and independence from Belgium. At his side was an activist, a woman called Andrée Blouin, who had thrown herself into the struggle, campaigning and working tirelessly on the front line, in the countryside, in the villages, with the women, against tribalism and the psychological legacy of their Belgian overseers. Back in the metropolis of Kinshasa after victory was secured, she took her life in her hands and did everything in her power to unite the different movements to stave off a Belgian / US backed coup led by the Chief Of Staff Of The Army – Mobutu Sese Seko aka Mobutu. She travelled to other African nations to rally support for Lumumba and earned herself the title of the ‘Black Pasionaria’. Upon Lumumba’s arrest, she was placed under house arrest and was eventually expelled to Algiers while her children were initially held hostage in the Congo to ensure her silence.

It’s a riveting and nail biting story, that deserves a film in its own right. This book – My Country, Africa: The Autobiography Of The Black Pasionaria – delivers a deep dive into the colonial mind-set and the psychological damage inflicted on the African people by their colonizers, whether they were from Belgium, France , Portugal or Britain.

The story begins in French Equitorial Africa, in the remote village of Bessou on the Oubangui river where her motherJosephine Wouasimba was married at 13 years old to a 26 year old Frenchman with an iron will to succeed. His name was Pierre Gerbillat. Their daughter, Andrée, was born in 1921 and at the age of three years old she was dropped off by her father and his Belgian wife, Henriette Poussart, at an orphanage run by brutal Catholic nuns in Brazzaville. She was to stay there for the next 14 years. Along with other “metisse” mixed heritage girls she was instructed, along racist lines, to stay away from the black girls in the orphanage. In the eyes of the nuns she embodied the wickedness of her father and the primitive nature of her mother. It was living hell. They were slapped and whipped. The food was vile and rotten – she preferred to eat clay! They learned to recite their prayers but were never taught to read and write. There was little contact with the outside world but one day, as a flow prisoners in chains passed the orphanage gates chanting , “We want French citizenship, while being whipped by their captors, it opened up a sense of injustice.

André Blouin (second from bottom right) lived at the Order of Saint Joseph Cluny convent in Brazzaville. Photograph: Blouin estate

At the age of 17, she and two others scaled the orphanage wall and fled. After being caught by the police Andrée made here case to the mayor Brazzaville offering up a detailed litany of the abuse they had suffered at the hands of the nuns. She was not to return and took up residence in the the district of Poto-Poto. The girl who’d lived on starvation rations loved the market.. the fruits , the vendors, the smell of cooking… it was “fabulous, fabulous, fabulous”. Sunday afternoon in the Grande Place was a feast for the ears and the eyes. Music, dancers, griots, vendors of all kinds. After a short stint with her father back in Bessou she returned to Brazzaville and earned her money on a sewing machine. It was hard. Exhausting ad pften humiliating. A chance encounter with a former inmate at the orphanage led to an enlightening trip up the Congo river and her meetingc a handsome Belgian of aristocratic birth. She was eager to LIVE… to live her life but she soon became painfully aware that she was repeating her mother’s humiliating history – that of the African concubine. Her first child was called Rita.

Ironically. her next relationship was with one Charles Greutz – a man from Alsace who had no love for the African race. WW2 was raging. During Greutz’s time away in South Africa it was Andrée who created an 800 acre plantation in the jungle. Quite a feat and testimony to her organisational and leadership skills which would come the fore in the future. Life was hard and it was the death of their son René from malaria that forced a radical shift in Andrée’s consciousness. René had been refused quinine because he was not white. He died while the son of a white neighbour survived. Her relationship with Greurz ended in divorce. Andée had already met the next love of her life – André Blouin a Frenchman man who seemed “to have escaped the colonial menatality”. They lived in Siguiri in north eastern Guinea on the river Niger for seven years where she gave birth to two children Patrick and Eve. It was during this time that Andrée became aware of the Reassemblent Democratique Africain (RDA) – a decolonialization, liberation movement led by the charismatic Sékou Touré. She had never heard anyone speak of rights for Africans as he did.

