I was lucky to stop by Mercado Bazurto while in Cartagena, although unfortunately this time I did not get to Barranquilla or to see any picós in action (these are the Colombian sound systems). But at the Mercado with a colleague we met some people involved in the scene and had a great time. Especially after we saw this amazing painting!
July-August: I went to London, England to finalize research for my book (tentatively titled) "Decolonizing music : sovereignty and citizenship on the Jamaican dancefloor" - I'm currently talking to Jamaicans in London about how they have created space for autonomous culture-making. It helps that the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton has an exhibit called Black Sound which had lots of interesting and inspiring facts, images, and sounds. In the exhibit, they show a documentary about the legendary Roaring Twenties club on Carnaby street, which was the hottest place for Jamaican sound and the white rock stars who came to, um.. soak it up.. You can watch the documentary here:
50 Carnaby Street: The Roaring Twenties from Lucy Harrison on Vimeo.
I ran into the filmmaker a couple of days later at the Hackney Wick(ed) Open Studios in my old stomping grounds of Hackney/Homerton, and she told me there is another documentary floating around about the legendary Four Aces Club in Dalston (which I heard of as Labyrinth, described by Slimzee here, when I had lived in London). The Four Aces was owned by Newton "Ace" Dunbar, who I dj'd with back in 2013!
Happy to hear he is still out and about, I hope to interview him soon, and with luck to catch a copy of the documentary, which may be held up for familiar reasons. Glad to see my east and south London networks are still alive, hope to get to West London for that side of Jamaicans' history in London soon!
