OBITUARIES
EARTHA KITT
Eartha Kitt, the sultry singer, dancer and actress has passed away aged 81, of colon cancer. Kitt, famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys. Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television.
Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80. When her book ‘Rejuvenate’, a guide to staying physically fit, was published in 2001, Kitt was featured on the cover in a long, curve-hugging black dress with a figure that some 20-year-old women would envy. She also wrote three autobiographies.
Kitt made her name back in New York in the 'New Faces of 1952' revue. Her show-stopping performances, which ran for a year, led to a national tour and a follow up feature film with the same title.
She appeared in Mrs Patterson in 1954-55. Some say she earned a Tony nomination for Mrs Patterson, but only winners were publicly announced at that time. Her first album, ‘RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt’, came out in 1954, featuring such songs as ‘I Want to Be Evil’, ‘C'est Si Bon’ and the gold digger's theme song ‘Santa Baby’. Other films followed, such as St Louis Blues with Nat King Cole, and she played the title role in Anna Lucasta alongside Sammy Davis. More recently appearing in ‘Boomerang’ and ‘Harriet The Spy’ in the 1990s. On television, she was the ‘Catwoman’ on the popular Batman series in 1967-68.
Kitt was blacklisted in the US in the late 1960s after speaking out against the Vietnam War at a White House function. The CIA put together a dossier on her and she became professionally exiled from the US. She worked abroad for 11 years, where her reputation remained unscathed, but returned triumphantly to New York in 1974 to star in a Broadway spectacle of Timbuktu!
Live theatre was always her passion and, in 2001, Broadway critics singled her out for praise for her role in ‘The Wild Party’. More recently, she starred in US tours of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, and ‘Cinderella’, and appeared as the ‘Fairy Godmother’ in The New York City Opera production. Her distinctive voice and great versatility enthralled an entirely new generation of fans when she lent her services to the role of Yzma, the villain, in Disney's animated feature ‘The Emperor's New Groove’.
In 1994 she also was part of BBC Radio's adaptation of ‘The Jungle Book’, where her role as Kaa the python was performed with a ferocity and bite. She visited England many times throughout her career, firstly in the early 1950s and, most recently, for ‘Follies’ in 1988, which she followed with a one-woman show in March 1989.
She was married briefly, from 1960 to 1965, from which a daughter, Kitt McDonald, was born in 1961. She became her mother's manager. Up to the end of her life, Eartha Kitt was the national spokeswoman for Project On Growing, a programme which teaches homeless families to grow their own food and feed themselves.
= VINCENT FORD
Vincent Ford, the songwriter credited with composing the Bob Marley classic ‘No Woman, No Cry’ has passed away in Jamaica, aged 68. Ford had lost both his legs to diabetes and died in hospital from complications caused by the disease, said a spokesman for the Bob Marley Foundation. ‘No Woman, No Cry’ appeared on Marley's 1974 ‘Natty Dread’ album and was inspired by the Trench Town area of Kingston where both men lived in the 1960s. Ford is also credited with three songs on Marley's 1976 album ‘Rastaman Vibration’ - ‘Crazy Baldhead’, ‘Positive Vibration and ‘Roots, Rock, Reggae’.
= FREDDIE HUBBARD
Influential jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard has passed away in Los Angeles. The 70-year-old had been in hospital since suffering a heart attack in November. Born in Indianapolis, he started out playing the bugle-like mellophone in his school band. After moving to New York in 1958, he recorded his first album, ‘Open Sesame’, and enjoyed a meteoric rise in jazz circles. He hooked up with such jazz legends as Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins. He recalled playing with John Coltrane as one of the early highlights of his career. "I met Trane at a jam session at Count Basie's in Harlem in 1958. He helped me out a lot, and we worked several jobs together."
Eventually, Hubbard's own style - including a trademark trill known as a "shake" - became influential in itself. Hubbard played on some of the greatest jazz records of the 1960s, including Hancock's ‘Maiden Voyage’, Coleman's radically experimental ‘Free Jazz’, Coltrane's ‘Ascension’, and his own, ‘Ready for Freddie’. He enjoyed his greatest mainstream success with a run of solo albums in the early 1970s, including ‘Red Clay’, ‘Straight Life’ and the Grammy-winning ‘First Light’. Hubbard is survived by his wife of 35 years, Briggie Hubbard, and his son, Duane.
EDITORIAL
London Schools and the Black Child Conference VI: Educational Opportunity For All - Without Exclusion. The conference will be opened by Diane Abbott MP. Keynote speakers include the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, influential educationalists, policymakers and other special guests.
