 |
| NEW PORTRAIT BY BECCY STRONG. |
Hello! Good morning,
I'm drinking tea and watching the sunrise and I feel like writing a blog post and taking a moment to process and share some poetry and thoughts and photos here on my blog from the amazing Windrush 75 concert at The Royal Albert Hall before it fades into memory, and before I jump into the next shiny thing. You will find more clips on my insta and tiktok and twitter but I have always liked to treat this blog like a scrap book, keeping an archive of highlights and my adventures in making books and poetry and gigs over the decades. Thank you to anyone following this page, hello to any new people who find me here. Welcome.
Firstly, thank you for all of your comments and messages about this one gig and poem. I was blown away by your messages, thank you. I was so honoured and so excited to be invited by Trevor Nelson to perform and write a piece for the Windrush 75 Concert. I was also nervous about it as I knew I wanted to write something new for it. I was not sure where to begin to try to capture this moment in history and experience, and my own feelings about Windrush and heritage and ancestry and migration and colonialism and empire in a poem to be broadcast on the BBC and perform to peers and elders on such a big stage.
I left London and headed south to perform two lovely shows in Exeter and Totnes and stayed down there for a while with dear friends on the coast. I looked at the Devon skies and seas and sun rises and went deep into the themes of this poem and the process. I knew right away that I wanted to fill the Royal Albert Hall with the ocean, with timelessness and the weight of ocean water and our conversation with it.
I wanted to share in that united feeling that we are not all in the same boat, and that so many of us came here by boat, and that many are still arriving by boat, and how we are all connected in blood and saltwater. I wanted to celebrate that we share the same time in history, that we share an ancient resilience and courage. As some of you know I am currently working on the second Mrs Death Misses Death novel and so this was setting the tone for me and leaking into my writing, I was visualising and dreaming of Mrs Death filling the Albert Hall with ocean, with ancestors and ghosts, with loss and grief, and with BIGlove, ONE Love.
I intentionally chose to write a rhythmic flowing poem with rhyming verses, as I often have done for show pieces, for protest poetry, for poetry that is to be performed to large crowds and also for poetry I want to perform to music. Every time I started writing this, I kept coming back to the last verse from another short poem 'No Holds Barred' (published in Pessimism is for Lightweights) and so this became my starting point and here was where I found my chorus and title...
my heart is a boat
my ancestors longships
my grandmothers Windrush
the rubber dinghies sunk without trace
As I performed the piece we played loops of the ocean crashing to shore and watery blue and green and golden light filling the Albert Hall. There was an undercurrent, a low bass line played by Chineke Orchestra. Chris Cameron was the musical director, thank you for helping me pull this together and make this dream come true. "Now we know how many seas it takes to fill the Albert Hall"
Finally I should mention this: when I received the invitation to do this gig I asked to have a kimono made by artist Diane Goldie with a shimmering picture of ‘Queen Nanny’ on the back. I stood on stage wearing this stunning art kimono decorated with Jamaican hibiscus and hummingbirds. I had Queen Nanny on my back: Nanny of the Maroons. Rebel Queen. She who fought for the freedom for 1000’s of enslaved peoples and led a revolution against the tyranny of colonialism and the slave trade.
“If you know your history, then you will know where I am coming from..” I thank Diane so much for making this spectacular piece for me, for this show, for the poetry, for this heart, I will always wear this very special kimono with pride and with love. Thank you. With the rebel Queen Nanny of the Maroons on my back and my grandmothers beads around my throat, I felt like anything I didn’t get into the poetry was empowered and represented in this way visually and spiritually.
So, this was a dream gig. And I won't ever forget it. I was so happy to be invited to participate. As poets we dream to be invited to share truth and hope, to be who we are and dance with our elders and ancestors and share our bright fierce souls and shine our heart out. Sending thanks to everyone, thank you to all the legends and heroes on stage and back stage and to the warm audiences in Royal Albert Hall and at home as it was broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Thanks to the ancestors that got us all here.
