Gems of the month: September

inspiring & unforgettable cultural intiatives or content this september, from music to books, poems, plays, exhibtions, TV series, films, photos and food on my favourite month and season…

Geez New Year/ Kudus Yohannes Ge’at 💛

Hoye Hoye!

We start with the delicious ge’at for the celebrations, with greek yogurt and extra berbere sprinkled on top.

Fun fact: Until recently, I thought New Year and Kudus Yohannes was the same thing 🤭😅

Mlima’s Tale

An evening at Kiln Theatre.
lynn Nottage’s beautiful tale portrays the murder of an elephant who was killed for his tusks. We witness the unjust and corrupt ivory trade market that caused his death, as the protagonist lingers on throughout, dancing. Mlima’s moving monologue at the start sets a powerful tone and the audience are taken on a journey into the ivory business, with laughter and sadness.

Mlima’s Tale is running from 14th September to the 21st October at Kilburn’s Kiln Theatre.

Writing workshop

‘Complexity of Kin: Writing Workshop with Maame Blue’
A fanatstic interactive workshop that explored writing about family traditions, dynamics and historical events and concluded with creative writing exercises.

Carribbean bookclub: Book of Cinz

The book of the day was Soraya Palmer’s debut novel, “The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts.” My first time joining the bookclub, I throughly enjoyed it. Participants from across the diaspora from North America to the Carribbean and across the pond discussed the immigrant experience, mother and daughter relationship and many more.


Africa Writes 2023

Friday 29th September – Sunday 1st October

This year sees fanatstic authors headlining including Blitz Bazawule in conversation with Irenosen Okojie, Kelechi Okafor and musician Yomi Sode with Kwame Dawes and Claudia Rankine closing the festival: An exploration of ‘Intangible Heritage.’


Kiko Kids Jazz’s ‘Tanganyika Na Uhuru’ Vinyl

Gibbons

A Portuguese flag, a fruit and a view.
Stumbling across this secret allotment during lockdown was where my curiousity to grow fruits & veg grew. One of my favourite spots!

Words cannot describe how emotional this song gets me. I’m reminded of years back during the Asmarino.com days. The man behind ‘Circus Eritrea’ of the 90s! 22 years on and neither Joshua nor the thousands of political prisoners have seen a day in court.

One day there will be another circus Eritrea in honour of dear Joshua and all the heroes and heroines. 💛💛


Amy’s 40th

In what would have been Amy Winehouse’s 40th birthday this September, I stumbled across an ongoing Live at Jools Holland on BBC.

“Wait, why are they showing Amy for hours, uninterrupted?”
“She died in July”, I thought assumping it was to mark her anniversary. Quickly googling, I saw her date of birth: September 14th 1983.

“Oh, it’s her 40th” I thought.
I vividly remember her passing – God rest her soul – and her lyrics are as powerful as ever.


Naomi Kein’s ‘Doppelganger: A trip into the Mirror World’

Naomi Klein’s new book was published September 12th.
Often mistaken for “the other” Naomi -Naomi Wolf- who is a well known conspiracy theorists, Klein explores why overtime more people were confusing her for her “doppelganger” and the role tech plays in perpectutaing this confusion. “The mirror world” that Klein investigates is a manipulative tactic that merges the truth with lies and with the rise in AI and tech, the increasing difficulties in distinguishing between the two. She also suggests a collective failure that allows it to flourish that leaves readers to ponder.

As Klein is doing her book tours and press runs, her interviews are equally insightful and arguments are persuasive as ever.

Here’s her interesting interview with Democracy Now:

Stanley Tucci’s ‘Taste: My Life Through Food‘

After listening to Stanley Tucci’s interview on BBC’s podcast ‘Desert island Disc’ on a recent trip, this summer, I was inspired to read Stanley Tucci’s food memoir Taste: My Life Through Food that I had started two years earlier. My first thoughts were two films, the glorious, Big Night (1996) and Julie & Julia (2009). An Italian American actor and director from Manhatten now residing in London, I often read food related articles about him and live cooking content on his social media. I’m intrigued to finish this.

I’ll let you know how I get on…

Cleo Sol’s albums: ‘Heaven’ and ‘Gold’

Cleo Sol returns with her third and fourth fanatstic albums Heaven and Gold, just two weeks apart.

Heaven

With her childhood photo as her album cover, you immediately get the sense this album is even more authentic than her last. This album is reflective with a deep sense of freedom. What starts as “self”, her songs go from the grieve of “go baby” to the release of “Love will lead you there.” So far my favourite songs being: self, go baby and Nothing on me (what a banger 😅 ).

Gold

Slightly more somber and starts with “There will be no crying”, beautifully motivating. There’s a hint of gospel in this album with hope and spirituality and backing singers, as she repeats “things will get better.” I’m loving the songs: Desire, In Your Own Home and Life will be.

I’m still dissecting both albums and will write a full review shortly 🙂



Top boy: Netflix Season 3

“If we’re not monsters we’re food and I could never be food” – Sully

What started as a Channel 4 series in 2011, the show – like countless classics- tells the tale of drugs and gangs in a terrific way that had us hooked. As the show returned in 2019, this time on Netflix, an international audience grew on Hackney’s Summerhouse council estate.

We saw Sully (Kano or Kane Robinson) joining Dushane (Ashley Walters), both facing the cafe entrance now. The power behind who gets to face the door was consistent throughout the seasons and set the tone for this one. Their rivalry finally imploded in a slightly rushed season finale with only 6 episode.
Still, my love for Kano has grown even more, if possible 🙂

On the loop: