#SAVEHAMILTONHOUSE

A message from the Hamilton House, in Bristol's Stokes Croft:

Dear friends and supporters,

things have been changing rapidly at Hamilton House recently, with the landlords, Connolly & Callaghan, serving just 24hr notice on Coexist to leave the building - after ten years! 

This notice is currently being disputed legally but it looks like the community will be leaving the building on the 20th of December.

However this is not the end of the campaign to save this amazing community resource! One exciting avenue that we're now pursuing in order to protect the building as a vibrant community and cultural space is to encourage Bristol City Council (BCC) to purchase the building on behalf of the community and potentially use their powers of Compulsory Purchase to make this happen if needed.

In order to encourage Bristol City Council to consider taking this step, we've set up an e-petition on the BCC website. The new petition went live yesterday and within the first 24hrs we've already got over 1000 signatures, which is incredible! However we need to collect a minimum of 3500 signatures by the 11th of December in order to get the motion debated at the next full council meeting on the 12th. 

As you've already lent us your support by signing our previous petition, we'd like to ask if you could also sign the BCC petition and help us convince Bristol Council to purchase Hamilton House and secure the building for the community forever!

Just click on this link to sign (or copy it into your address bar) it only takes a few seconds and your signature could have a real impact in helping to keep Hamilton House as a crucial centre of community and grassroots culture in Bristol:

https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=77&RPID=5089041&HPID=5089041 

The 3500 mark is the minimum number of signatures we need, but the more we get the louder our voice will be in the debate and more seriously Bristol Council will take our request, so please also share the link widely on social media and encourage all your friends and colleagues to join us in the fight to protect this fantastic, inspiring community facility!

Many thanks to you all.

Much love.

SaveHamiltonHouse !

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Bristol sounds - New chapter: Zen Hussies / Talisman / the Exchange / The Play

Hello people!

I'll be in Bristol intensely this month of December, starting as soon as this Monday, for my work on a new and exciting BBC podcast on family, parenting and how to help those raising children, with advice & expertise from around the world, and the help of science & culture.
I'll be taking one of our two brilliant producer to East Bristol to talk about sport and discipline...
More soon!

Then a few days later, I'll be back for two exceptional concerts: one from the unique madly-folkish-puncky band the Zen Hussies; the second by the iconic reggae pioneers of the band Talisman.



Talisman - 'Relijan' 

TALISMAN ‘Relijan’
The first single taken from the new album ‘Don’t Play with Fyah’ to be released on CD, Digital and Limited Edition 8 track Vinyl March 17th 2017. Talisman's new album “Don’t Play with Fyah” is a revelation. Most bands with a history that stretches back four decades are content to go through the motions, their creative peak somewhere in the past, not Talisman. Their new album includes some of the strongest material they've ever recorded, with seven brand new songs and the corresponding dub counter parts; this is their finest album to date.


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More here soon.

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In the meantime, I wrote a portrait of the music maverick Paul Horlick, known in Bristol as DJ 'Fat Paul', who launched a few fiercely independent record labels, among which the brilliant Invada - with Geoff Barrow of Portishead's fame - and more recently Environmental Studies.

Paul also opened the venue the Exchange on Old Market 8 years ago with two friends and managed to save it from closure recently thanks to a new approach...

More soon in my interview with him on the Bristol Cable.

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And last but not least, on the list of the new music I follow, here is a special band: The Play, forging a new instrumental jazzy sound in between Bristol and Bath, between joyful experimentation and melancholic influences...


Their presentation:

"An exotic opium romance with a darker shade of jazz."

The play is the new musical brainchild of Zen Hussies and Bartoune guitarist Seb Gutiez.

Once described as “an exotic opium romance with a darker shade of jazz”, The Play creates a boundless musical space, where their original compositions explore grooves from different places and time, from mellow and atmospheric to upbeat and raucous, the whole thing set alight by heavy blues licks and driving melodies.

Seb's playful guitar and heartfelt riffs are propelled by the instantly recognizable sound of Bristol drummer Matt Brown (Dakhla, Modulus III, Sefrial ).

