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ANDY MURRAY SHOWS HIS POWER AT THE BNP PARIBAS TENNIS CLASSIC WEEK AT THE HURLINGHAM CLUB.

Every year when tennis season comes around, the usual extra Wimbledon fluff starts appearing in my inbox.

E-mails from PR companies pushing their sports branded clients ‘’Wimbledon whites’’ shoes and sports wear and fashion accessories that are ‘’just perfect to impress the Wimbledon crowd’’. Invitations from tennis themed organisations that create tours of tennis locations like Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Fancy party invites themed around your ‘’favourite all time Wimbledon champ’’ and so on.

Also, leading up to Wimbledon are a number of warm up tournaments to get the players back in their stride and prepare the fans for the big event. The fanciest of these are the warm up games at the BNP Paribas Tennis Classic week at the Hurlingham Club, which takes place at the height of the summer tennis season, the week before Wimbledon, which this year had its strongest line up to date with World No.1 Nadal and Wimbledon Champion Murray.

Murray was be joined by a world-class line-up of tennis legends including: Tim Henman, Goran Ivanisevic, Mark Phillippousis, Pat Cash and crowd pleaser Mansour Bahrami, who also all played throughout the tournament,

JASMINE DOTIWALA AND HELENA MCGEOUGH (HEAD OF TV AT VIRGIN/EMI) AT THE TENNIS!

Set in the beautiful surroundings at The Hurlingham Club (which is an exclusive sports and social club based in Fulham. (So exclusive the waiting list for off peak membership currently stands at 20 years and nepotism reigns here as children of current members are give preference when vacancies arise!). Lords, actresses, politicians and royalty make up its VVVIP list.

Its Edwardian clubhouse, set in 49 acres of Greenland is so elite it offers sports activities that only HNWI usually have access to like clay pigeon shooting, croquet, golf, cricket, skittles, squash, tennis, bowls and swimming. It’s like a country resort, slap bang in the middle of a bustling city. In 1873 the club published the rules of polo, which most of the world still follow today and the following year played their first polo match.

I was lucky enough to find myself attending the event for business last week when our champ- 27 year old Andy Murray- was playing Wimbledon’s 23rd seed – Spain’s Tommy Rodredo. The invitation requested that all guests respect their wishes for ‘’Smart dress code please. No jeans or trainers. We suggest you bring some form of warm clothing if overcast and chilly, or a hat and sunscreen if sunny’’.

Testament to the standard of a facility and its members is their wi-fi policy. At Hurlingham this was ‘’an open wireless system which does not need a password’’. None of the usual #firstworldproblems logging in and giving away all your IP address details here darlings. You can tweet until you’re dizzy.

The reigning Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray was excited about making his annual pilgrimage this year stating, “Playing at the Hurlingham Club last June was the perfect way for me to warm up for Wimbledon. It’s a great setting and I’m looking forward to playing again this year.”

Andy wasn’t the only excited one. My highflying record industry colleague and I squealed on entry to the main gates as we walked across the picturesque bridge and river setting to the main grounds. Set in the tranquil 42-acre grounds of one of the most renowned members’ clubs in the country, the event showcases some of the current stars of today as they warm up for Wimbledon and a few tennis legends are thrown in for good measure multi tasking as post match interviewers and day hosts too.

Pre match we were able to partake in the usual opulent ceremony of blini’s, caviar and champagne tasting before heading off to Centre Court, which seats an intimate crowd of 600. The women look very prim and elegant in their mostly unique outfits.

However many times I experience an upper class event I wont ever tire of smiling at the men who turn up in their uniform of pastel blue shirts, navy blazers and sandy trousers and the occasional gent attempts a cad vibe with a tipped straw boater hat.

THIS HOW CLOSE WE WERE SAT TO ANDY- TOUCHING DISTANCE!

We were sat right behind the umpire and next to the paparazzi photographers in the photo pit and my heart did feel for Andy’s opponent Tommy Robredo as they snapped away incessantly when Andy served or hit the ball but all was like tumbleweed when the ball was on Tommy’s side of the court. So as our heads panned left to right, the click –click- clicks went wild rhythmically to Andy’s shots.

Similar focus has come via the newest recruit to Andy’s team. He’s had tennis aficionado’s tongues wagging by signing up a new coach, French former professional tennis player Amelie Mauresmo, who is herself a former singles grand slam title winner – one at Wimbledon and silver in the 2004 Olympics.
We couldn’t help keeping one eye on the match and the other on Amelie as she studied Andy’s game and smiled as he certainly showed very impressive good grass form. (Impressed? A tennis dictionary jargon phrase I picked up overhearing other convo’s around me on the day darlings!) LOL.

Interestingly, being sat in the front row that close to the action meant we could see every grimace and piercing focus in both players eyes and the tremendous herculean effort every single shot takes. In the end, Andy won with straight-sets; 6-2 7-6 (7-1). (There would’ve been uproar if he hadn’t right?) Tommy just got served! (sorry I couldn’t resist).

LOVED THE BALL GIRLS PINK TENIS OUTFITS!

With Andy I get the sense he’s very grounded and well rounded with his extra curricular activities that don’t have him turning into a tennis crazed madman the way John McEnroe used to come across. One of his ventures for example is a five-star hotel – the 15-bedroom Cromlix — set in 34-acres of lush Scottish countryside- just minutes from where he grew up in Dunblane, Scotland. Apparently Andy is involved on a regular basis in making sure it all runs smoothly.

After Andy and Tommy’s match there was also another match between Berdych vs Dimitrov (who many of the women were drooling over as well as commenting that he was Maria Sharapova’s boyfriend. An awkward moment was when commentator/former player Andrew Castle asked him post match if more people recognized him or Maria when they were out. Eventually he admitted Maria, but I felt his pain.

DIMITROV FEELS THE HEAT.

