British Nigerian Artist Prepares Deployment of Artistic Weapons Across Borders ... and Generations
1 April, 2025
Greetings,
A group of 13-17-year-old school students came to see Call Mr. Robeson in Southport last month. Unsurprisingly, not a single one of them had heard of Paul Robeson before, so I was glad that I was introducing him to 100% of the audience (likely including their lovely teacher) for the first time. The date of the performance was March 6, which coincidentally was Ghana Independence Day. Sadly none of the students were Ghanaian, but some were Nigerian, and they and the others were able to also learn some new things from my programme note which discussed British colonisation of Ghana, African liberation struggles (and how Paul Robeson supported them), about trade unions (that performance was sponsored by the RMT) and more, including Palestine and Ukraine.
The students also saw my re-enactment of one of the times that Robeson, banned by his government from leaving the USA to go to Canada, and with the aid of trade unions, holding a concert at the border.
It seems that one of the parties that booked to host Call Mr. Robeson fears that a similar fate awaits me, for they have cancelled the booking previously scheduled for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, in Detroit, Michigan, because the risk of my not being allowed into the country is too great, bearing in mind things going on there at present.
A concert is being arranged elsewhere instead (details to be confirmed later) and the forthcoming performance at Raretan Valley Community College for Ubuntu Cultural Pavilion on June 19 is still scheduled to go ahead. Details will be on their website soon.
I will then be crossing the border into Canada, to perform the North American premiere of Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the Bus Stop Theatre. Nova Scotia has been chosen because there is a direct ancestral link between that province and Freetown, Sierra Leone, from where Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s father hails. The little Bus Stop Theatre is dear to me because that is the place that I performed Robeson en route to winning one of my Fringe Theatre awards many moons ago.
Long before that (indeed this week!) I’ll be performing Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown in Leeds, and Call Mr. Robeson in Sheffield, on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. I understand Sheffield will very likely sell out before the day.
I am working on other performances (and a Coleridge-Taylor Festival!) in the background, and hope I will be able to announce some exciting news (involving my working in slightly different ways) in the next newsletter.
In the midst of all the disasters and wars going on at present, it seems almost wrong to mention the passing of one particular person at this time. Marika Sherwood (whom I have mentioned in previous newsletters as a friend and mentor), who died recently, was however a very special person. I was privileged to spend two days with her in December 2023 interviewing her, and will be editing the film in coming weeks and months, with a view to making it publicly available. Fittingly, the last filmed interview she gave was, I believe, to a group of young Black historians called the Young Historians Project, set up with the aid of another of Marika’s mentees, Professor Hakim Adi. That film will feature in a forthcoming event to celebrate Marika’s life and work at the CLR James Library in London on April 14. Details here.
This is the latest extract from my interview with Marika that I have posted on a web page with details about my seeking funds to help me recoup some costs, complete the film and set me on the road to interviewing some other great people.
I happen to be involved in another project that is also seeking to raise funds. The independent feature film TERRA, which was filmed last summer, is set in a war zone somewhere in the Middle East, and in it I have one of the starring roles, as a doctor trying to administer care to a population under siege, with threats from the skies and from within the hospital itself. A clever and engaging script beautifully filmed and directed by Rory Wilson, it is seeking a figure of £15,000 to get it finished independently. If you are able to help, do contact me, and I’ll make an introduction to Rory, or see the details in the Marika Sherwood page and donate there, letting me know that it is for the film.
Parting Shots.
Arts to Save the Planet (or, at least, to Lift the Spirit)
I did a reading of a poem by my friend Flloyd Kennedy called Five Point Plan: A manifesto for the arts, and described as a poem to lift our spirits.
One of my own poems was also recently recorded, this time translated into Urdu! It’s part of a project that arose out of Covid - Mapping “Greatness.” People of the Global Majority are still invited to contribute.
And I came across this fantastic Nigerian artist working wonders from waste metal and other materials. Enjoy Dotun Popoola.
That’s all for now. Wishing you peace and health.
Tayo Aluko