His creativity finds a perfect match with the driving groove of Tom Allen (Zen Hussies, Bartoune) on double bass, while understated virtuoso and master of sound Martin Jenkins ( Rhythm-ites, Freight) sets up the mood beautifully. There is an incredible alchemy between the four musicians and this great wall of sound is delivered effortlessly, whether they play a tight arrangement or a total improvisation.

Their first eponymous album is due to come out in winter 2018.

The Play - Album Teaser

Snippets from The Play's upcoming album. The Play is... Seb Gutiez - Guitar Martin Jenkins - Keyboard Tom Allen - Double Bass Matt Brown - Drums




The Play - Carlos (Live Session)

Recorded in December 2013 at The Bell's lounge in Bath (UK) The Play is... Seb Gutiez - Guitar Martin Jenkins - Keyboard Tom Allen - Double Bass Matt Brown - Drums Lejos De Ti composed by Seb Gutiez and The Play Filmed and edited by Puzzle Box Sound recorded by the excellent Nicholas Dover


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The Play's first album coming out soon... www.facebook.com/theplay.bristol/


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See you soon, Bristolians!!

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - 'Merrie Land'

Song of these last days of autumn...

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - 'Merrie Land' 

MERRIE LAND

If you are leaving Please still say goodbye And if you are leaving can you Leave me my Silver Jubilee mug My old flag My dark woods My sunrise If you are leaving Can you please say goodbye And if you are leaving Can you leave your number I’ll pack my case And get in a cab and wave you goodbye I’ll drive in the early hours down to the sea I’ll stand on the beach where the storms amplify All the voices I care for And the ghosts I hold sacred In this alignment that lasts for a day There’s nothing that I can do anyway, anyway What am I doing here waiting for you So rebuild the railways Firm up all the roads No one is leaving now this is your home And the horses, the foxes, the sheep and the cows Bow down on their knees To the fanfare of progress it’s always the same We cheer on the clowns as they roll into town But their faces look tired and sad to me And carry the terrible things they have seen All lost in a painting of a sky coloured oil In this Merrieland You are my crows, my window rattlers Perfumed valley criers Oh the dark ponds of Merrie England The deep space echoes Get on your mo…. What did you say? Get on your mobilised hooters … Get hold of those mobilised hooters You can fly to the moon one day They are half price This is not rhetoric It comes from my heart I love this country Daneland I am your kin You were the ones who work together Put the money in the pockets Of the few and their fortunes Who crowd the school benches And jeer at us all because they don’t care about us They are graceless and you shouldn’t be with them Because they are all disconnected and raised up in mansions And two hundred plastic bags in a whales stomach So you turn to the trident Are we green are we pleasant? We are not either of those Father We are a shaking wreck where nothing grows Lost in the sky coloured oils of Merrieland You can fly to the moon… one day

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The Good, The Bad & The Queen



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And this nice event can bring more meaning to the song, the album, and the relation the musicians have with their England:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46391087

Tea, cake and Brexit: What happened when Damon Albarn played a 200-capacity Geordie social club

By Mark SavageBBC Music reporter

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS: British Library - Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone

Dear friends,

you can imagine how proud I am to invite you to this event.

We'll show some videos from the band to illustrate the talk... 

Hope to see you there!

Best regards,

melissa

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone

March 2019 

A new book on the band's story

Bristol was part-built on the wealth generated by the slave trade, an arrival point for Caribbean immigrants, and a melting pot that shaped one of the most successful and innovative bands of the last thirty years, Massive Attack. 

Journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer talks to the author of a new book on their story, Melissa Chemam.

This event will have speech to text interpretation.

Image: Cover art from Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone by Melissa Chemam. 

Artwork by Robert Del Naja.

Details

Name:	Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone
Where:	Knowledge Centre The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB
When:	Thu 14 Mar 2019, 19:00 - 20:30
Price:	Full Price: £12.00 Senior 60+: £10.00 Student: £8.00

Bristol : une contre-histoire culturelle du Royaume-Uni ?

Annonce:

Je suis invitée par le groupe "Génération" du Royaume-Uni à parler art, musique et politique, en janvier 2019, ici à Londres.

Date confirmée : le mardi 8 janvier, à partir de 19h.

