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Musical stars in the spotlight at UEL's Making Black History Now

Friday 17 October 2008

King Masco, a star bandleader from Sierra Leone, performed a 2 hour set at the Docklands campus of the University of East London (UEL) on Wednesday 15 October, as part of ‘Making Black History Now', an exciting programme of events featuring film, fashion, music, performance, comedy, discussions and debates.

King Masco and his group performed for the students and members of staff at UEL with the world famous talking drum which use to be used in Africa to communicate with other villages. It was used to announce births, deaths, marriages and of being proud of Africa.

In the afternoon, UEL's Centre for Cultural Studies Research hosted an international symposium on James Brown, the pioneering musician. The symposium addressed cultural and political issues surrounding James Brown's life and music, in the context of the civil rights movement and other political events in the 1960s USA.

Organised by Jeremy Gilbert of UEL's School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies, guest speakers included John Scannel from Macquarie University Australia, Anne Danielson (University of Olso), Simon Zagorski-Thomas (London College of Music) and Dhanveer Singh (Goldsmiths College).

On 23 October there is a debate on black professionals and the law at Stratford, and the climax to UEL's ‘Making Black History Now' programme on Thursday 30 October features performance on the many colours of British fashion, and a performance revue starring Felix Dexter of Fast Show and Real McCoy fame alongside spoken word poets shortMAN and Michelle Marie.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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