The afternoon finished with a fun mixed doubles match which included Mansour Bahrami / Andrew Castle which was the usual entertaining panto-style fun. Post match, tennis players mingled with guests off court, who were chillaxing with the obligatory strawberries and cream or high tea and scones.

A ten-minute press conference where Andy was holding court was heaving with reporters, as he told us his thoughts on Wimbledon and whether he’s under less pressure now he’s finally won;

“To be honest I don’t know, from my side it’s not, because I still want to try to win more if I can. So I’ll be putting pressure on myself to perform well, in terms of the media and public perspective it may be a little less this time, but not from myself. It took me a long time to win the first one. So it may be a bit naïve to think the second could come around so quickly, but I’ll try my best to give myself a chance’’.

On working alongside his new coach Amelie: “I’ve really enjoyed it so far, I’ve really enjoyed being on the court with her. I’ve enjoyed having her around. She understands the game well obviously; she’s also been in the position before coming back as defending champion at Wimbledon. She’s been very good so far and I’ve enjoyed it. From her side she’s just getting to know me, getting to know the guys that I work with, and how we operate. I’ve enjoyed the practices we’ve had, that’s also a very important part of the relationship with a coach is that you enjoy it and have fun on the court together, And that’s been the case in the last four days’’.
“All coaches are strong in certain aspects and you need help in all sorts of different things, but obviously the tactical side is important. Preparing for tournaments like this isn’t about tactics it’s about getting ready for the pressure of the tournament, how to conserve energy and deal with situations like I’ll have on Monday, something I’ve never experienced before. I’ve got someone there who’s been in that position, who has done it before, and that will help’’.

Andy’s has a stressful 2 weeks ahead of him as the British media mercilessly watch his, his coach, his girlfriend (bet she’s heard all the Love Means Nothing jokes) and families every move and facial expression. Their outfits and conversations will be under scrutiny like no other time, as now he has to defend his title and walk out onto that court this week with a new stance, as the first British male defending singles champion since Fred Perry.

” It’s important at the beginning, when you go out and walk onto the court, to try to enjoy that feeling, because it’s something I’ve never experienced before, it will be a proud moment to come back as defending champion’’.

The Hurlingham Club is one of the best kept secrets in tennis, with their Garden Party atmosphere and VIP hospitality juxtaposed with the stars of today, but this week at Wimbledon, global players, international fans, pundits and the future generations will all be in attendance and watching eagerly.

Its Andy’s time to carry on shining. You only live once, but lets hope that Andy gets to serve his Wimbledon fans with a win twice.

ALL PICS COPYRIGHT JASMINE DOTIWALA JMEnternational AND MOBO.

CHUKA UMUNNA MP, MOBO CEO KANYA KING MBE, JASMINE DOTIWALA, MITCH WINEHOUSE, LABRINTH AND JERMAIN JACKMAN CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF MOBOVATION AND UNSUNG MOBO.

The great and the good from the music industry, gathered on Tuesday morning, at ROAST restaurant in Borough Market, for a fancy champagne breakfast launch for two reasons; MOBOvation- a photography exhibition that celebrates 18 years of MOBO and showcases talent and performances from the annual MOBO Awards ceremonies the exhibition is on display at Roast until November 2014.

A VERY YOUNG CRAIG DAVID FEATURES IN THE MOBOVATION ART EXHIBITION.

The images selected from the MOBO archives feature acts who have shaped the musical landscape spanning over two decades and various musical genres with iconic photographs and stories of such talent as diverse as a very young Craig David, a fresh Amy Winehouse, the original four piece band that were Destiny’s Child, legend Sade, materialistic hip hop pimp 50 Cent, the uber talented Emeli Sandé, a then new, much less sharp Tinie Tempah and musical whizz Labrinth taken during stage performances and acceptance speeches. The second reason was to launch their annual MOBO UnSung competition.

MITCH WINEHOUSE AND JERMAIN JACKMAN LISTEN TO KANYA’S SPEECH.

The invite stated a 9.30am start and by 9.35am sharp, punctual media heavy weights and key influencers like former BBC chief creative officer Pat Younge, entertainment impresario Jonathon Shalit OBE, The RTS’s retired chief executive Simon Albury, The Voice newspaper editor George Ruddock, Chuka Umunna MP, The Guardian’s Joseph Harker, Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse and more were sat knocking back strong coffee’s and full English breakfasts. I was sat between former RTS Chief Simon and former BBC Chief Pat both whom were great company.

MOBO CEO Kanya King MBE welcomed industry professionals and distinguished guests and thanked them for their loyal support of her brand for the past 18 years. She reminded us that MOBO had been created to champion young music focused youth and given a platform to urban music acts for the longest time. Founded in 1996, the MOBO Organisation was established by Kanya to recognise the outstanding achievements of artists who perform music in genres ranging from Gospel, Jazz, RnB, Soul, and Reggae to Hip Hop. Over the past 18 years MOBO has played an instrumental role in elevating black music and culture to mainstream popular status in the UK. MOBO has since become Europe’s leading urban music brand supporting urban music talent in various ways.

Kanya said, “We are proud to have been supporting music for nearly two decades and to be able to showcase some of the many dynamic acts that have graced the MOBO stage over the years. Every image has a story and we are hoping by sharing these incredible stories of passion and professionalism combined with relentless determination that we will inspire many other acts who are trying to forge a career in music.”
As well as reminding us about why MOBO exists, Kanya also called upon acclaimed MOBO artists including Labrinth, Akala, Jahmene Douglas (X Factor finalist and a beacon for gospel music) and Jermain Jackman (The Voice Winner) to talk about their own experiences and memories of the MOBO brand.

JASMINE WITH AKALA AND FRIENDS.

