Radikal Queen performing at International Migrants Day 2019, Matt Pickering
international migrants day
There is Beauty in this Journey launched at the Star & Shadow in Newcastle on the 18th December 2018, the date of the United Nations Observance of International Migrants Day.
In response to the themes of our programmeThere is Beauty in this Journey, the launch was a curated platform that gave stage to artists’ voices and commissioned work and, most importantly, offered an opportunity for individuals and community groups to voice their own lived experiences, heritage and positive collective action in our region through spoken word and music.
Following the success of this event we returned in 2019, with an exceptional line-up of artists, musicians and story tellers, exploring new pieces and performances representing the diversity that makes our communities unique.
2019
A night of reflection and celebration of the contribution migration makes to our city at the Star and Shadow Cinema. Performer Hamzeh Al-Hussein previewed a new one man show, Penguin, directed by Amy Golding from Curious Monkey Theatre. An autobiographical account of Hamzeh’s life from his village in Syria, to his flat in Gateshead and the moments in between, Hamzeh’s humour and positivity shines through his experiences, some of which he shares in this work in progress.
Also performing was Hip Hop artist Kay Greyson, a twenty one year old musician from the North East of England. Since releasing her debut mixtape 'Morning After Music' in 2016 she has performed all across the UK including opening for Akala, KRS One, Pharoahe Monch, Lil Eazy E and DJ Yella. She takes strong inspiration from her influences Chance the rapper and Childish Gambino and she incorporates their fun and interactive performance style into her own. Kay Greyson leads with her personality, telling personal and sometimes dark stories in her lyrics but delivering them with youthful joy and enthusiasm.
Poet, musician and activist Radikal Queen helped us celebrate with her unique mix of beat poetry meets blues, funk and soul. Radikal Queen was created to fill a need for outrageous and unlicensed self expression. For women whose sexy isn’t standardised, for children whose school lessons aren’t enough to clarify, for anyone who has been marginalised. As a poet and musician, she speaks the blues to music, she has learned how to fuse the beauty of Black music with the grassroots fight for planetary liberation. Her influences include Gil-Scott Heron, Betty Davis, Maya Angelou and Nina Simone.
Artist Henna Asikainen and Ali Iravani presented Common Ground, their personal reflections on shared journeys across landscapes and the migration and propagation of plants, before we danced along to the world music of the Crossings Band.
Special thanks to our volunteers, supported by the West End Refugee Service’s skillsmatch programme.
2018
From an open call, members of our city community voiced a wide range of personal and political issues of migration from a personal redressing of intergenerational migratory heritage prompted by the 2016 referendum; to stories of asylum journeys, trauma, displacement and integration; and the movement working towards continued study rights in the UK for asylum seekers.
Spoken word experiences were intersected by a screening of excerpts from We Shall Overswim, a D6 commission from 2008 by the artist Borjana Ventzislavova. Underpinning this work were questions asking - Can European identity be defined? What parameters and elements dictate our understandings of ‘European identity’? These are questions that have taken on a renewed meaning in the current political climate. These were questions that were contextualised and poetically addressed by artist Henna Asikainen on stage, through a reflection of her most recently commissioned work with D6, Forage and Delicate Shuttle.
"The curatorial balance of artist’s work, live music and real testimonies created a powerful discourse about representation, presentation and interpretation of such timely experiences around the lives of migrants."
Special thanks to:
Bethany Elen Coyle/ Borjana Ventzislavova/ Crossings Band/ Henna Asikainen/ MD/ Samantha Lourens/ The Star & Shadow/ The Room of Small Things project
In response to the themes of our programmeThere is Beauty in this Journey, the launch was a curated platform that gave stage to artists’ voices and commissioned work and, most importantly, offered an opportunity for individuals and community groups to voice their own lived experiences, heritage and positive collective action in our region through spoken word and music.
Following the success of this event we returned in 2019, with an exceptional line-up of artists, musicians and story tellers, exploring new pieces and performances representing the diversity that makes our communities unique.
2019
A night of reflection and celebration of the contribution migration makes to our city at the Star and Shadow Cinema. Performer Hamzeh Al-Hussein previewed a new one man show, Penguin, directed by Amy Golding from Curious Monkey Theatre. An autobiographical account of Hamzeh’s life from his village in Syria, to his flat in Gateshead and the moments in between, Hamzeh’s humour and positivity shines through his experiences, some of which he shares in this work in progress.
Also performing was Hip Hop artist Kay Greyson, a twenty one year old musician from the North East of England. Since releasing her debut mixtape 'Morning After Music' in 2016 she has performed all across the UK including opening for Akala, KRS One, Pharoahe Monch, Lil Eazy E and DJ Yella. She takes strong inspiration from her influences Chance the rapper and Childish Gambino and she incorporates their fun and interactive performance style into her own. Kay Greyson leads with her personality, telling personal and sometimes dark stories in her lyrics but delivering them with youthful joy and enthusiasm.
Poet, musician and activist Radikal Queen helped us celebrate with her unique mix of beat poetry meets blues, funk and soul. Radikal Queen was created to fill a need for outrageous and unlicensed self expression. For women whose sexy isn’t standardised, for children whose school lessons aren’t enough to clarify, for anyone who has been marginalised. As a poet and musician, she speaks the blues to music, she has learned how to fuse the beauty of Black music with the grassroots fight for planetary liberation. Her influences include Gil-Scott Heron, Betty Davis, Maya Angelou and Nina Simone.
Artist Henna Asikainen and Ali Iravani presented Common Ground, their personal reflections on shared journeys across landscapes and the migration and propagation of plants, before we danced along to the world music of the Crossings Band.
Special thanks to our volunteers, supported by the West End Refugee Service’s skillsmatch programme.
2018
From an open call, members of our city community voiced a wide range of personal and political issues of migration from a personal redressing of intergenerational migratory heritage prompted by the 2016 referendum; to stories of asylum journeys, trauma, displacement and integration; and the movement working towards continued study rights in the UK for asylum seekers.
Spoken word experiences were intersected by a screening of excerpts from We Shall Overswim, a D6 commission from 2008 by the artist Borjana Ventzislavova. Underpinning this work were questions asking - Can European identity be defined? What parameters and elements dictate our understandings of ‘European identity’? These are questions that have taken on a renewed meaning in the current political climate. These were questions that were contextualised and poetically addressed by artist Henna Asikainen on stage, through a reflection of her most recently commissioned work with D6, Forage and Delicate Shuttle.
"The curatorial balance of artist’s work, live music and real testimonies created a powerful discourse about representation, presentation and interpretation of such timely experiences around the lives of migrants."
Special thanks to:
Bethany Elen Coyle/ Borjana Ventzislavova/ Crossings Band/ Henna Asikainen/ MD/ Samantha Lourens/ The Star & Shadow/ The Room of Small Things project