Lieu: East London

Pub The Gunmakers, 

13 Eyre Street Hill, London EC1R 5ET 

(salle à l'étage) 

métros: Farringdon ou Chancery Lane

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Et quelques mots d'introduction ici :

Bristol : une contre-histoire culturelle du Royaume-Uni ? La vie culturelle d’un pays est souvent la meilleure plateforme d’observation de sa vie politique… Dans son dernier ouvrage, la journaliste et auteure Mélissa Chemam livre ses appréciations sur la ville de Bristol et plus particulièrement sur le groupe Massive Attack.  Elle sera parmi nous pour présenter ses idées lors de notre réunion de janvier (renseignements à suivre); entre temps, vous trouverez ici un article qu'elle a rédigé pour nous, en guise d'introduction.

Bristol : une contre-histoire culturelle du Royaume-Uni ?

Par Mélissa Chemam

La vie culturelle d’un pays est souvent la meilleure plateforme d’observation de sa vie politique… Depuis mon installation au Royaume-Uni en 2009, je n’ai cessé d’explorer la culture de ce pays puissant et fascinant. Je suis revenue de manière plus permanente en 2015 – après des années en Afrique – pour écrire un livre sur la ville de Bristol et plus particulièrement sur le groupe Massive Attack. Pourquoi ce groupe ? Parce que comme mon propre parcours de journaliste, le leur les a menés sur quatre continents.

Composé de membres d’origines antillaises et italiennes, Massive Attack a révolutionné la musique britannique dès leur premier album, Blue Lines, en 1991. Une sortie qui leur a valu de temporairement changer leur nom en « Massive » ; l’expression « attaque massive » faisait la une des journaux pour désigner la Guerre du Golfe. Le nom du groupe avait été choisi en 1988 pour décrire leurs fêtes mêlant punk, musique soul, reggae et hip-hop de manière explosive ; il résonnait désormais autrement. Marqués par cette abdication forcée par leur label, les membres du groupe n’ont depuis cessé d’imposer un son métissé, invitant des artistes d’origines nigérianes, jamaïcaines, écossaises, afro-américaines ou irlandaises à travailler avec eux, incorporant des influences turques, russes et même mongoles à leurs chansons.

Parallèlement à un riche développement qui a les menés à un succès mondial  avec la sortie de l’album Mezzanineen 1998, les membres de Massive Attack ont approfondi leur engagement politique et pacifiste. Leur principal parolier et compositeur, surnommé 3D, a protesté de manière particulièrement forte contre la Deuxième Guerre d’Irak en 2003, un fait rare dans la communauté musicale, allant jusqu’à transformer leur spectacle en tableau de chiffres, données et noms documentant l’évolution des batailles. Quelques années plus tard, il créait pour leur cinquième album, Heligoland, une illustration inspirée du passé esclavagiste de Bristol…

3D avait déjà marqué Bristol avant de fonder Massive Attack par ses graffiti pionniers et adulés. Il est connu pour avoir inspiré un autre artiste bristolien, le fameux et anonyme Banksy. Ensemble, ils ont créé plusieurs expositions pour souligner l’injustice en Irak et en Palestine, désignant leur pays comme l’un des responsables historiques de cette situation du fait de sa domination coloniale dans la région.

Une telle position est rare dans le paysage culturel britannique. Alors que j’écrivais ce livre, le pays s’est enfoncé dans une crise identitaire en lançant ce référendum sur sa sortie de l’Union européenne. Une crise qui a nourri une montée des extrêmes et le renvoi de nombreux Antillais de la génération « Windrush », appelés de Jamaïque dans les années 1950 pour reconstruire le pays. Massive Attack, dont cinq des membres de la formation de tournées sont d’ascendance caribéenne et deux italienne, a exprimé sa déception à Hyde Park en juillet 2016, et récemment dans le Guardian. Héritage brillant d’un multiculturalisme complexe, le groupe de Bristol sonne désormais comme une réponse pleine d’espoir face aux inquiétudes actuelles.

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Lien: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jj6g8aeLBoFqOzaX31KIrodkpTfL9t_eW8M1K7GtpLc/edit

The Story a Sound, a City, and a Group of Revolutionary Artists...

Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone 

The Story a Sound, a City, and a Group of Revolutionary Artists

By Melissa Chemam

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Dear book and music lovers,

A few words to explain the latest delay on the release of my book on Massive Attack and Bristol's art and music scene... 