Akala reminded us about why the brand was important to all British urban talent both commercial and underground, and told me afterwards that he has a very new exiting 45-minute long running, no break, style concept album coming. Chuka was warm and welcoming to all that approached him and thanked me for my support over the past few years, he too is an incredible advocate for young diverse issues. Jonathan Shalit OBE gave a moving speech about the MOBO brand having supported and championed his own talent like Jamelia and N Dubz over the years when others hadn’t been interested and that he admired Kanya’s tenacity very much. He reminded us that last years MOBO host Sarah Jane Crawford had been given a platform to showcase her TV presenting skills and now had won the Xtra Factor show lead job.

JASMINE WITH JERMAIN AND JAHMENE.- 3 THATS THE MAGIC NUMBER!

Straight afterwards Kanya excitedly told me ‘’ my favourite part about this morning was the content and the passion of the various speeches. Akala (Name is a Buddhist term for immovable and he is) talked about having a sustainable career in music despite the challenges he had overcome whilst being an independent. Jermain talked about his incredible journey so far and his ambitions for the future. Jonathan talked about the context of MOBO and all the artists and hosts that MOBO had been a stepping-stone for. I truly meant it when I said at the end of my speech thank you for listening because everyone truly did.

My other favourite bit was that we now have a document of the monumental images of many of the talented acts that have been successful in the urban landscape!’’.

After the speeches we were encouraged to walk around the restaurant and look at the beautiful portraits by photographers over the years and it was indeed impressive to be reminded just how many new, young acts had been given a platform in the wider commercial world when no others had been interested. Nowadays of course urban music is the pop music of this generation, but every now and again, like when the BRIT Awards totally snub UK urban acts, you’re reminded why we still and always will need a platform of our own.

MITCH WINEHOUSE, KANYA KING AND ROAST RESTAURANT OWNER IQBAL WAHHAB.

Before we left we were reminded that the breakfast was also to launch the newly expanded MOBO UnSung competition, which is an initiative, dedicated to identifying and celebrating the next generation of talent in music. The contest offers a once in a life-time opportunity to champion creative individuals who are showing great promise to make it happen – the purpose is to inspire them to push through challenges whilst holding on to their creativity. By providing studio time with producers, year-round mentorship, career guidance and vital contact introductions, they are being well prepared for a potential career in music.

The project also offers a skills and talent development opportunity to an area of the industry, which generally receives little, support and has had little infrastructure until this year. Now it seems that every government body and funder is setting up new opportunities to get youth into the music industry.

As I’ve always stated, its not getting their feet in the door that matters, but a long-term career progression route. It’s easy to open a door into the industry for a few weeks or months but the issue with diversity is keeping diverse people in the music game. In any case, learning from the MOBO project will be aired online to be of use to a wider community and the artists will be encouraged to pass their knowledge on and collaborate.

If you’re an unsigned act or manager then details on how to enter #MOBOUnsung can be found on www.mobo.com/unsung

MOBO is a part of a movement that’s been steadily growing for years. Our generation of key players in the music and media industry weren’t content to sit back, play second fiddle and beg to be invited to the industry consistently. Many of us decided to make a stand. We regularly pool our resources to make new stars, push forwards new brands, help media train new talent, advise and consult and stand strongly together.

When you can’t get into the establishment you create your own lane.

THE STAGE AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE FESTIVAL AT DUSK.

In recent years various arts genres have been merging, making for incredible one off experiences. Whether it’s free running at 10 Downing Street, hip hop at the Turner Rooms at Tate Britain or film and live music performances of their soundtracks at the Royal Albert Hall, I am a huge fan of a cultural mash-up.

No longer do we need to settle for music performances at the traditional venues, and summertime means a plethora of outdoor music at prestigious venues, like the Royal Parks, World Heritage Sites, Historic Royal Palaces, Manchester United FC, Corporation of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
However, these are very niche in their usual audience ‘posh concerts for the hamper set ‘ and those in the know, snap up tickets fast. So if you don’t know about these events you’ll miss out. So how it’s been going for 22 years and this is the first a die-hard music fan like me has heard of it I don’t know. I really need to up my game!

THE GARDEN LAWN WHERE YOU PICNIC PRIOR TO THE SHOW.

Hampton Court Palace Festival is one of music’s best-kept secrets. In a nutshell, the grounds host a pre show picnic, which you can either buy in advance or bring your own. The actual music shows take place in the intimate courtyard of the Palace, which seats 3000 and is flanked by the majestic palace quarters and turrets. People who have previously performed at the Festival include: Cliff Richard, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Liza Minnelli, Frankie Valli, Van Morrison, Russell Watson, James Blunt, James Morrison, Bryan Adams, Caro Emerald, Katie Melua, Andrea Bocelli, Darcey Bussell, Jose Carreras, Joaquin Cortes, The Gipsy Kings, Katie Melua, Bryan Adams, Bryn Terfel, Brian Wilson, Katherine Jenkins, Rufus Wainwright, Tracy Chapman and Art Garfunkel to name a few.

This year the festival runs from 11th – 25th June, and amongst the line up for this season are ten-time Grammy award-winner George Benson (who will performing hits like Give Me The Night, Lady Love Me (One More Time) and Turn Your Love Around on 23rd June – come on! the perfect date surely?), diva Dionne Warwick, The original boy band- The Beach Boys, legend Van Morrison & the most successful UK jazz artist ever Jamie Cullum.

This past weekend I attended the classical gala and fireworks evening where The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra performed a selection of well known pieces of music by masters of classical music like Strauss, Delibes, Debussy, Elgar, Tchaikovsky and more in Henry VIII’s open air courtyard.

We arrived at 5.30pm for our own meagre pre-packed supermarket special picnic and Proseco, which we bought, on site. Loads of what looked like VHNWI (Very High Net Worth Individuals) were merrymaking and supping champagne in the Palace Gardens before the concert started and time flew as we people watched. It’s a very bourgeois set up but the crowd came from all walks of life and it felt very inviting and inclusive.

