Culture

Here is the hub of my thoughts; ideas, experiences, everything and anything. If you have something you’ve been thinking about or something you’d like me to write about, let me know.

Cypress Hill Interview #FanGirl

Cypress Hill, one of the most versatile and iconic hip hop acts of a generation, are playing at what is arguably one of the most trailblazing music festivals on offer (no I’m not biased…) Boomtown! Having written 8 studio albums and experimenting on each with different sounds, they are a perfect choice for the independent […]

Rag’n’Bone Man, O2 Academy

Bumping along on the bus to Rag n Bone man I didn’t have a whole to go on in terms of expectation which I love – I take great joy in discovering an artist after they’ve blown up. It was the same with Kendrick Lamar, I point blank refuse to listen to an artist once […]

Chineke! Orchestra: Classical music diversified

“I could count on my hand the amount of people of colour I’d played with in the past 35 years… That’s not good.” Fresh off the phone from BBC Radio 4, Chi-chi Nwanoku walked me through her mission to champion change and celebrate diversity in the Classical music scene. From performers at the forefront to those behind […]

Chineke! Orchestra, St George’s

‘I want black and minority ethnic musicians to walk on stage and know they belong’ After speaking to Chi-Chi Nwanoku I was more than a little excited to watch Chineke! Orchestra playing music by Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint George at this special St George’s Day concert at St George’s. The composer, an illegitimate son of a French plantation owner […]

Postmodern Jukebox, Colston Hall

“A whirlwind of emotions, I laughed harder than should be allowed on a dreary Monday evening” Postmodern Jukebox came to play at Bristol on the first day of spring. In true British style the day’s weather had been nothing if not thoroughly bipolar. Showers followed by sunshine & yet more showers may, on another day, […]

Sound Industry: Bristol Women in Music

Bristol’s music scene is a popular one. Respected worldwide for its wide range of genres and influences, its output is both diverse and varied. Unfortunately, though, it’s still heavily male-dominated – both at the forefront and behind the scenes. Bristol Women in Music want to change this, as a collective of women in the music industry […]

Freetown Sound: A Review of the Political New Album from Blood Orange

The blues, a genre born from songs sung on slave ships to release pain and spark hope, is one that is deeply embedded in the black community. Maturing in Mississippi Delta, just upriver from New Orleans (the birthplace of jazz) the two have been closely linked ever since; strongly rooted in African-American history. Over the past […]

Lemonade: Beyoncé’s sweetest lemons

Pray You Catch Me The album opens with Beyoncé looking down with graffiti in the background, presented in fur and corn rows. A vulnerable admission of infidelity begins: ‘I’m praying to catch you whispering, I pray you catch me listening’ As the word ‘intuition’ comes up on the screen Warsan Shire’s words spoken by Beyoncé. ‘You remind […]

Dear Beyoncé

I downloaded Tidal apprehensively. I’d seen the hype and knew I’d experience something both visually stimulating and musically mediocre but tried to keep an open mind. The first shot of Beyoncé with cornrows and a fur jacket looking down with graffiti in the background gave me hope – I continued to watch barely breathing. After 13 […]