February 25th

BUSINESS • Sugarcane London (Restaurant) - Sugarcane London went from conception to launch in just a few short weeks. Founder Chef Tee had a dream of opening a restaurant, and when he one day spotted a vacant storefront on Wandsworth Road, he knew it was his opportunity to create a Caribbean restaurant for the locals. A newcomer to Wandsworth Road, ‘Sugarcane London’ can be spotted by its bright, hand-painted signs, which welcome passers-by into the friendly Caribbean restaurant inside. https://www.sugarcanelondon.com/our-story • Tatale (at the Africa Centre) -British-Ghanaian restaurateur Akwasi Brenya-Mensa hwill open his debut restaurant Tatale in London. Inspired by the chop bars that are popular in West Africa, Tatale will be situated inside The Africa Centre in Southwark and will be a place where Akwasi can tell stories through food, art, and culture. Tatale inherits its name from a popular Ghanaian dish, the plantain pancake and its menu will be focused around Pan-African cuisine, with an exciting range of dishes that all take influence from across the continent with Ghanaian references and informed by Akwasi's own culinary experiences and techniques. https://www.tataleandco.com/restaurant • Kimeze- The unisex eyewear brand was established in 2021 by sisters Clare and Christina Kimeze after they struggled to find glasses that fitted them. They said they were “shocked” to discover that most established eyewear brands are designed just for caucasian features. “Although there had been an east Asian fit around since the 1980s nobody manufactured eyewear specifically for black people,” they said. “What was more shocking, when we later spoke to eyewear professionals and manufacturers, was that they understood there to be a distinct need when compared with the other two groups but had made a conscious decision not to do anything about it." https://kimeze.com/ • Little Omo - Little Omo is an inclusive award-winning brand created by first-time mother Desriee (Founder & CEO) with the intention of providing educational tools and toys for children that include and teach them about diverse cultural representation. https://www.littleomo.com/ •mmi3nsa - Mmi3nsa (pronounced me - en – sa) was created and launched by Joana Boateng and her daughter Maya Rose in the summer of 2020 with the idea of blending traditional sustainable African crafts with contemporary design. The company’s first jewellery collection consists of sterling silver and gold-plated pieces incorporating recycled glass beads handmade from Ghana.“As a new brand, sustainability is at the heart of all our operations and business decisions,” said Ms Boateng. “Our supply chain is made up of a community of artisans and UK-based suppliers with a philosophy that aligns with ours. We maintain a small inventory so we can track and monitor each part from the supplier to the person assembling the final product.” https://mmi3nsa.com/ EVENTS • The Drifters Girl ( until 2nd July 2022 at the Garrick Theatre) - Discover the remarkable story of The Drifters, one of the world’s greatest vocal groups, and the truth about the woman who made them. Beverley Knight stars as Faye Treadwell, the legendary manager of The Drifters, who, alongside her husband, fought for three decades to turn Atlantic Records’ hottest vocal group into a global phenomenon. https://thedriftersgirl.com/ • Red Pitch. 23 February - 26 March Bush Theatre - Red Pitch. South London. Three lifelong friends Omz, Bilal and Joey are playing football. Like they always have. Living out dreams of football stardom. Beyond their football pitch, local shops are closing, old flats are being demolished as new flats shoot up, some residents struggle to stay while others rush to leave. When a small football pitch has been a home from home, a place you’ve laughed, fought and forged friendships, what happens when it’s under threat? https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/red-pitch/ Shuck n' Jive Part of Soho Theatre On Demand Film Festival, Fri 4 Feb – Sun 13 Mar. A new festival of theatre, online and on-demand. Shuck 'n' Jive is available to rent Fri 18 - Sun 27 Feb. - Opera singer Simone very quickly discovers that London is not the BNP-free utopia she’d always dreamed of. Meanwhile, actress Cassi battles it out for the illustrious roles of ‘Sassy Friend’, ‘Spunky Slave’, and ‘Third Crack Whore From The Left’ at every audition. Desperate to be seen as they are, not as the colour of their skin, they decide to take control and write their own story This is that story]. With music, laughter and searing honesty, Shuck ‘n’ Jive is the debut play from Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong & Simone Ibbett-Brown, directed by Soho Theatre Associate Director Lakesha Arie-Angelo. https://stream.sohotheatre.com/show/shucknjive?gclid=CjwKCAiAsNKQBhAPEiwAB-I5zdKK3xx0PQ_auGgTyvNFguh-EWdRuCElIlHSfMfgNpvV8wOmAb8VfRoCR9AQAvD_BwE • The Meaning of Zong - 1783. A new time. Unprecedented ideas, empires and wealth, and it is slavery greases the gears. That night in the storm, I was someone else. It took this story to show me who I truly am. Two hundred years ago, Olaudah Equiano changed the world. Reading reports of a massacre aboard the slave ship Zong, where 132 enslaved Africans were thrown overboard, he joins forces with anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp to publicly condemn these abhorrent actions, setting in motion events that would go on to galvanise the abolition movement in the UK. https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/the-meaning-of-zo •Black Culture Market - TSat, 5 Mar 2022, 11:00 –Sun, 6 Mar 2022, 17:00 Downstairs at The Department Store, 248 Ferndale Road, Brixton, London. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-culture-market-tickets-215263628307?aff=ebdssbdestsearch BOOKS • Transcendent Kingdom: Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 (Yaa Gayasi) -As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away. Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought. Tracing her family's story through continents and generations will take her deep into the dark heart of modern America. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0843361HQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

• Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop (Danyel Smith) -'A weave of biography, criticism, and memoir, Shine Bright is Danyel Smith's intimate history of Black women's music as the foundational story of American pop. Smith has been writing this history for more than five years. But as a music fan, and then as an essayist, editor (Vibe, Billboard), and podcast host (Black Girl Songbook), she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to "Midnight Train to Georgia" on the family stereo. • Carolina Built (Kianna Alexander) - Josephine N. Leary is determined to build a life of her own and a future for her family. When she moves to Edenton, North Carolina from the plantation where she was born, she is free, newly married, and ready to follow her dreams. As the demands of life pull Josephine’s attention away, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to pursue her real estate aspirations. She finds herself immersed in deepening her marriage, mothering her daughters, and being a dutiful daughter and granddaughter. Still, she manages to teach herself to be a businesswoman, to manage her finances, and to make smart investments in the local real estate market. But with each passing year, it grows more and more difficult to focus on building her legacy from the ground up. • A Woman of Endurance: (Dahlma Llanon-Figueroa) - Combining the haunting power of Toni Morrison’s Beloved with the evocative atmosphere of Phillippa Gregory’s A Respectable Trade, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s groundbreaking novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history—the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade—witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves. A Woman of Endurance, set in nineteenth-century Puerto Rican plantation society, follows Pola, a deeply spiritual African woman who is captured and later sold for the purpose of breeding future slaves. The resulting babies are taken from her as soon as they are born. Pola loses the faith that has guided her and becomes embittered and defensive. The dehumanizing violence of her life almost destroys her. But this is not a novel of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity. PODCASTS • Menopause Whilst Black - Opening a well overdue conversation about diversity in Menopause. Placing the menopausal experience of Black UK based women front and centre by sharing their stories. Giving a hug, a hand or a high five to those supporting, dreading, suffering or thriving through menopause. Because, believe it or not, there's a lot to celebrate too! https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/menopause-whilst-black/id1537012198 •Two Twos Podcast- Two black lesbians living in London speaking their unapologetic truth whilst creating a safe space for people like themselves and bridging the gap between LGBT+ people and Cis gendered straight people! https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/two-twos-podcast/id1480839115 RADIO • Precious Little Thing - A humorous and heartfelt comedy that explores womanhood, class and how being let down by the system leads to heart-breaking choices. Willow and Nicole's journeys collide in the dead of night when they unexpectedly meet in the garden of a London mansion. Both desiring something from inside No. 92, they join forces to break in. But once they do, and get caught by the Nanny Bian, it's soon revealed that they haven't been completely honest with each other. Talawa Theatre Company and feral inc co-produced Running with Lions as part of Talawa’s 35th anniversary. Talawa Theatre Company is the UK’s outstanding Black theatre company.