YOU CAN BUY WOOD FIRED PIZZA.

Whilst heritage parks may have a certain type of visiting demographic, adding a music element in the grounds opens up a whole new audience and visitor to the beauty of some of the greatest locations in the country. The tickets range between £40-£70 and during the show we were thanked for our support as all proceeds go towards the upkeep of the venue, giving these palaces a future as long and valuable as their past. When you consider that your average pop concert at the 02 and one off Prince tickets sell for hundreds nowadays, the festival package and experience for around seven hours finishing up with a fireworks display seems more than reasonable!

A PRIVATE WATERSIDE GAZEBO.

I noted that if you’re feeling really flush, you can book VIP Packages from £295 p/p, with dining inside the Palace prior to the concert and covered VIP seating, reserve a waterside gazebo table for a private group experience (£200), pre book a luxury picnic (£75), or simply bring your own picnic blanket and scatter yourselves across the immaculately preened lawns. The people-watching is first class! From the loved-up couples sharing a pre-packed picnic, to the families with young kids scarpering around, to the silver haired music fans sharing a bench, time flies when you’re ogling.

CONDUCTOR BEN DOES HIS THING.

The concert began at 8.30pm and was conducted by Conductor Ben Palmer, who shared wonderful anecdotes and stories about many of the pieces on the night and with his jovial, warm, engaging manner, the breathtakingly beautiful music was mesmerising.

I had initially been concerned at my ability to stay focused and not get bored as I’m so used to have some sort of spectacle performing alongside music gigs, (my friend says this means I’m uncultured LOL). It didn’t take me long to realise that the orchestra were spectacle enough. Just watching them at such close quarters is hypnotising as they work seamlessly together. The solo players catch your attention at every new bar, the flute player who jigs and bobs as he performs, the female drummer commanding our attention or the whole band bringing us to a crescendo! Nothing is rigid and audience walk in and out of the concert in between sets, as they need.

As soon as the concert finished the audience excitedly rushed back out to the main garden grounds to take their preferred spots for the fireworks display which began 20 minutes later. The fireworks were more quality than quantity and after a quick 15 minutes worth of spectacular colourful aerial displays, which provided a visual fanfare to round off this superb evening, we sauntered back to our cars.

POST SHOW FIREWORKS OVER HAMPTON COURT PALACE.

Hampton Court Festival really is a festival that offers everything – preshow outdoor picnic and drinks in a breath taking setting, a wonderful selection of stalls that sell wood fire pizza and snacks, a diverse line up of music acts, all set within a beautiful and historic setting and if you’re extra lucky – as we were- no rain!

On 20th June, pop sensations Rick Astley and Jason Donovan are performing a double-header singing all their big hits but readers, even though I like to think I’ve upped my cultural game I don’t think I could handle the cheese fest that is Rick and Jason. Not that it matters- the night sold out ages ago! I shouldn’t scoff. Rick Astley still holds the record of being the only male solo artist to have his first 8 singles reach the UK Top Ten and in 2008 he won Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

If you still want to get involved this year it’s all sold out except for a few tickets available for Opera on a Midsummer’s Night on 21st June where the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will present a special midsummer concert conducted by Renato Balsadonna and featuring the beautiful voices of soprano Deborah Norman and rising star Noah Stewart.

The best music festivals aren’t necessarily the ones at the biggest concert halls, or at campsites over numerous unwashed days, in car parks or farms. Nor is it imperative to have the biggest musical names or huge lineup. Sometimes they can be a great classic music act, juxtaposed with an unusual location, a classy crowd and dining option. And where else in the world does fancy historic English gardens with an ancient historic setting and the chance to sing along to your favourite music virtuoso like we do? Hampton Court Palace Festival really is in a league of its own.

My experience was akin escaping to an enchanted garden back in yesteryear and being fed and watered for the best part of the day. An experience, which is like no other and involves dining, horticulture, history, music and fireworks. An adventurous music festival day out, but without any of the usual associated discomforts. If you’re going to do a music festival then this is the one to taste with all your senses.

JASMINE WITH BONNIE GREER.

She’s the American British playwright, novelist, critic and intellectual who’s acted on Parisian stages, had her plays performed on multi broadcast platforms, produced films, written novels, as well as regular features in The Guardian and Huffington Post, served on boards for universities, opera houses, film schools and more. But in 2009 she flew crashing into a whole new generations psyche when she made BNP’s Nick Griffin look even stupider than usual on BBC’s Question Time, after she stepped into the verbal ring with him and slapped him around until he was trembling. My bad. He was trembling even before Bonnie started on him.

She’s accomplished much at the age of 65 and clearly the constant campaigning for people to have a voice, diversity in arts and culture and equality for all hasn’t aged her. If anything she looks younger than ever. Black don’t crack isn’t just a saying thrown around. It’s a fact of life.

Last night at the most beautiful bookstore in London’s Mayfair- Hatchards- Bonnie read chapters from her new book, a memoir titled A Parallel Life. Understated in her actors uniform of basic black vest and trousers and her trademark headscarf, Bonnie welcomed an invited audience to hear her read especially chosen chapters from her memoir, in her very distinctive, calm, warm, measured, velvety Chicago drawl.

BONNIE READS CHAPTERS FROM HER BOOK ‘A PARALLEL LIFE’.

Stories of her father Ben, a factory worker who took part in the D Day landings and was fascinated by the world war two Jamaican soldiers who fought for Britain. ‘’ My father was a union man. He’d take us to museums and was adamant about education as a way to get yourself up and out. He strongly believed in equal education and culture for everybody. ‘’ And mother Willie Mae, a housewife who in later life suffered with dementia, which meant she spilt all their family secrets to Bonnie in more chatty, rambling moments.

