Sunday, 9 January 2011

MUSIC MEMORIES: GIL SCOTT-HERON'S LONDON GIG TWELVE YEARS AGO...

Recalling Gil Scott-Heron's London gig in 1999...
Back then most of us weren't as active on the net as we are now. I have upgraded some of the info below:

Jazz Café, Camden Town, North West London, has been his favoured concert venue for years.
We have been told the event shall start 9 p.m. but 25 minutes are gone. To make things worse it is a “standing” gig. Half way through the concert some people (especially ladies)massage their lower backs. If you want to sit, you have to book a table upstairs “and eat” says the regulations. Many of us have come to see a great musician, not dine.

Gil Scott Heron (left) and the blogger after his gig at Jazz Cafe, 1999.
Photo by : Amita Tiwari Macha

Nobody announces him.
There is no hint, either. The funk music from more than four JBL speakers is still on. Sometimes James Brown; sometimes Chaka Khan…we are in African American territory here.
A man with a cotton hat slides quietly down the stairs- there are ropes – barriers …so he steps under like someone doing something forbidden. The “I don’t care vibe” is on- it will colour the gig from start to end.

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

WAR ON MALARIA ON SPORAH SHOW

Recently youth idol Bongo Fleva artist Diamond from Tanzania made a small tour in the UK. Diamond's tour was produced by Urban Pulse Creative Media in Reading.

The aim was not the usual showbiz of Africans trying to make it in the West but raise awareness and funds to combat Malaria ....
Here organisers of the gig chat with Sporah TV show this Monday.