kinky hair blues

Last week I went to help out F.A.D at their stall for their new project 'Thirteen Black Icons'. We were placed at Alexandra Palace - as part of the Knitting and Stitching Show. ahh it was so amazing!!

Even the stall itself was beaut, lined and decorated with all the mesmerising photography and Kanga cloths. So, 13 Black Icons is a F.A.D initiative and magazine celebrating the inspirational stories of thirteen black icons of the British Jazz Age in the 1920s and 1930s.

(read the magazine online here)

I just had to do a blog post about this because it studied something close to my heart: jazz.

Reading the magazine and learning about these stories was so enlightening. The artists were specifically chosen because their stories are not known by many, certainly not by those of this generation (I hardly knew any of the icons sadly). Their activism and talents and ideas need to be known because Black British people had a presence in Britain PRE Windrush in 1948. And it can be seen and felt within this period and always will be.

============= 2 faves: =============

Reginald Foresythe 1907-1958
Musician & Composer

was an incredible talent and eccentric. He grew up in Shepherd's Bush with a Sierra Leonean father and British mother. Reginald began playing the piano at aged 8 and spent his spare time composing bold new jazz pieces. Reginald assembled a band to record his compositions and many of the jazz greats of the era played his pieces.

Although he never achieved fame, he left a huge back catalogue of music and was influential in creating the syncopated sound of the 20s and 30s. 'Bit' is one of my favourites of his.

Una Marson 1905-1956
Poet, Playwright, Broadcaster & Activist

Una was born in rural Jamaica. She rose to be Jamaica's first female editor and publisher of her own magazine. She also wrote poems and plays that focused on politics and advocated feminism. Una moved to London in 1932 to find a wider audience for her work and by the end of the 1930s, had been noticed by the BBC and became their first black radio producer. She continued pursuing writing and activism in London and Jamaica until her death.

'Cinema Eyes' 1937 and 'Kinky Hair Blues' 1937 (poetry) are my absolute favourites. really really powerful words.

In 'Cinema Eyes' the narrator tries protect her daughter from obtaining a "cinema mind" under the influence of white supremacy which "saw no beauty in black faces". 'Kinky Hair Blues' reveals black hair politics and the way in which black women wanted to alter their appearance.

snippet from 'Cinema Eyes'

"I saw no beauty in black faces.

The tender light and beauty 

Of their eyes I did not see;

The mellow music of their voice,

The stateliness of their walk.

The tenderness of their hearts

No, they were black

And therefore had no virtue". 

snippet from 'Kinky Hair Blues'

"I hate dat iron hair

And dat bleaching skin

Hate dat iron hair

And dat bleaching skin

But I'll be alone

If I don't fall in"

read the full poems here

thanks for reading guys, c u next time xx