Bonnie is cool about it though, not much phases her. Although she began writing plays at the age of 9, she originally set out on a legal career, but dropped out when her professor told her he didn’t think women should have a career in law. Growing up in Chicago means she’s a tough, straight talker and her life in the emotionally open theatrical world means she has no hang-ups. She shrugged ‘’I’m from the theatre so I learned you gotta let stuff go’’.

In her book, Bonnie is open and honest about her upbringing, her sexual encounters, her struggle with an identity that was constantly quashed and a self-belief that was forever being challenged. She unveils secrets, personal angst and a hugely heroic battle to change what she was ‘supposed to be’ to become what she wanted to be. Her best friends succumbed to AIDS; she watched colleagues die for their beliefs; she saw her city and her dreams torn apart by the Chicago police. Bonnie bares all in this first volume of her memoirs, and you cannot fail to be moved, touched and even angered by what you are about to read. Bonnie’s experiences have driven her firm resolve to fight for civil rights. She was the ‘poster girl’ for the Nigerian schoolgirls long before their plight hit the papers; she is political, controversial, determined but, above all, she’s a woman who believes in equality. This is her story. And just the beginning.

She explained that once the book publishers had convinced her to write this book, she was extremely grateful to have a voice as a black woman, that hadn’t come from a tragic life story. ‘’I didn’t want to write from the point of view of an emergency. Most of the work we get published (as black women), are like emergency rations. No deaths or tragedies make me journey who I am. I grew up in the era of fascinating movements unfolding and developing around me. The black panther movement, black power movement, arts and theatre were exploding in new ways, the gay movement…. all these are what I talk about from my point of view’’.

If you Google Bonnie, alongside ‘’husband’’, ‘Nick Griffin’’ and ‘’university’’ is ‘‘racist’’, which uninformed online readers accuse her of being when she defends the black community. Yes, if you take her quotes out of context she probably does sound racist. However, in context you can see and hear the humorous, cutting, sarcastic tone in her voice and it makes sense.

She’s defended the ‘angry black woman’ stereotype and women’s right to have an equal voice. She sits back and observes academy award winning actress Lupita Amondi’s career with interest. ‘’It’s interesting watching Lupitas career develop. She herself said “I had to play a slave girl to get somewhere”?. This is an accomplished and Harvard educated woman!’’

Bonnie touched on something I find my black girl friends lament about often. The idea that their children don’t identify themselves positively with their black skin, and prefer the blonde white doll to the ones that looks more like them.

‘’I had to touch on deep issues about myself in order to write this book that I may not have wanted to face. I had a really huge Shirley Temple obsession at aged 8. Its really hard for me to process that now. I used to draw her face as my face. But in the book it was something I felt I had to say as a lot of non-white girls go through the same thing. One day my dad brought home a black doll and put it in the middle of my blonde dollies. I lost it and freaked out at him and wanted her outta there. I used to put lye on my hair to relax it and used to question why? ‎I saw actress Cicely Tyson on a TV show once with short hair and she gave me the courage to cut all my hair short. So that was hard for me to go into and also other subjects about race. It was hard to be the black power person by day and dating white men at night. I had to deal with that. To face these contradictions in your life is tough. I was called out a couple of times. I talk about it in the book. Cos we black women aren’t afforded contradiction or publicity. You get nervous about lil kids looking up to you in case you say the wrong thing’’.

The new generation of young black women are of concern to Bonnie.’’ throughout history children are usually taller than their parents, but the generation of black girls born in the eighties are mostly all shorter than their mum’s. This has a lot to do with poverty and giving birth young. ‎I’m a champion of people’s voices-especially black women’’.

‎She’s not just a champion of women of colour. She noted in the audience Q&A session post reading, when asked by a teacher how she could encourage her class of young black boys to aspire to positive TV images like we used to with ‘’fresh prince of Bel Air’’, that this was a new world where anyone could make it, and that the young black boys should make their own content and it would break through, like so much else in the web based new world has.

In the same breath she noted that even women of every nationality and style have a tough time in the male dominated broadcast world. ‘‘The BBC are getting smaller and smaller and to get onto SKY TV you have to be a woman that wears short dresses with short sleeves’’

‎Bonnie came to the UK in 1986 as part of a production at the Edinburgh Festival and loved it so much she stayed, becoming a British citizen in 1997. She was appointed an OBE in the 2010 birthday honours and has said ‘’ I wouldn’t have accepted board appointments to the British Museum; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Serpentine Gallery; the presidency of the Bronte Society and a seat on the cultural board of the first world war commemoration if I didn’t believe not only that culture belongs to all, but also that there is a duty in a democratic society to make it accessible to all, too’’.

One audience member asked Bonnie her thoughts on the Birmingham Trojan horse issue. Bonnie stated ‘‘the only Trojan horse is the one that the Tory party is running where Gove is over stepping the mark. The key British value is fairness. ‎We’re in a situation that’s not fair. It should be live and let live. Britain allows you to pretty much get on with things. In the USA you have to get your credentials out there first’’.

Bonnie isn’t as militant as she once may have seemed. Talking about her incredible personal experience working with her editor and publishers on her book she admitted ‘’20years ago I would’ve said a white man couldn’t work on anything with me. But in this book I wrote what I wrote. My editor Martin told me what he wanted more and less of and we made it work. There things I was afraid to say but they were coaxed out of me. My parents told me to go see the world and don’t let anyone stop me. So that’s what I did. We need a plethora of voices out there. I hope all of you write about yourselves too’’.

Hearing Bonnie read, you can’t help but laugh at her personality full of wise observations and hilarious commentary. I became friendly with Bonnie two years ago, as we are both panelists on Ladies Talk- a panel show featuring women of colour lead by Actress and comedian Angie Le Mar- debating topical and cultural issues. In the short time I have known her I’ve been blessed by her wisdom on issues as wide as love, bereavement and more and she’s genuinely helped me understand life better with her musings in the green room backstage post production. This book breaks her right down warts and all. She’s our very own Maya Angelou and we should treasure her soul.

