When all 3 buses come at once….
You know the old saying, “you wait for a bus for ages then three turn up at once”, well it looks like the same could be said for fantastic events as I’m stuck between a triplet of them this very weekend. In sharing this predicament, hopefully I can at least convince you to attend one of them.
First up on both Friday and Saturday is, Good Grief festival, an event exploring loss and the many ways it can affect all of us. There is an awesome amount of inspiring talks, interviews and panels available, with the option of a free ticket for those who need it, although if you sign up for a £20 pass you can access everything on demand via their Grief Channel, including all of last year’s content, which has my interview with Tunng, surrounding their last album and podcast, both called The Dead Club.
This year I’m very excited to be speaking with Guvna B, a truly inspiring rapper, writer and community activist whose new book ‘Unspoken’ relays how his own personal journeys through grief helped him to face up to the damage that toxic masculinity can inflict on both individuals and society as a whole.
His previous book ‘Unpopular Culture’ was on the bestseller list and I can see why, he writes clearly and insightfully and his passion for people and for wanting to make a positive difference in the world shines through from every page. I could say the same for his music also, I have to confess I hadn’t paid it too much attention previously but I’ve been playing it loads recently and have my own playlist of personal favourites here, but as a taster here’s his fantastic version of the Wookie classic ‘Battle’.
If you’d like to sign up to Good Grief then here’s the link.
Next up as I mentioned in my previous post, SK Shlohmo’s BST Rave / British Summer Time Rave For CALM has yours truly performing alongside a humbling list of friends, legends and fresh talent and all for a good cause, to raise funds for mental health and suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably).
The event is put together by SK Shlomo, one of the country’s greatest beatboxers and a damn fine producer and musical artist, who I first met when he was performing with Foreign Beggars back in the early 00s. Since then, he’s worked with Björk, became the first World Looping Champion, done a TED Talk, was shortlisted for the Edinburgh Fringe Mental Health Award and became the first non-classical Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre. He’s also had his own journey through depression and other mental health struggles that helped to inform his excellent album ‘Surrender’.
I’m going all out raveageddon for my set and will have to bring my A game as up against many of the rave and Jungle legends I grew up listening to such as Slipmatt, Jumping Jack Frost, DJ Rap, Altern 8 and Micky Finn, as well Rob Da Bank, Jax Jones, B.Traits and Lau.ra and a whole bunch more, even Sophie Ellis-Bextor will be there.
You can sign up for the BST Rave here and in the meantime enjoy this playlist of rave classics picked by the DJs who will be performing. See if you can guess my choice.
Lastly but by no means least is London Remixed, which I’m not actually performing at (for a change) but will definitely be in attendance, albeit via VR as it takes place in the Lost Horizons VR event space which my good friends from Glastonbury’s Shangri La team have set up. The line-up is an absolute goldmine with: one of my favourite live acts BCUC from South Africa; KOG from world class bands Onipa and the Zongo Brigade; the Peruvian electronic wizards Dengue Dengue Dengue; Gnawa fusionists Electric Jalaba among some of my recommended highlights, plus there’s a virtual Ceilidh which sounds slightly dangerous but also tons of fun.
You can read more about it in this interview between Joe Muggs and Chris Tofu, the festival’s director and all round living legend. Tickets can be booked here.
