What a privilege to be at the opening of the opening of the Black Cultural Archives on Thursday 24th July 2014! There were performances and talks from the likes of Akala, dub-poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, the amazing author and founder of OWAAD Stella Dadzie, channel 4 journalist Simeon Browne and one of my favourite historians Dr. Hakim Adi. I also spotted Sol Campbell and Benjamin Zephaniah photobombed one of my pictures! It was a beautiful evening and the community came out in droves.

Though I was not able to get in to visit the Black Women in Britain exhibition due to queues so long (people having travelled down from as far as Scotland and Australia!), I was also fortunate enough to be invited to donate my African Musical Instruments book which was the least I could do in return for an impromptu birthday present!

The Black Cultural Archive was founded in 1981 with the aim to collect, preserve and celebrate the heritage and history of Black people in Britain. The BCA is the UK’s first dedicated Black heritage centre in Brixton, London in July 2014 with the new location allowing greater access to the archive collection, dedicated learning spaces and an exciting programme of exhibitions and events that explore British history from a unique perspective.

I did meet many of my peers of the 25-30 age bracket and it was great to see some children here too; getting the history to the young ones is of course a great concern I address in my own work, but we also take the time to remember those who passed in the 30 year wait before their dream came to fruition. Len Garrison founder of the BCA died of a heart attack in 2003 aged 59. He was arguably the most important figure in the black British community's exploration and understanding of its history. A historian, poet and educationist, his work in creating and developing materials based on the experience of African and Caribbean pupils gave a major impetus to the development of a multicultural curriculum in British schools.

So come down and celebrate his and our legacy with a coffee (it's free entry after all!) between Tuesday and Sunday!


Free entry
Tue - Sun 10:00 - 18:00
1 Othello Close, London SE11 4RE
020 7582 8516

Sources: 
The Guardian Newspaper: Len Garrison: Recording the history of black Britons for future generations
Black Cultural Archives website: www.bcaheritage.org.uk

African cultural education and activities often focus on drumming, and though an extremely important part of African culture: did you know Africa has a wide variety of harps, lutes, xylophones and zithers which have a variety of uses?

The African Musical Instruments book contains twenty-one instruments from mainly sub-Saharan Africa with an illustration and information on each. These introduce ideas of cultural values and customs, spirituality and beliefs, creativity, artisan skill and the technologies that go into producing the instrument, rather than learning about any of these in isolation.  This coupled with the instruments themselves provide endless fun and child participation whilst at the same time learning about new interesting cultures through a creative medium. 

Not only this, but the book contains an introduction into the role of music in African culture; types and regions of African music; instrument classification; a glossary; and the spread of African music beyond the continent and into the diaspora, who held onto their culture in the Americas laying the foundations for new types of music and indeed Western pop music.

The only book of its kind, and aimed at children is bright and beautifully designed; there is also a colouring book version for children to get creative! 

It’s an important tool which will help to instil cultural knowledge, pride, and a positive self image and identity. It also puts into context what we mainly learn about black history at school by showing the very culture people were fighting to hold on to; we see how this was the foundation for resistance in the various global civil rights movements and chattel slavery. But it’s not about fighting! – it’s about celebrating the long African history and culture looking at the great kingdoms of Songhai, Great Zimbabwe, the Empire of Mali and Ancient Egypt.

Make this black history month as fun, positive and informative as can be!


ISBN: African Musical Instruments Book - 9781627761420
African Musical Instruments Book: Colouring Book - 9781627762502
African Patterns Colouring Book - 9781627768214

Available via the website, Nielsen, Amazon and Waterstones.
www.AMI-Book.com

Discounts for school bulk orders and a selection of *instruments available.
*Fairly traded, and ethically produced by African artisans and craftspeople.

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