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Some say
the race debate of January 31 was one of the best so far. A bit controversial
and heated at times, it certainly moved from dealing with the obvious issue of
appropriation of black music by white artists to dealing with the politics and
music industry machinations. The charge of institutional racism was also leveled
at the record industry. (Thanks goes out to the panellists: Dave Woolf, Beverley
Knight co-manager and head of PR company DWL; Lisa Lindahl, urban music
publicist at The Play Centre; and Mykaell Riley, senior lecturer at Westminster
University and founder of Black Music Education Trust. Full report to be posted
soon).
Early
arrivals were given a free copy of Gargamel - 'the international word in reggae
& urban music' magazine. Some also received free copies of the 'Together As
One: A Tribute To Damiola Taylor' CD. Donations were also collected in exchange
for a copy of the CD. A total of £25.21 was collected (verified by Dean). A BBM
cheque for that amount is to be sent to the Damilola
Taylor Trust, a charity whose objectives include offering bursaries to
young people, who like Damilola had, wish to become doctors.
We can
only guess the reason our debate on Radio 1Xtra scheduled for friday was
cancelled was due to a surfeit of news items, such as the shock resignation of
BBC director general Greg Dyke. At the race debate, some advocated having
black-owned media as the way forward. Although the chair advocated ethos was
more important than merely having black-owned media.
Greg Dyke
springs to mind because he was viewed as a champion by the BBC black staff. He
backed his "hideously white" condemnation of the BBC by achieving a
10% black employment level within the corporation. And earlier on in the week in
which he resigned, he was looking at achieving a 15% target. Hopefully the point
here does not need to be belaboured.
The issue
of black music vs. urban music cropped up once again. However, we'll leave that
topic for the genre
debate set for May 22. Our next debate on March 13 looks at the gender
issues of glass ceilings and what the female practitioners are up to, or
are allowed to.
The BMC's
profile within the media's slowly growing. We made a contribution to saturday's
Weekend News on BBC Radio 5. Also, a feature in the Guardian brought many new
faces to the race debate. However, the best form of publicity is word of mouth
and forwarding our emails. So, you can help make a difference. Respect to those
subscribers in Nigeria who forwarded mails to contacts in London!
The
second of our Black
Music Records & African Crafts Fair takes place March 20. Entry is
free and visitors are required to bring money to buy, whilst stall holders are
advised to book well in advance for the limited number of stalls.
Finally, although the BTWSC music business courses for adults have been over-subscribed, there's still an opportunity for the ladies. The dates and locations for the free, one-day women-only music business courses, are March 18 (Brixton, south London) and 19 (Harlesden, north west London), 12noon-5pm.
To join the BBM/BMC mailing list, please write to: editor@britishblackmusic.com subject: put me on your mailing list