Bonnie was born on Chicago’s west side and says ‘’A Southsider’s motto is: “If I don’t know you, I don’t care what you say.” The expression “tell it like it is” comes from the Southside too’’. And that dear reader , nicely sums this lady up.

Global Stars Macklemore And Ryan Lewis, J Cole, Kid Ink Plus African Stars Liquideep, Kwesta, Daara J, Alikiba, Redsan, Keko Announced Amongst Several Other Stars As The First Of Over 150 Artists To Perform At Africa’s Biggest Music Festival, Tribeone Dinokeng

If you love Glastonbury, SXSW and Coachella, then TribeOne Dinokeng is about to be on your radar!

The TribeOne Dinokeng Festival, being held from 26-28th September 2014, will be a first of its kind not just for South Africa, but Africa itself. With a line-up featuring over 150 artists performing on three main stages, it is already being billed as Africa’s biggest festival!

The festival will see the historic diamond-mining town of Cullinan, in the City of Tshwane in South Africa being taken over for the first musical journey of its kind on African shores. International, African and local South African artists will perform for an expected crowd of over 100,000 attendees.

‘This is an historic moment in time for the African continent and for the world as we embark on a journey to Africa’s first mega music festival introduction to the global stage of major multi day festivals and as we now embark on this journey with some of the biggest stars in music from across the globe on the road to the awakening of the cradle of music in September, where music tribes from all over planet earth will come together every year as One Tribe, at the TribeOne Dinokeng multi-day mega music festival in the amazing City of Tshwane.’ says Jandre Louw, CEO of TribeOne Festivals and ROCKSTAR4000.

‘Phase One’ of the talent, just announced at a press event at Hard Rock Café, South Africa included four time Grammy Award winning global megastars and the first of the TribeOne Dinokeng headline acts, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis from the USA, billed to headline the Diamond Fields main stage on Saturday 27th September. Macklemore and Lewis’s single “Thrift Shop” reached number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2013. Their second single, “Can’t Hold Us” also peaked at #1 of the Hot 100 Chart, making Macklemore and Lewis the first duo in the chart’s history to have their first two singles both reach number 1. Macklemore and Lewis released their debut studio album The Heist on October 9, 2012, which charted at number 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The pair was nominated for seven Grammy awards at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, winning four awards including Best New Artist, Best Rap Album (The Heist), Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance (“Thrift Shop”).

American hip hop recording artist, songwriter and record producer, J Cole was also announced as headline act for the Diamond Fields main stage on the Friday night, 26th September. Cole first received recognition in 2007, following the release of his debut mixtape The Come Up. Shortly after the release of The Come Up, Cole was contacted by American rapper Jay-Z and subsequently signed to his record label Roc Nation, in 2009. In that same year, Cole released his second mixtape, The Warm Up, which was itself followed by Cole’s third mixtape, Friday Night Lights, in 2010. His debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, was released on September 27, 2011. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, Top R&B Albums and Top Rap Albums chart, selling more than 218,000 in its first week. He received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 54th Grammy Awards. Cole’s most recent release, Born Sinner, was released on June 18, 2013. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, however, Born Sinner later rose to number one, giving Cole his second number one on the chart.

American rapper, Kid Ink was the 3rd US international announced set to perform at the Diamond Fields main stage set for the Saturday, 27th September. Kid Ink is an American rapper from Los Angeles, signed to RCA Records. In his career to date, Kid Ink released the independent album Up & Away, an EP titled Almost Home and his second studio album My Own Lane. My Own Lane spawned the successful singles “Show Me”, “Iz U Down” and “Main Chick” with several smash collaborations including Chris Brown, Tyga, Trey Songz, Juicy J, 2Chainz, Meek Mill to name a few.

Several of Africa’s biggest stars were also announced as part of this first phase one announcement including:

Karen Zoid, Tailor, Desmond & the Tutus, Shortstraw, Kwesta, Samuel Miller, Rouge, The Dollfins, David & Goliath, Veranda Panda, New Academics, Lacey May, Beatenberg, Gang of Instrumentals, MXO & The Peppercorns, Royal K, Beat Army, Ricardo da Costa, Mark Stent, Lady Lea, Tommy D, Roger de Lux, House Hold Funk, Kyle Watson (South Africa).

Keko and Naava Grey (Uganda). Slap Dee, Winky D and Zone Fam (Zambia). Daara J (Senegal). Stanley (Gabon), Redsan, Nameless, Xtatic and Jaguar (Kenya). Alikiba (Tanzania) and Namibian Music Award winning stars Gazza, Erna Chimu, Elvis se Seun (Namibia). Ba’ponga (Gabon) and Hope (Burundi).

Full artists details are available on the TribeOne Dinokeng website and several more acts will be announced ongoing over the days to follow.

‘It’s an exciting moment for us. The first talent announcement is the launch of a unique event that no music lover should miss out on. This much incredible talent over three glorious spring days in the most glorious African setting is more than worth leaving home for. Its epic.’ says Sony Music Entertainment Africa’s Managing Director Sean Watson.

Tshwane City Manager Jason Ngobeni says, “Tshwane is a “smart city” – a leader in education, research and technology, electronics and information technology as well as defence design and construction so the City’s involvement in the project was a natural alignment. In our country’s 20th year of democracy, we are excited about the developments and possibilities that TribeOne Dinokeng presents as a long-term project. The capital city is proud to be hosting this three-day music bonanza in Dinokeng, outside Cullinan.”