This book retells the story of Massive Attack's roots, history, influences, friends, collaborators and many explorations up until today. It describes Bristol's history and explains its art and music scene from the outburst of punk to our days.

Through interviews with members of many Bristol bands, like the Pop Group, Black Roots, Smith & Mighty, Portishead, Alpha, Tricky, Martina Topley-Bird, Tracey Thorn, Inkie and other artists from Bristol... Interviews with historians and local actors, as well as artists close to the bands...

I worked on this project over the past four years.  

What happened in the summer is that the publishers suddenly decided that they didn't like my choice to write in the present tense, and I had to rework the text on my own. 

Luckily, in terms of fact checking, I received tremendous help from the artists themselves and I've now completed the work on the proofs.

It's now up to the publishers to send this text to print. 

They apparently cannot give me a proper release date but it should be early in March 2019, according to Waterstones:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/massive-attack/melissa-chemam/9781910089729

As soon as I'll receive confirmation, I'll update the details on the book's Facebook Page: 

https://www.facebook.com/frombristoltomassiveattack

Book Presentation:

Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone 

The Story a Sound, a City, and a Group of Revolutionary Artists

By Melissa Chemam

This book retraces a journey into Massive Attack’s multicultural history. Influenced by the underground reggae and punk scenes, the band members gave birth to a new form of sound and urban art movements, selling over 13 million albums.

Known as a graffiti artist under the tag 3D, from 1983, Robert Del Naja was the first of a group of underground writers to come out of Bristol, spawning a scene that gave birth to the most fascinating artist working today, Banksy. 3D joined Nellee Hopper, Milo Johnson and Grant Marshall in the seminal crew the Wild Bunch and they paved the way for a whole generation. Forming Massive Attack in 1988, 3D, Grant and Andrew Vowles released in 1991 an acclaimed first album, Blue Lines. 

The author also looks at the whole scene that emerged in Bristol afterwards, and explores the making of albums, experiments and political statements. She met with friends and collaborators of some of the major actors in the Bristol scene – from the Pop Group to Tricky, Massive Attack and Portishead, delivering a unique story about music, art and social change.

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Thanks to everyone for your interest!

I'm now based in London again.

I'm invited to give a talk at the British Library about this book... I'll update everyone interested.

Feel free to get in touch!

With my best wishes to you all,

melissa

'Yanka's Song' - Liz Fraser

Teasing 2019...


Massive Attack / Elizabeth Fraser - 'Yanka's Song'
MIF, Mayfield Station, Manchester, 04/7/2013

Short clip - Part II

'Yanka's Song' - Liz Fraser for Massive Attack v Adam Curtis @ Park Avenue Armory, NYC 28/9/2013

Nitin Sawhney - 'Homelands'

Went back "home" for a couple of nights and a few hours... Home? I thought it could be here, my home? Can I choose still? Or are these new customs officers posted at the train's arrival at St Pancras a bad omen? 

I say you create your own world. 

I'm the last offspring of generations of nomads. I'm not going to let anyone tell me that should change.

Home is where the heart is. England is the home of so many sounds, a crossroad. That's why I love it... For the rest, tomorrow is another day and I still wear this little heart on my sleeve with hope and joy.

To the worst, I'll still have the music.



Nitin Sawhney - 'Homelands'

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - 'Longing'

I had been looking for this song for years...
Thank you, BBC Radio 4's archives!

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - 'Longing'  

Nusrat Was My Elvis

Listen to the programme here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02sx7jq

21 August 2007


Jeff Buckley was just one of the Western musicians to fall under the powerful spell of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - a Pakistani singer of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music whose origins can be traced back to the 8th century.

In this programme Navid Akhtar explores the Nusrat phenomenon with the help of Nitin Sawhney, Peter Gabriel and Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja.
Part of Radio 4 on Music, re-releasing the best of Radio 4's music back catalogue.

#LondonIsOpen and always will be

My city :)



#LondonIsOpen and always will be


We are lucky to have millions of people from across the world who have decided to make London their home. They are Londoners, they belong here and they will always be welcome. We're getting the message out loud and clear around the world that despite Brexit, London remains open to the world. #LondonIsOpen