Favourite protest songs: 
 
A trio of British Reggae bands who emerged around the same time and were landmarks in their own ways in the evolution of British Reggae. They helped shaped a curious teenager in the strength of politics in music. Two of them hailed from Handsworth area of Birmingham, a stone’s throw from where I lived and was brought up as a child so I’m a touch bias!
 
When I started writing and performing performance poetry in 1984/5, these all had a profound influence on both my style and narrative
 
Steel Pulse – Klu Klux Klan (the whole album Handsworth Revolution is worth a listen).
 
I will resist quoting the whole lyrics – the simple but effective opening line walking along just kicking stones reminds me of my youth (and I still do it even today!) and how it builds from that into some powerful hard-hitting stuff:

To let me go was not dem intention
Dem seh one nigger the less
The better for the show
Stand strong black skin and take your blow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHDP1mmIjHI&index=6&list=PLDNnrH9LH9spkKTuw9t-It2V0hz5UIFUb
 
 
Aswad – had the pleasure of seeing them live at their hay days  at Reggae Sunsplash (those were the days). Their live and direct album for me is still one of the all-time greats.  Favourite track? African Children – wait till you get to the musical rift in the live version about 3.30mins in – wicked!  Total pleasure
 
All of the nation are/Living in these tenements
Crying and applying to their council/for assistance
Their tribulation it’s so sad/their environment is so bad
High rise concrete/No back yard for their children to play
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7SIqd682ts
 
 
UB40 (long before they started doing covers!)
 
The double A-side King and Food for Thought from the Signing Off album with it iconic sleeve cover of a UB40 Unemployment Benefit Attendance Card. I’ve still got my original duly filled in and signed!
 
Food for thought  - it is believed that the band wanted this to be a Christmas anthem highlighting the hypocrisy of Christmas - starving people in Africa whilst we sit around eating our Christmas dinner and praising the Lord. This was the first single to reach Top 10 without the backing of a major record company.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNIRBvZugTM
 
Hear the bells are ringing, Christmas on it's way
Hear the angels singing, what is that they say?
Eat and drink rejoicing, joy is here to stay. Jesus son of Mary is born again today.
 
King – tribute to Martin Luther King and ask in its lyrics: “Where are your people now, Chained and pacified
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JuqdnPFeTo

A Black hero - Nelson Mandela
There are many to choose from but Nelson strength of retaining his dignity, pride and sense of humour with no hatred towards people or the racist regime that  imprisoned him for life.  Would have loved to meet and talk to the man (jealous of my younger brother, Tony, who did!)
 
Songs:
 
War - Bob Marley
Again, there are so many to choose from this man who effortless blended strong political messages and values with great tunes. This is not a track that’s played much (from the album Rastaman Vibration) and is often referred to as his battle call, but is it NOT a call to arms but the recognition that the fight for equality, freedom and justice is a battle that needs to be fought and WILL be fought. The words were from Haile Selassie’s UN address in 1963 and is still very much apt today.
 
Until the philosophy
Which hold one race superior and another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHEPoMNP0I
 
In the Living Years – Mike and the Mechanics
 
This song has universal meaning for me about forgiveness and not forgetting to love in the present.
 
Every generation blames the one before
And all of their frustrations come beating on your door
I know that I'm a prisoner to all my father held so dear
I know that I'm a hostage to all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could've told him in the living years
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGDA0Hecw1k
 
Ella’s Song – Sweet Honey in the Rock
 
Wonderful opening lines –
 
We who believe in freedom
Cannot rest until it comes
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Uus--gFrc

Favourite protest songs: 
 
Bitter Fruit  - Little Steven (album Freedom No Compromise)
 
I love the energy and passion of Bitter Fruit and fell in love with it when I was about 15/16 and well into my ‘we have save and change the world and stop all this injustice phase’. I first heard it during the televised concert against Sun City (or performers boycotting playing there). I had a bit of a thing about rock guitar, I remember being very judgemental about Whitney Houston having nothing political to say about the situation at the concert.....

My father he was a union man
Very proud and outspoken
They came and took him when I was young
I will fight 'till his work is done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjQhu6gfL7M
 
 
Something inside so strong – Labi Siffre (1987)
 
The higher you build your barriers, the taller I become
The farther you take my rights away, the faster I will run
You can deny me, you can decide to turn your face away
No matter 'cause there's
Something inside so strong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B-4Lsrx8IA

Protest song  by April Maze?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ISvGP859Qs
 
 
Why  - Tracey Chapman (1988)
 
This song summed up my feelings a few years further along my road, when I still felt it was everyone's duty to do something to create change in the world,  not just accept the status quo.
 
Why do the babies starve
When there's enough food to feed the world
Why when there are so many of us
Are there people still alone
Why are the missiles called peace keepers
When they're aimed to kill
Why is a woman still not safe
When she's in her home
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-WpxSrmV4Y
 
 
Favourite quotes:
 
"All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tired by a single garment. What ever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be till I am what I ought to be".
 
Originally used by Ghandi in India's fight for home rule and then used by Dr Martin Luther King Junior during America's civil rights campaign of 50's/60's.
 