Ticketing information will be released shortly. Festival-goers are encouraged to register for the early bird ticket sales currently in progress. Music fans will have an option of outright purchase of any of the ticket options and packages or opt for a ‘Payment Plan’ option through which fans can make a 50% deposit payment to secure their tickets and pay the balance before August, allowing fans the opportunity to spread their payment or budget across a few months. Accommodation options ensured to suit any pocket will also be made available in the days ahead.

Two types of tickets will be made available, a Weekend Pass and a Day Pass. The Day Pass will have limited availability and will only be valid for the Sunday 28th September and the Weekend Pass will enable festival-goers access to all stages unlimited for the entire weekend. Both the ‘Day Pass’ and ‘Weekend Pass’ tickets have three tiers or categories including Regular tickets, VIP tickets & Rockstar tickets. (Our Rockstar tickets are equal to VVIP Tickets).

Once fans have purchased their ticket, they will be notified of the accommodation options, which will be available from June. The TribeOne Dinokeng festival accommodation options include on-site camping consisting of five types of camping experiences. The first consist of a standard campsite for which you come with and provide your own tent and erect your tent on your dedicated campsite. The second option will be a standard pre-set-up tent, which you can just move into. The third option consists of a pre-set up tent with a mattress and selected other luxuries. The fourth site will provide a camping experience dedicated to families within a more family-friendly environment and the fifth option consist of a more luxurious VIP camping experience that includes being waited on around the clock.

TribeOne Dinokeng will also provide an option for Caravans and Campervans. However, this option has a limited window within which you need to pre-request and book your site. Only caravan or campervan requests made before the cut-off date of the end of June 2014 will be accommodated. Other accommodation options include 3-5 star lodges, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts, hotels and private game lodges across the Dinokeng Reserve, and the City of Tshwane.

Various levels of hospitality packages, local and international travel packages will also be made available and released in the days ahead.

The City of Tshwane is the proud official Host City of the TribeOne Dinokeng festival. South African Tourism and Gauteng Tourism are the official Global Tourism Partners. Petra Diamonds and the Cullinan Diamond Mine is the official Community Empowerment Partner and Power Horse is the official energy drink of TribeOne Festival 2014.

http://www.tribeonefestival.com/

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AFRICA’S BIGGEST MUSIC FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES THE CONTINENT’S MOST SIGNIFICANT NEW EMERGING ARTIST PLATFORM ‘TRIBEONE INITIATIONS’

‘TribeOne Dinokeng’, Africa’s biggest music festival, with 62 stages, 3 main stages and over 150 established acts lined up in addition to another 150 new emerging artist performance opportunities, has kicked off its first phase of talent announcements and ticket registrations and more significant names to be revealed over the days to come. The festival is set for 26, 27, 28 September 2014 in the vibrant City of Tshwane, South Africa.

Now it’s time to also showcase the amazing emerging new and up and coming talent!

A plethora of talent flourishes across South Africa and the entire African continent, yet so many artists remain unsigned and undiscovered or have to climb the mountain of challenges in representing themselves. TribeOne seeks to change this and give these aspiring artists a platform to not only showcase their music across the borders of the continent but to a worldwide audience, through a platform that now offers a more credible platform with much greater significant impact not only on a local, but a Pan African and Global level than any other typical ‘talent search’ TV format or campaign launched anywhere on the continent before.

The historical mining town of Cullinan, within the City of Tshwane will be transformed in September 2014, to a musical village of epic proportions, unlike anything ever experienced within the shores of Africa before.

The TribeOne Dinokeng Festival Initiation phase will see artists, submitting and performing their own original songs, which will not only see them perform on a TribeOne stage, but also stand a chance to be rewarded with one of several opportunities:

• The Top 5 TribeOne Initiates selected will receive a single recording and music video;
• A worldwide digital distribution deal, a publishing deal, potential management deal and a marketing music expert mentorship at the Rockstar Academy;
• Transport and accommodation (to get to the TribeOne Dinokeng music festival where they will perform);
• The submitted recording will be made available on the ‘TribeOne Initiations’ album on iTunes and all other TribeOne official distribution platforms.
• A Special feature on all official TribeOne digital platforms is also included.

The Top 20 TribeOne Initiates selected will also have the opportunity to walk away with the following:
• A worldwide digital distribution deal, publishing deal and marketing;
• Their submitted recording will be made available on the TribeOne Dinokeng Festival Initiations Album on iTunes and all other TribeOne official distribution platforms including a special feature on all official TribeOne digital platforms worldwide;
• All of the top 150 TribeOne Initiates selected from the TribeOne Initiations campaign will also receive the opportunity to perform live in the Rockstar Village (Cullinan town stages) during the festival weekend.

Online submissions can be made at www.TribeOneFestival.com or postal admissions to the Sony Music Entertainment Africa offices. Entrants must be 13 years old or over, a completed entry form, URL’s only to the music, a photograph and short profile of who the artist is must be submitted. Full terms, conditions and entry requirements are also available on the official TribeOne Dinokeng Festival website. We are looking for the real new original artists and bands and therefore strictly ONLY original songs / recordings will be accepted. Entries under 18 must be co-signed under the surety of a legal guardian or parent.

Ticketing information, hospitality packages, local and international travel packages, and accommodation options ensured to suit any pocket to be released shortly. Early Bird Registrations, which qualifies you to get tickets first when we go live inclusive of Early Bird Discounts, are currently in progress – log onto www.tribeonefestival.com now for your Early Bird Registration Discount!

The City of Tshwane is the proud official Host City of the TribeOne Dinokeng festival.

Official sponsors include: South African Tourism, Gauteng Tourism, Petra Diamonds and the Cullinan Diamond Mine.