And so we enter Part II of the book. World War II is over and African’s who volunteered to assist their respective “mother” countries in the fight against fascism had returned home adding momentum to the independence movements. The Cold War between Russian “communism” and the “free world” had also kicked in and the western powers were desperate to ensure the newly independent countries in Africa and elswhere did not fall under the spell of Socialism and into the orbit of Kruschev’s Russia. The West sought – as they do today – to maintain a grip on the precious minerals and natural resources that Africa offered by any means necessary.

It was while browsing a small Guinean shop that Andée Blouin was mesmerised by a photo on the wall of Sékou Touré. At moment, she knew that her destiny was to join the African Liberation struggle. She thrived as an organizer for the Feminine Movement For African Solidarity whose charter outlined projects for women’s health, literacy, and their recognition as citizens of the emerging postcolonial nation. During 1960 Blouin joined the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) campaign for independence alongside activists Pierre Mulele and Antoine Gizenga in the fight for independence.

**Ambroise Boimbo** was a Congolese citizen who snatched the ceremonial sword of King Baudouin I of Belgium on June 29, 1960, in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) on the eve of the independence of the Belgian Congo.

Andrée Blouin’s biography delivers the inside story to a most significant moment in global history. It was a campaign that led to Patrice Lumumba, a charismatic Pan Africanist and socialist becoming DRC’s first Prime Minister. On becoming PM, Lumumba appointed Blouin as his “chief of protocol” and speechwriter — demonstrating how important she had been to the fight and eventual winning of independence. But despite a frenzy of action and calls for unity his party and his allies were unable to halt an anti-communist plot that was hatched between the Belgians who didn’t want to leave, the CIA and the UN. Mobutu and the army stepped in. Lumumba was captured and murdered. All that remained of him was a gold capped tooth.

Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa / Patrice Lumumba 1925 – 1961

Blouin with the Congolese revolutionary Pierre Mulele in 1959.Photograph: Blouin estate

Today, his name lives on, a martyr in the war against colonisation and the ongoing influence of outside forces. It’s a war that persists today. Hopefully, with the reprint of her book – My Country, Africa: The Autobiography Of The Black Pasionaria – and the praise heaped on Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat we will see Andrée Blouin recognised as a groundbreaking pivotal political figure during the rise of the African liberation movements that flowered in the Sixties and Seventies. A luta continua.

My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria – Andrée Blouin (Verso’s Southern Questions) Paperback – 7 Jan. 2025

Note: “Pasionaria” refers to Isidora Dolores Ibarruri Gomez, a Spanish communist who fought on the side of the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939.

Posted in Deep stuff | Tagged African Liberation, andree-blouin, Brazzaville, CIA, Cold War, Communism, Decolonisation, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Feminine Movement For African Solidarity, Feminism, Guinea, Liberation Struggles, Mobutu, My Country Africa; Autobiography of The Black Pasionaria, Pan African, Patrice lumumba, Pierre Mullele, Sélou Touré, Soundtrack To A Coup D'Etat, Verso | Leave a comment

The MUSIC is BLACK.

AIM, SHOOT, STOP, FIX!

**Four legendary music photographers unite for a joint photography exhibition – Aim, Shoot, Stop, Fix . It kicks off on 10th March and runs until 9 April 2026**

“Art does not have to be specific to our struggles to be helpful to us in dealing with them. And this is because art is not about itself, but about us. It is what it does to us, what it opens up in us that counts.”

BEYOND THE BASSLINE: 500 Years Of Black British Music

UNFILTERED: IN CONVERSATION WITH OSUNLADE

DRAX OF DRAX HALL: A deep dive in Squirarchy, a Dorset family’s past and the legacy of slavery.

TO THE FONDATION MAEGHT : THE CYCLICAL ROUTE OF THE AVANTE GARDE – SUN RA to the PYRAMIDS

PURE VIBES ‘n’ LIQUID LOVE: Gilles Peterson reflects on his four decade long journey with the man and the music of the ubiquitous Roy Ayers.

THE DON CHERRY TAPES & TRAVELATIONS

Andrée Blouin – Africa’s Pasionaria

My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria – Andrée Blouin (Verso’s Southern Questions) Paperback – 7 Jan. 2025

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Email Subscription

Blogroll

Web LInks