Inside: Issue 20, Uncategorised

Contemporary African Fashion – The Shopping Guide

Tribal, ethnic, African… Prints are this summer’s fashion trend with established designers and the high street drawing inspiration from Africa’s vibrant fabrics. Independent London designers are offering a more authentic take on the trend, working with kente cloth or ankhara to offer fresh and contemporary summer tops, dresses, t-shrts and accessories.
Find out who they are, [...]

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Inside: Issue 20

Summer Activities for Kids and Young People in London

Summer is well upon us and families with children are faced with the same recurring problem: what to do with the children? We have rounded up a list of fun activities to do with kids in London. True to our spirit, we have mixed the educational with the entertaining and have listed summer activities and [...]

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Inside: Issue 20

The Black Culture Cafe – A New Gate Opens in the Heart of Dalston

Set in the heart of Dalston, Open The Gate, The Black Culture Café is a new venue dedicated to promoting African and Black culture – a centre offering visual art, film, poetry and literature, dance, music and other social activities as well as a café with authentic, homemade African and Caribbean dishes. Sandrine Herbert, one [...]

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Inside: Interviews

Interview with actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Fresh from rehearsing for the Young Vic’s forthcoming production of Pulitzer-prize winning playwright August Wilson ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’, actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith talks to Catch a Vibe about his career so far, staying versatile, why he’s such a fan of Wilson’s work and the prospect of working across the Atlantic.
Catch a Vibe: How did [...]

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Inside: Reviews

Black Movies Review: Football Fables

In the last ten years African players have come to prominence in international football. The continent has always produced good players, but today Michael Essien, Sulli Muntari, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor and others are household names. But the journey from their countries to the Premiership benches is not a simple one.
Football Fables, the hour long [...]

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Inside: Interviews

An artist with a difference: Lizzie Emeh

Lizzie Emeh is a remarkable artist in more ways than one. Born with a learning disability, she was never expected to walk or talk. 32 years later, supported by arts organisation Heart and Soul, she is promoting her critically acclaimed first album.
Lizzie shares her incredible journey with us.
Can you describe in a few words what [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Buppies: the complete web series

Catch up on this pioneering webseries produced by Tatyana Ali, little Ashley from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Ali also stars in the series, which centers on Quinci, the socialite daughter of a Hollywood celebrity. After losing her father and being dumped by her fiance, Quinci realizes that her inseparable friends are her only real [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Yaaba Funk album review: Afrobeast

Afrobeast
Yaaba Funk (Yaabaphone)
Released 10.05.10
Highlife music originated in Ghana in the 1800s and enjoyed a golden age during the 1950s and 1960s. The defiant orchestra of talking drums, xylophones and calabash shakers layered with lutes, fiddles, penny whistles and all manner of small portable instruments provided the perfect soundtrack for a continent – chafing at the [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Yaaba Funk: Taking High Life into the 21st Century

“I say YAABA, you say-” “FUNK!” The resounding response reverberated off the walls, shouted by a charged crowd who hadreduced Brixton’s spacious The Rest is Noise wine bar to a standing-room-only venue. The spirited call out started with Richmond Kessie, percussionist and lead vocalist for the celebrated high life/afrobeat/funk band, Yaaba Funk.
The band, renowned for [...]

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Inside: The Vault

“I put my music out myself” – Jesse Boykins III

Jesse Boykins III (JBIII) is an emerging force in contemporary soul music; he has trained under Bilal, performed alongside the likes of Chrisette Michele and Eric Roberson and is due to release his second LP Love Apparatus later this year.  Jesse was in London recently headlining the Writer’s Block 2nd Anniversary show and Catch a [...]

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Inside: The Vault

From Hardback to Hollywood

Spurred on by the critical and commercial success of award-winning movie Precious adapted from the novel Push by Sapphire,  we’ve compiled a list of the black books you must read before they hit the big screen.

Title:  For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf (film due: 2011)
Writer: Ntozake Shange
Director: Tyler Perry
The Book: [...]

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Inside: Reviews

Film review: Shank

Set five years in the future within a London estate, Shank explores  human nature in a world where crime and population levels are at a shocking high and food supplies are on the decline. Gangs have taken over making the unaffiliated easy targets for violent attacks. Aligning yourself with a crew is your only means [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Music Monthly Review: Gil Scott-Heron | Ty

Gil Scott-Heron
I’m New Here (xl recordings)
Out now
Gil Scott-Heron stands as an eternal reminder of the glorious past of soul music. A living link to the era of The Last Poets, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder – the vanguard of socially conscious music perfectly reflecting the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Each captured the era’s [...]

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Inside: The Vault

Presenting the Theatre of Food – An authentic African extravaganza?

Make way Camden, for a whole new eating experience. Set to open its doors in mid April, Shaka Zulu is going to be the first restaurant of its kind in central London: an upscale restaurant offering African cuisine. Planted in the beating heart of Stables Market, North London, and funded by the businessman behind Sound [...]

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Inside: Reviews

Review of ‘11 and 12′ directed by Peter Brook

‘11 and 12’ written by Malian scribe Amadou Hampate Ba is a cautionary tale about the dangers posed by religious ritual devoid of understanding and spiritual maturity.

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