Workshop Themes
• Workshop themes are expected to include:
• Time for Action – Equipping Young People for the Future
• Successful Strategies for Tackling Exclusion
• Listening to and Engaging Young People
• Sharing Responsibility I – Involving Communities in Educating Young People
• Sharing Responsibility II – Helping Parents To Help Teachers
• Educating Excluded Young People
• Using Role Models To Prevent Exclusion
• Creating Solutions Through Mentoring
• Raising the Performance of Underachieving Children
• Achieving a Representative Teaching Workforce In London
On Sat 7 Feb 2009 at 9am–5.30pm at Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, SW1. Adm: Free (Book in advance). For general enquiries call: 020 7219 4330 or e-mail: fauxc@parliament.uk
- Important pre-conference tasks for you, aimed at the abolition of school exclusions:
(A) Approach your local authority to ask for the latest school exclusions data broken down by age, sex, ethnicity and type of school - academy, foundation etc.
Ask also for details of policy and practice covering the mainstream reinstatement of excluded pupils, including how many have to remain in pupil referral units or their equivalent, especially Years 10/11 pupils.
Also ask for details about the use of alternatives to exclusion - such as managed moves - as suggested in Paragraphs 5 and 11 of the DCSF Guidance.
And get details of how many SEN pupils are excluded - statemented, School Action / Plus. And how long does SEN assessment take?
(B) Ask the DCSF for similar details about the national scene.
You can consider then how best to use this information (a) at the London Schools and the Black Child Conference in February (b) in seeking the views of local councillors and MPs (c) at meetings of parents, teachers, governors, and (d) in contacting the local media.
There is a clear connection between exclusion, delinquency, detention, crime, imprisonment and unemployability - that is why we are seeking the abolition of a wasteful, destructive and discriminatory system.
Black pupils are 3 times, children in care 8 times and statemented pupils 3-4 times more likely to be excluded than others. Blatantly discriminatory!
Official data show some 9000 permanent exclusions and about 350,000 fixed term exclusions annually. What a waste!
50,000 pupils are said to absent themselves from school each day – truancy is said to total 9 million half-days annually. Such alienation!
BUT teacher sickness absence runs at 7 times the rate of pupil truancy. Something radically wrong somewhere!
Our children need protection. Don't miss the opportunity to do something for them,
Peace and love.
Gerry German
Communities Empowerment Network
P S Have you booked your place at the conference? Contact Diane Abbott's research assistant, Charlie Fax on: fauxc@parliament.uk
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
~ Jan 25: Review of Ayi Kwei Armah’s books ‘Osiris Rising’ and ‘KMT: In the House of Life’.
DEC PROMOS
~ ‘Seprewa Kasa’ – [Riverbeat Records / World Music Network – Out Now] Three of Ghana’s master musicians – guitarist Kari Banaman and seprewa players Osei Korankye and Baffour Kyerematen – combine for an album of traditional Ghanaian palmwine highlife. The seprewa, cousin of the kora, was the original instrument that was used before the electric guitar dominated music. The album was recorded in Ghana and London and is made up of new recordings.
NUBIART LIBRARY – DEC MEDIA:
We will try to recommend books we have read and DVD / videos we have seen and that are available in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and production there may be books, games and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘Osiris Rising’ – Ayi Kwei Armah [Per Ankh. ISBN: 2-911928-00-8] Full review in next Nubiart Diary. “A coup means those involved don’t want to do the long-term work needed to create a movement with a serious cultural base. They want instant power.” p241.
“Most of us don’t even select our lies. We’re given a pack to make our lives out of.” p309.
~ ‘KMT: In the House of Life’ - Ayi Kwei Armah [Per Ankh. ISBN: 2-911928-06-7] Full review in next Nubiart Diary. “…the nation was a bark on water, the ruler its rudder. What use, I asked them even as they beat me, what use was a rudder if bent, what use the measure falsified, the balance skewed, the ruler crooked.” p331.
“No one gets a salary for sharing with the oppressed.” p345
~ ‘Resisting the System: Reggae In the 21st Century’ – Dir: Dr Lez Henry [Nu-Beyond Ltd: Learning By Choice –Out Now] “Certain times mi hear folly and talk and mi just walk.” – Junior Kelly. DVD exploring many of the current issues around the promotion and recording of reggae in the 21st century including: lyrical content; the media’s ongoing demonisation of reggae artists; the homosexual campaign of racial harassment to portray reggae as ‘murder music’, censor and prosecute artists; ownership of the production and distribution resources; the story behind ‘Ram Jam Capitalism’; women’s role in the industry; Afrikan communities flooded with guns and liquor stores; men and women bleaching; and reggae’s international impact and Jamaica and reggae as brands. Contributions from Lezlee Lyrix, Sister Audrey, Turbulence, Junior Kelly, Amen Noir, Orantes Moore, Kush Genisis, Sister Aura, Blacker Dread, Patrick Augustus, Asher Senator, Prof Carolyn Cooper, Bro Paul Obinna and (the greatest British-based DJ of all time) Papa Levi, among others.
NUBIART DIARY:
~198 CONTEMPORARY ARTS AND LEARNING & MUTINY ARTS invite you to a poetry evening to launch the ‘People, Signs and Resistance’ publication, which accompanies our current exhibition. Hosted by Brixton Poet Michael Ryan, this Brixton themed event will showcase the work of a range of poets and writers. On Wed 14 Jan at 7-9pm. If you would like to perform at this event or you would like to attend this event please email barby@samthewheels.co.uk.
