On Iraq, Britain and the world today, via Bristol

 

Extract from my book on Massive Attack and their work to highlight the flawed foreign policy in Iraq, chapter 10 : 

Inspired by Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima, who used light installation and specifically light-emitting diode (LED) in his artworks, 3D co-designed with UVA a giant screen made of LED. It displayed pure data, statistics and factual details taken from the press about what was happening on the ground in Iraq – the death of civilians, Iraqi deaths, American death, the amount of oil being consumed, chemicals and weapons being found, as well as data from stock exchanges all around the world. All of these different facts and numbers were translated into local languages along the tour, including each time new input from local newspapers, to mix global with local information. A total of 36 languages was used over two years. 

Every night, the line counting the number of Weapons of Massive Destruction found in Iraq read “0”. Red and green lights alternatively dominated the screen, while the front stage remained in the dark. Progressively, 3D felt that the messages and exchanges of communication with the audience, able to send texts and emails to be displayed on the screen, brought a meaning to this dark period.

(...)

In an interview he gave in Naples, Italy, in September 2003, Robert defined his music not as “dark”, like most newspapers, but as mirroring our world. “The world in general is getting darker,” he stated. “With the amount of surveillance we’re under, the new American corporate century we’re about to enter, it’s a very frightening place. Media organisations are allowed to monopolise, they can own newspapers, radio and TV stations and all have political interests. It’s dangerous especially if you’re trying to put something out that’s not just a hair product, a T-shirt or a chocolate bar, you’re trying to do something creative. And that goes for writers, musicians, artists, filmmakers... It’s gonna get much, much harder. The whole idea of our music getting darker is ridiculous. The issue is the media in general. The media’s selling you a lifestyle, when the world is in a precarious position.

However, inspired by the city he was interviewed in and where his family is from, 3D started to get into this attitude to life that was enjoy it while it lasts. Like Southern Italians, living under the shadow of the Vesuvius and the fact that it could erupt unexpectedly. And he emerged from these difficulties with an enhanced instinct of living in the moment. A lesson hardly learned, in a few months that might very well be the hardest in his life, but also the most eloquent.

Read more from the book - you can buy it from: 

UK Bookshop (independent bookshops website!)

Waterstones

Tangent Books

Or, if you must, from Amazon. 

Massive Attack: Out Of The Comfort Zone 

Melissa Chemam

Author Melissa Chemam's in-depth study of the influences that led to the formation of the Wild Bunch and then Massive Attack looks into Bristol's past to explore how the city helped shape one of the most successful and innovative musical movements of the last 30 years.

Chemam gives a unique insight into Massive Attack - 3D, Daddy G and Mushroom - their influences, collaborations and politics and the way in which they opened the door for other Bristol musicians and artists including Banksy.

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A few more words...

The wars in Iraq bookend this story... From British colonial past to the 1991 Gulf War, that forced the band to stick to half of their name, Massive, for their first releases, then the 2003, that Robert Del Naja strictly opposed, was one of the rare British artists to protest against, and addressed in his shows directly thanks to his visual creativity with UVA (see more here).

Over the past four years, as a freelance journalist, I have been travelling between Bangui (Central African Republic), Paris, Istanbul, Calais, Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan), the South of France and Ventimiglia in Italy, London and… Bristol. I have mostly been covering post-conflict issues and the refugee crisis for different European radio stations and magazines. 

So I went to Bristol to write about a brighter, engaging and inspirational story. To explore the culture of England’s West Country, retrace the history of my favourite music, a fascinating journey through an artistic and social explosion. 

I decided to write about the band Massive Attack when I read they were travelling to Lebanon, in July 2014. They were about to perform at the Byblos International Festival and to visit Palestinian youth they help, in a refugee camp in Burj El Barajneh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. I contacted a friend who is a writer and music journalist to convince him I could write a book about them…

And sadly, the issues in the Middle East remain unsolved, and have spiralled to another war against Russia. For more on the links between the two and the American-British foreign policies, read this excellent article by Patrick Wintour, published by The Guardian on 13 March 2023.