Thinking About Community Matters

It's almost two weeks since the Community Matters night at The Tabernacle in West London, but it's still in my mind as a really wonderful evening. I was set up as part of the Grenfell tragedy commemoration to celebrate women' roles in the community and it featured female-led music of great variety and calibre. One of the nicest things was getting to meet some of the performers in advance of the gig, which was a really bonding experience and made the whole evening such more relaxed when it happened.
I had been invited to play by Woinkpa Cassiopeia, and I was really looking forward to hearing her songs, which she performed under the name of Kinetic Minds. Woinkpa has a deep, powerful voice and sang over the accompanist André's almost gospel- sounding soundscapes; her songs were spiritual and very moving, semi-improvised in places, and I'm really looking forward to hearing her music again. She is a charismatic and very natural performer with a great rapport with audiences.
Desta Hailé also has a male accompanist, but this time a jazz guitarist; apparently they had only just got together but their performance was seamless. The songs reminded me of Corinne Bailey Rae but there was a bit of Carole King in there too, and the guitarist very kindly showed me the Carole King chord in the dressing room (an 11th, I think). Desta was playing bass alongside her guitarist and the sound was minimal but lyrical: absolutely lovely. After my set, Ishani played Indian-music rooted trip hop which has already had success in an unusual format: as part of a comic book that highlights the dangers of rape. Her performance was sparkling and got a great reception from the audience. Judi's Rhythm of Jazz were up next, and played a swinging and relaxed set of standards with confidence and aplomb, by this time with a huge amount of appreciation from the crowd. Finally the Grime Violinist took to the stage and wowed us all with the classically-based integration of violin and grime music, which is a really unusual combination that works unexpectedly well.
At the very end, almost after everyone had gone, we listened to a woman who took to the stage to sing over recorded backing tracks, her isolation and sadness a poignant reminder of what had happened.
Woinkpa, Tom and Jane did a grand job of organising the evening. Thank you for inviting me to take part.
Photos: Kinetic Minds, Judi, and the Grime Violinist.

Life rushes past us, but we must not forget what happened that night two years ago. It was completely unnecessary for people to lose their lives, and the sheer distance between the interests of our politicians and the interests of the human beings they govern has never been so stark. There has been stalling, dishonestly, avoidance, disrespect: somewhere deep down, society wants to forget that it ever happened. It's all the more important that events like this happen, where people can congregate and draw strength from their determination not to forget, and to make powerful people accountable for what they do.
I am beginning to feel more and more strongly that the cultural things that I do should intersect with political action more than they have done previously. In itself, education is politics: it can't help but be part of it all. But I've been shocked this year by the sheer quantity of gaslighting and manipulation that happens institutionally across the board.
There are more things too, but Offsprog One says I mustn't say. I have been very angry this week.