- An Evening with Sam, Clovis Salmon AKA Sam the Wheels has seen many wonderful things through his camera come and join writer Michael McMillan for an evening of relaxed conversation and music with Sam and friends. On Wed 28 Jan on 7-9pm.
At 198, Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, SE24 OJT. Tel: 020 7978 8309. E-mail: info@198.org.uk
~ PAN AFRIKAN SOCIETY COMMUNITY FORUM presents the 2009 annual workshop series: ‘Afrikan Freedom means Defeating Neo-colonialism: Nkrumah@100’. When we were oppressed under slavery and colonialism our ancestors knew it; they knew that they had to remove these oppressive systems in order to be free. It is a massive contradiction that despite the fact that we are actually living in the neo-colonial phase of history, most of us do not know what it is. The problem this poses is that if we do not know it. If we remain stuck in neo-colonialism, Afrika cannot be liberated and we will not be a free and self determining people. The critical task before us therefore, is to raise our collective level of consciousness of the nature of neo-colonialism and how to defeat it in Afrikan communities everywhere.
- Fri 16 Jan 2009 @ 6.30pm: Afrikan History & the Phases of Capitalism
- Fri 23 Jan 2009 @ 6.30pm: Decoding Imperialism’s Savage Attack Against Afrikan People
- Fri 30 Jan 2009 @ 6.30pm: The Changing Face of Neo-Colonialism
At 44-46 Offley Road, The Oval, London, SW9 0LS. Adm: Free. For more info tel: 07940 005 907. E-mail: Panascf@yahoo.co.uk
Afrikan Liberation Day planning meetings – Same venue alternate Mondays @ 6.30pm
~ OUR CHILDREN NEEDS YOU, THE AFRICAN FUNDRAISER: With workshops on Haiti and Zimbabwe and Afrikan dancers. Music by Commander B, Coxsone Sound, Allan Brando and DJ Prophetess. Funds raised to help Haiti and Zimbabwe. On Sat Jan 24 at 12-8pm at 44-46 Offley Road, The Oval, London, SW9 0LS. Adm: £5. For more info tel: 07961 916 276 or 07961 909 595. E-mail: mrtknight@hotmail.com
~ BRITISHBLACKMUSIC.COM (BBM) has joined with Inner Rhythm to present the second afternoon workshop - ‘How To Create A Winning Music Business Strategy For The Independent Musician Or Music Entrepreneur Workshop’ - to help you use the science and art of creating and designing a winning music business strategy to transform your music business and career to new heights.
On Sat 24 Jan 2009 at 2–5pm. Registration starts at 1.30pm. At Bigga Fish Workshop Room, Rich Mix Cultural Foundation, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA. Cost: £35. To book or for more info e-mail Kwaku at: editor@britishblackmusic.com Web: www.innerrhythm.org/london
~ HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY: On Sun 25 Jan at 2pm with Nia Reynolds on ‘Black Victims of the Nazis’ and Morris Beckman, founder of the 43 Group. Also showing the Janusz Korczak’s ‘Champion of the Child’ photographic exhibition until 10 Feb at 1-5pm at Bruce Castle Museum, Lordship Lane, Tottenham, London, N17.
~ BLAK FRIDAY SPECIAL on 30 Jan, featuring our brother and filmmaker / author / scholar / activist Dr. Robert Beckford on 30 Jan at 7.30pm at New Initiatives, 55 Willington Road, Stockwell, SW9 9NB. Adm: £5 / £3.
- Also for the so-called Black History Month of February they will have a BLAK Friday session each week featuring speakers drawn from the UJAAMA 9 Collective - Paul Obinna, Twilight Bey (TBC), Brother Hakim & Dr. Lez Henry. At Unit 9, Eurolink Business Centre, Effra Road, Brixton, London, SW2.
- Dr. Lez Henry will be delivering a 9 week course in Social Studies entitled An Introduction To Race And Representation In The Media And On Tell-Lie-Vison! From 2 Feb – 30 Mar 2009 on Mon 7-9.30 pm @ Unit 9. The course outline will be available for download from their website from Jan 19 and a reading pack will be distributed at the first session. The sessions will be interactive and thought provoking and all that is required is that you bring your mind and make sure it is open. For all enquires or to register your interest please contact us directly as places will be limited.
* The UJAAMA 9 Collective is an umbrella organisation that brings together: Janus Solutions http://www.janussolutions.co.uk/ - Hogarth Blake http://www.hh-bb.com/ - Social Solutions Institute
http://www.socialsolutionsinst.com/ - Black Star Online & Nu-Beyond. It is their intention to deliver sessions and training that will cover every aspect of our struggles for liberation under one roof, utilising their various skills, expertise and experiences at the frontline of the struggle at a grass-roots level. This means you will be able to experience nourishment for both mind and body as Martial Arts classes are also available - for further info please contact Janus Solutions http://www.janussolutions.co.uk |
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