British Nigerian Producer Presents “Best of America” in London, Live, From Death Row!
1 November 2024
Greetings,
To the consternation of some friends and family, I tend to write things that are considered dangerous, offensive and/or provocative. In the programme note for Call Mr. Robeson at a small village in Wales recently, for example, I included the following phrase, “were I American...I would...say we must surely be able to do better than this; that what we are being presented with cannot possibly represent the best of us.”
Now that it is too late to influence American voters from my little platform so far away, the least I can do is let you know when and where you can find the best of that country. In a perfect illustration of how upside-down that nation is (in the sense that the wrong people are in the wrong places), consider for example the calibre of several political prisoners being left to die in jail in contrast with the fact that a convicted felon will possibly become president for a second time.
I have, as they say, been into the belly of the beast, and found myself in a Death Row prison in Ohio, visiting wrongly-convicted prisoner Keith LaMar, spending some unforgettable hours with one of the most remarkable human beings I know. Keith is an intellectual, a teacher and a poet who has to his name the first album to be recorded and released by a prisoner while on death row. From his prison, Keith joins with pianist Albert Marquès and other jazz musicians “on tour” around the world, and on Monday, 11 November, he will be appearing at a jazz club in London, presented by Tayọ Aluko & Friends. This is a shareable press release. The concert has been hastily arranged as an add-on to another event that Keith and Albert will be participating in the following day, Tuesday, November 12, the Champions of Justice Awards, tickets for which I understand are also still available.
Forthcoming Performances/Appearances
The current list of forthcoming appearances for the rest of the year is:
November 7, Liverpool: Participant. Merseyside Pensioners’ Association Manifesto Launch
November 11, London: Participant and Promoter. Freedom First. Jazz concert, featuring Death Row prisoner Keith LaMar. Toulouse Lautrec
November 22, Penryn: Just An Ordinary Lawyer @ Exeter University (Cornwall Campus)
November 23, Barmouth, Wales: Just An Ordinary Lawyer@ Dragon Theatre
December 4, Liverpool: Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown @ Unity Theatre
December 7, London: Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown @ The Courtyard Theatre
Any updates to this list will appear on my performances page.
At the November 7 event, I will be sharing the stage with a certain Andrew Feinstein. He stood, unsuccessfully, against Keir Starmer for the position of MP for Holborn & St. Pancras in the last election. He is, among other things, a co-editor of a recent book, The Monstrous Anger of the Guns. I expect he might refer to a recent exposé about the British Labour Party accepting donations from seemingly rather unsavoury companies.
You will also note from the list that I have two performances each of the plays that followed Call Mr. Robeson. First, Just An Ordinary Lawyer, and then, Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown, which I am producing independently (renting two theatres) to coincide with the global campaign: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. Your support (even with donations or by sharing the press release) would be most welcome.
News
First of all, a bit of news about what people I admire have been doing. Palestine Action, about whom I have written in the past, have scored three big victories recently. Started in Manchester, UK by two individuals (just like the Black Panther Party was in Oakland, CA), it is now a global movement doing more than elected politicians in practically any country are, to disrupt the process of manufacture and supply of arms to the Israeli Occupying Forces. This very day, it was announced that Elbit had been dropped by their lobbyists APCO. A few days ago, it was announced that Barclays Bank has bowed to relentless pressure from the organisation and decided to divest from Elbit Systems. This follows news from the USA that Elbit Systems also shut down an office in Cambridge, MA, due to persistent activity by Palestine Action activists and mass action by supporters - ordinary people like you and me.
Secondly, Paul Robeson (who it was once suggested should run for Vice President – imagine that) has recently been honoured at his Alma Mater, Rutgers University. In recognition of his footballing genius, a mural has been unveiled in his honour at the university stadium.
This is the second significant physical memorial to the great man at Rutgers in recent years. The first, a small plaza, was unveiled in 2019. Both are thanks to the efforts of a big Robeson fan and former Rutgers student, Jim Savage, who passed away a few days after the unveiling of the mural. Thank you Jim, for your service to humanity, by doing so much to keep Robeson’s name alive. Rest In Peace.
Recent performances/Appearances.
In Aberdare, Wales, there was a special performance of Call Mr. Robeson. Special because it was preceded by a performance by the Cwmbach Male Choir, with whom Paul had sung in 1960. The pride, love and respect the choir still has for Mr. Robeson was palpable. In my programme note, I recalled the beautiful, nice thing that happened to me as a result of not being able to go to the US in August. The visa approval has arrived, by the way, valid till the end of August 2027. I hope my interview at the US Embassy for the visa to be actually issued the document will be successful.
My next appearance was reading extracts from a forthcoming book at an event in London about The Persecution of the Black Community in Nazi Germany. Gaza Nights 3, followed at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool; and then came my first-ever paid performance of Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown, in Wellingborough. It was a great audience, both in terms of numbers and the response to the play.The programme note dealt with the way things are buried – from rape to complicity in political crime. The following day, I swapped hats again, back to Mr. Robeson, at Narth Village Hall. The theme of the programme note was the phrase “Dear God, I thank you that you did not make me an American.”
Days later, I was in concert-singer-cum-promoter mode, in the fabulous setting of Liverpool’s St. George’s Hall. I had conceived a new Black Activist Song Cycle, with words of activists and peace-makers associated with Liverpool, set to music by local composer Andrew Barney (with a little input from me). We had two guest performers - Anna-Louise Loy and Gaia Ghazaryan playing music by Black composers. This was the programme, and extracts can be viewed below.
It included a song that I reprised a few days later at the Knowsley Black History Month event. Knowsley is the borough of Liverpool that includes Huyton, where one Anthony Walker was racially murdered in 2005. His mother, Gee Walker, decided to forgive his killers, and she was kind enough to grant Andrew and me the permission to make a song out of two interviews she gave. We titled the song I Chose to Forgive. She was there to hear it, and I believe she appreciated it. In meeting her and having the privilege of hugging her afterwards, I could feel in this one woman, more humanity than in the entire front benches of the British Houses of Commons, and in the citadels of power practically everywhere else.
In the email granting permission for me to use her words (sent to me via The Anthony Walker Foundation), she had said, “Sadly, we have seen so many centuries of generational oppression and now in the 21st century; it’s about time to break this chain of hate and bring it to a halt.”
She of course speaks for mothers around the world who lose loved ones needlessly through outright racism, sometimes on an industrial scale, and I’d like to use those words to close this newsletter. I hope enough of those mothers will be as gracious and forgiving as her, and I take hope and inspiration from the millions who demonstrate daily that they, unlike their leaders, keep love in their hearts and righteous anger in their bellies, with which to eventually achieve an outbreak of peace and justice.
The paywall in the last newsletter has now been removed, and there isn’t one in this edition, but I hope more of you will decide to voluntarily support me anyway by becoming paid subscribers or by other means.
With my best wishes,
Tayọ Aluko