I've loved this quote since I was 12/13 years old and we did a short piece for Martin Luther King Day at the old Roots building in town. (Via a Pegasus outreach project). I had my first Chinese meal cos we went out to dinner after the show. I felt very grown up!). This quote and the South African one below were painted on my Bedroom wall of my parents’ home a year or so later.....  I loved them and practically lived with them as mantra's/ affirmations for a good few years.
 
" Now you have touched the women you have struck a rock, you have dislodged a boulder you shall be crushed." Used by South African women in the fight against pass books laws during 50's. It inspired the formation of the group Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Griot Chinyere reveals how nerve-wracking it can be to show your work to an audience at a very early stage.

"The scratch night was a surprising experience. I have never participated in one before. We were just beginning to gel as a team, come to grips with the work and there we were exposing our vulnerabilities to an audience.

"The response was encouraging, informative and gave much food for thought. I was a little nervous that we received such powerful feedback when we at the beginning of the journey. I was also happy to know that there is an audience out there waiting to be taken on a longer journey which plays on their emotions, sometimes tip-toeing and other times marching."

Beverley Harry is the Historical consultant on #BlackLivesMatter. During rehearsals for the show she was asked about the some of the works that most inspired her.
​
What are your favourite or most inspiring political music tracks and tell us why?
Ol' Man River sung by Paul Robeson – is one of the most thought-provoking tracks because you are submerged in the beauty of Robeson’s rendition whilst the relationship between the Mississippi river and the suffering of black people wrenches at my soul.
What’s Going On Marvin Gaye. The phrase "what’s going on" prefixes the thoughts of so many for so many issues. At the revelation of yet another atrocity or tragic incident, I say,  in the immortal words of Marvin Gaye, 

You know we've got to find a way, To bring some lovin' here today.
 
Do any books or films inspire you?
 Wow…too many to cite
 
The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois. First real sociological essay on race I read that made me think.
 
Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by bell hooks where she talks of growing up in a racially segregated America was an eye-opener and it was the first book I read from an entirely female perspective.

Roots…enough said!

Which Black heroes, historical and current do you look up to and why?

I admire and am indebted to the artists from the Harlem Renaissance. Words cannot express how I feel about the sacrifices they made to create such a rich legacy of dance, theatre, poetry and literature:

These include Langston Hughes (author), Zora Neale Hurston (author), Aaron Douglas (visual artist), W. E. B. Du Bois (intellectual, activist, author), Duke Ellington (musician), Claude McKay (author), Marcus Garvey (activist) and Josephine Baker (entertainer) to name a few.
.

​by Beverley Harry (Historical Consultant on Ending the Silence)

















​Bawren, how did you become involved in this project?
I have known Euton for a number of years now and he has always been supportive of my ideas and of my company, Tavaziva Dance. In that time, we have shared memories and aspirations about the past, present and future work, so I felt that I had a good knowledge of what he was planning.
 
What drew you to the project?
Firstly, I felt honoured that Euton would ask me to be the choreographer for this project as I have tremendous respect for his achievements over the years, he’s an incredible man. He had given me a rough idea of what the script was going to be about and I was excited by his vision and based on his previous work, I knew it was going to be powerful.
 
Now that you have started work on the project, how do you feel about it now?
Strong- Even though as a black man, I still see things like this still happening (making references to police killing in US ) I also believe that the current political climate Brexit/Tump were both motivated by hatred of fringe and minority groups: women, black people, foreigners, homosexuality, that seemed to rewind the minds and actions of some people. So, works like this gives a heads up that ‘you can’t do it’ (alluding to the hatred), that’s why I love this type of work for the same reason- its ability to send a powerful message and - I take it personally 
 
What is the most moving part for you?
Being a Nigger!
 
What do you hope people get from the project?
I hope that people will share what they have learnt from watching the performance because it is an education. It’s an education about what happened in the past to black people, and it’s an education about what is happening now to black people. I hope that they see that the situations are similar, though the words may be different, the feelings are the same. Mainly, I want people to watch this and want to share love.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.
 
Song:
We need a Nation – Sweet Honey In The Rock
Along with the lyrics, the Images in the video also appropriate context for the show

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

​Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, 
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, 
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, 
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, 
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, 
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, 
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, 
Now, therefore, 
The General Assembly, 
Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. 

Article I 
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. 

Article 2 
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.  Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. 

Article 3 
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. 

Article 4 
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. 

Article 5 
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 

Article 6 
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. 

Article 7 
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. 

Article 8 
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. 

Article 9 
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. 

Article 10 
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. 

Article 11 

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. 
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed. 

Article 12 
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. 

Article 13 

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State. 
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. 

Article 14 

1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. 
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 

Article 15 

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality. 
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. 

Article 16 

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. 
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. 
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. 

Article 17 

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. 

Article 18 
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. 

Article 19 
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.  Article 20 

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association. 

Article 21 

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. 
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country. 
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. 

Article 22 
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. 

Article 23 

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. 
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. 
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. 

Article 24 
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. 

Article 25 

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. 
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. 

Article 26 

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. 
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. 
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. 

Article 27 

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. 
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author. 

Article 28 
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized. 

Article 29 

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. 
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. 
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 

Article 30 
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.