It is my birthday this weekend and so I gift you all the text of this poem to read here today. I'm excited to be this age, enjoying doing the work I love and writing the books I want to write. This past year or so has been a helter-skelter time, but we keep on keeping on and feel blessed today.
My next performances will be headline shows at WOMAD July 30th, GREEN GATHERING August 5th and then SHAMBALA August 25th - See you in some happy summer field or singing by a smoky camp fire very soon. Happy midsummers!
Keep on sailing,
Your heart is a boat!
Thank you,
sgxx
es the Place for Me, Bob Marl
BBC: WINDRUSH 75, ROYAL ALBERT HALL
"On Thursday 22 June 1948, an ex-troop ship called the Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury, carrying 800 passengers who had left behind their homes in the Caribbean for a new life in Britain. Radio 2 and BBC Sounds commemorate the 75th anniversary of Windrush with a series of programmes, including this special one-off concert for Radio 2, curated and hosted by Trevor Nelson. Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, the concert features an array of guest stars, including Craig David, Beverley Knight, R&B group Loose Ends, saxophonist YolanDa Brown, calypsonian Tobago Crusoe, G-folk pioneer Hak Baker and award-winning author and poet Salena Godden. Accompanied by the Chineke Orchestra, conducted by Chris Cameron. The concert captures the breadth of musical influence which the Windrush generation has had on British culture over the last 75 years, with performances including Loose Ends’ Hangin’ On a String, Hak Baker’s Windrush Baby, and Craig David’s Fill Me In, as well as renditions of classic tracks like Lord Kitchener’s London is the Place for Me, Bob Marley’s Is this Love, and Goldie’s Inner City Life."
My Heart Is A Boat
We're outside a pub
and she's yelling
telling me to
get back on my boat
My friends say she's just racist
but I put down my rum
and walk over and ask
do you need a hug?
I stand with open arms
as wide as a map of the world
she bursts into tears
I hold her for a while
My jacket gets stained
in orange foundation
my lapels are streaked
with black mascara
The pub is rumbling
under the mad full moon
and the spring tide
crashes to shore
My heart is a boat
My ancestors longships
My grandmothers Windrush
The rubber dinghies sunk without trace.
(audio begins: slow low bass line, ocean soundtrack)
whispering:
My heart is a boat
My ancestors long ships
My grandmothers Windrush
The rubber dinghies sunk without trace
Vast ocean and destiny
The horizon, the sea
Home in my bones
Forever singing to me
The unknown ahead
The unseen and untold
Ancients, old souls
Their stories unfold
Ancestors spirit
Holding them dear
Ghosts of the elders
History lives here
The truth under water
The thin paper words
Welcome to Britain
Cold and unheard
And who's left behind?
And what did you leave?
Shivering at Tilbury Dock
Your young hope and belief
Come willing, come able
Your mother country calls
To build the war effort
To build road and walls
Hale and hearty
Immigrant sons
Sent to the front line
Trench foot and guns
Taking a bullet
March side by side
For country, for crown
For honour, for pride
Singing Jerusalem
This green pleasant land
Give with whole heart
Take with gloved hand
Movement of people
The tall tales told
Invited to London
The streets paved with gold
We bring the music
Culture, colour, spice
Trading the sunshine
For rain, snow and ice
Trading the peoples
Sugar canes daughter
If Kingston is my pepper
Then London my salt water
And the rivers of tears
That stick in the throat
We'll sail to the truth
My heart is a boat
We dream of the heat
The warmth of home
We dream of the soil
Where our roots were grown
My heart is a boat
And I sail through time
My boat has a heart
We share the bloodline
Our heart is a boat
Our boat is a heart
Keeping us united
When we're torn apart
See the ocean at night
Stars shifting above
Mirrored in moonlight
Reflecting ONE LOVE
The seabed is a cemetery
Nameless, timeless, space
Sea water holding memories
Of past, person, place
Our boat is a heart
And love is for free
Welcome aboard
Us, them and we
(ocean soundtrack fading out...)
whispering singing:
My heart is a boat
My heart is a boat
My heart is a boat
My heart is a boat
No comments:
Post a Comment