Having interrupted what was supposed to be his sabbatical year, independent history researcher and historical musicologist Kwaku has piled on a number of events to wrap up 2024. This year will twenty or so years of his organising all manner of history and music events across London and Zoo, either via community organisation BTWSC/African Histories Revisited or music sector organisation BBM/BMC (BritishBlackMjusic.com/Black Music Congress).
For this year’s African History Month (AHM) in October, he’s involved in the following events:
Documenting Brent Black Music History at The Library at Willesden Green on Oct. 10, 6-9pm; Becoming Brent: Marking Democratic South Africa @ 30 With Talk, Sound & Vision at The Library at Willesden Green on Oct. 13, 3-8pm; and The Brent Reggae Album Covers Exhibition Talks & Music Session at Harlesden Library on Oct. 14, 6.30-8.30pm, which also has a Zoom option. These are organised in association with Brent Museum and Archives.
Big Up Harlesden: One Love, The Last Hurrah Community Event at Tavistock Hall in Harlesden, north-west London on Oct. 19, 5-10pm is his last physical event, and a free thank-you party for everyone who has engaged in his events over the last twenty years.
Interestingly, in the year in which he winds down his self-organised community activities, he’s featured on Brent Council’s autumn issue of its Your Brent magazine. The magazine covers the Brent Reggae Album Covers Exhibition currently at Harlesden Library until Oct. 31. Curated and produced by Kwaku in association Brent Museum and Archives, it features reggae albums with cover photos shot across the north-west London borough of Brent, which covers Harlesden, the acclaimed home of reggae in Britain.
Booking details of the above evets can be accessed via: https://bit.ly/BBMM2024.
Oct. 23, Kwaku and Music4Causes Ft Kimba will deliver a combined lecture cum musical performance presentation that speaks to Brent Council’s ‘Reclaiming Narratives’ main AHM event at Brent Civic Centre.
Kwaku crosses the Thames to deliver ‘British History, Black Music, Racism & The Music Industry: 1507-2020’ at Clapham Library on Oct. 15 2024, 6.30-8.30pm. After the screening of his post-Afriphobic murder of George Floyd inspired video mashup documentary, he will be joined by a panel consisting of Paul Bradshaw (journalist/publisher) and Hakeem Stevens (music marketing/lecturerPhD candidate), to discuss the music industry’s engagement with racism and Afriphobia, and how far it’s come since the 2020 EDI reviews and initiatives towards redressing racial discrimination. Book via: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1000813238337.
From Oct. 7 to Dec. 2. Kwaku will helm the weekly Monday, 6.30-8.30pm 2024: End Of The Decade Sessions. These are Zoom events preceded by the screening of Kwaku original or specially made video mash ups, to engender discussions as a way of marking the ending of UN’s IDPAD (International Decade for People of African Descent) 2015-24. They can be booked via: https://bit.ly/2024EndSessions. After the last session on Dec. 2, which focuses on Marcus Garvey, Kwaku will be looking to concentrating on writing in 2025.