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000w5w0 FILM/TV • Summer of Soul - ‘The powerful documentary (and now Academy Award Nominee), Summer of Soul, is now available to stream on Disney+, as well as its original streaming home, Hulu. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), created from long-forgotten footage never been seen before, covers the six-week Harlem Cultural Festival that took place the summer of 1969, the same summer as Woodstock. A celebration of Black history, culture, music, and fashion, The Harlem Cultural Festival featured legendary artists such as Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more, whose never-before-seen concert performances are highlighted in the film. In his debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson presents a film that is part music documentary and part a historical record of the epic event. Read on for more on how to watch Summer of Soul. • We are Black and British (BBC Two 23 February/iPlayer) - Six black Britons from different backgrounds come together. Each shares a deeply personal story, raising tough questions about being black and British in search of answers. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014t9r • Our Kind of People (Disney Plus) - “Our Kind of People” begins with a family in mourning over the death of Evelyn Vaughn, a single mother and Black natural-hair entrepreneur who instilled a sense of pride in her daughter, Angela (the underrated Yaya DaCosta), herself a single mother who is determined to continue her mother’s business legacy. Angela, along with her own daughter, Nikki (Alana Bright), and aunt, Patricia aka Piggy (Morgan), arrive in Oak Bluffs from Boston with plans to settle into the house that was left behind in Evelyn’s name and transform it into a Black hair mecca. https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/our-kind-of-people/2VIoVh6x8AqD • Them (Amazon Prime) - THEM is an anthology series that explores terror in America. The first season, set in 1950’s, centers around a Black family who move from North Carolina to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood. Their idyllic home becomes ground zero where malevolent forces, next door and otherworldly, threaten to taunt, ravage and destroy them. Subtitles available now. Dubbing available everywhere on 7/23. https://www.amazon.com/THEM-Season-1/dp/B08XXDRJKH WHAT AM I PAYING ATTENTION TO? • They Cloned Tyrone! - They Cloned Tyrone is an upcoming Netflix sci-fi film starring John Boyega (Star Wars) and Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained). The film will be the directorial debut of Creed 2 writer Juel Taylor. Taylor penned the script for the film with Tony Rettenmaier (The Light Thief). https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/netflixs-they-cloned-tyrone-what-we-know-so-far/ • Yvonne Bajela. - Recognised in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2020, Bajela is a Founding Member and Principal at Impact X Capital, a UK based venture capital fund founded to invest in companies predominantly led by black and female entrepreneurs https://www.impactxcapital.com/ WHAT I AM PERSONALLY RECOMMENDING? 1. Nala Sinephro Space 1.8 - Made against the odds while she was in dire need of self-care, the London-based harpist and composer’s album is an ambient jazz classic. She explains the healing, spiritual qualities of her work https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/17/nala-sinephro-mystical-jazz-harp-space-1-8 2. Kehinde Wiley at the National Gallery - The exhibition of the year not to be missed. From the first black artist to paint an official portrait of the president of the United States. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/kehinde-wiley 3. The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion - The ultimate coffee table book. With photos illuminating life in Black America and the African diaspora, these artists are crafting a new way of speaking visually about politics and representation.” —Devine Blacksher, The Cut https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Black-Vanguard-Photography-Between/dp/1597114685/ref=asc_df_1597114685/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=394287563737&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8748041052259420947&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006833&hvtargid=pla-831168197216&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=81876192397&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=394287563737&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8748041052259420947&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006833&hvtargid=pla-831168197216