TribeOne Dinokeng is powered by the ‘Official Energy Drink’: Power Horse

To keep track of all the latest news on TribeOne on our social media got to the following:

Facebook: facebook.com/TribeOneFest
Twitter: @TribeOneFest or twitter.com/TribeOneFest
Instagram: @TribeOneFest
Hashtag: #TribeOneFest

For more information or interview requests please contact:
Farah Fortune: farah@africanstar.co.za | +27 (0) 79 826 1955
Justine Abrahams: Justine@africanstar.co.za | +27 (0) 83 726 7587

For more information on TribeOne: Dinokeng and its artists contact:
Khanyi Masebenza
ROCKSTAR4000 & TribeOne Festivals
Communications & Marketing Director
+27 (0) 79 508 1323
Khanyi@rockstar4000.com

ABOUT ROCKSTAR4000 MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

ROCKSTAR4000 is the first Pan African Music Solutions Company, as well as a content, digital and events production network. It is home to the largest Pan African roster of current artists across the African continent that includes a broad array of Africa’s superstars from the vast spectrum of music genres that influence the African continent’s music trends.

ROCKSTAR4000 Music Entertainment has recently been announced as one of the TOP2 Music Companies worldwide by MIDEM, France. This accolade is for the most innovative and creative use of music with brands in marketing campaigns worldwide

ROCKSTAR4000 provides brands an unrivalled mix & reach of the best entertainment based experiences from around the world and across Africa on a local level! We believe in, develop and drive best-of-breed teams of skilled individuals across Africa to deliver the best music experiences on par and beyond the best productions in the world – made in Africa!
WELCOME TO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE…!
Follow us on:
www.RockStar4000.com
www.facebook.com/i.am.rockstar.4000
www.twitter.com/rockstar4000
www.youtube.com/iamrockstar4000

ABOUT CITY OF TSHWANE
In keeping with our focus on inspiring the world, influencing Africa and leading South Africa, Tshwane is replete with many fine heritage sites, museums and art galleries. These include the Union Buildings and its spectacular gardens – which are a “must see” when visiting the city – as well as the Diamond Hill Battlefield, Voortrekker Monument and Freedom Park. Other must-sees include the Pretoria Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, and museums and galleries such as Melrose House, Pretoria Art Museum, the Pioneer Museum and Sammy Marks museum.

Follow us on:
www.tshwane.gov.za

ABOUT SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Sony Music Entertainment is a global recorded music company with a current roster that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars. It is home to premier record labels representing music from every genre, including American Recordings, Arista Nashville, Arista Records, Battery Records, Beach Street Records, BNA Records, Columbia Nashville, Columbia Records, Day 1, Epic Records, Essential Records, Flicker Records, J Records, Jive Records, LaFace Records, Legacy Recordings, MASTERWORKS, Polo Grounds, RCA Records, RCA Nashville, RCA Red Seal, RCA Victor, Reunion Records, Roc Nation, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin, Star Time International, Verity Gospel Music Group, and Volcano Entertainment. Sony Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

Follow us on:
www.facebook.com/sonymusicafrica

IN NAMIBIA YOU CAN PLAY WITH THE SUN.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY RICHARD PASCOE PHOTOGRAPHY.

With the press content we are brain washed with, the UK population wouldn’t be wrong to presume that;
1) Africa is a country instead of a continent the way African countries in the press are always lumped into stereotyped generalisations in the media.
2) That all Africans are poor, poverty stricken, destitute populations, in need of charity donations for which we westerners should indulge in the latest sponsored outrageous assault course of choice to help.
3) That African countrys are all diseased, politically incorrect countries where naked children run barefoot through dry dusty dirt with dribbling noses and extended malnutrition-ed bellies.
4) That African countries are so far behind the rest of the world that generally we’d rather holiday anywhere but there, but if it’s a former English colony like Kenya we may consider it.
5) That on the global world map it looks smaller than its true size when in fact it is much bigger. In reality, you can fit North America into Africa and still have space for India, Argentina, Tunisia and some left over. (Apparently the distortion is the result of the Mercator map, which was created in 1596 to help sailors navigate the world. It gives the right shapes of countries but at the cost of distorting sizes in favour of the wealthy lands to the north).

WALKING IN THE STUNNING NAMIB DESERT.

Luckily, my late father was Kenyan and so these untruths were challenged into my mind at a young age, whilst my west London school was still telling me about the ‘’poor Africans’’ in my sponsored walks. Before I visited Namibia on business this month I didn’t find much online aside from safari information, but knew there would be more to the country than that, and that it would be eye opening. I just didn’t know how much.

You’ll be hard pressed to find anything like Namibia with its diverse and rich cultural heritage anywhere else on this planet. Tourists tend to go for the camps, lodges and safari but you can experience much, much more in this beautiful country.

I quickly realised that Namibia’s soaring red dunes, stark moonscapes, ancient valleys, rocky hills, unique flora and immense culture clearly aren’t on everyone’s holiday radar, after my facebook friends were in awe at my barrage of stunning photos from my trip out there.

THE TRACKS BEHIND ME ARE WHERE PEOPLE ARE SANDBOARDING DOWN THE DUNES.

Interestingly – as it was pointed out to me on twitter by Namibian’s – British tourists are the fifth most visiting nationals to Namibia, which is shocking when you consider, that it’s barely on the average Brits radar. We aren’t sold package deals to Namibia commonly, our airports have no direct flights that fly there, our airport travel currency bureaus don’t stock Namibian dollars, and not one person I know had ever visited Namibia on vacation, and the people I know travel a lot! Even more bizarre that Namibia was voted as top country in Wanderlust readers travel awards for 2014 but is still relatively under promoted in the UK.

My cameraman and I flew into Windhoek-the capital city of Namibia – where all the other travellers were seal wrapping their luggage with Clingfilm. Assuming they knew something we didn’t, we followed the herd and had ours wrapped too.
Windhoek has a distinct African element with a mix of people from a variety of cultures who walk the clean pavements. It’s normal to see a Herero woman wearing full traditional dress alongside a businessman in a sharply cut suit.

We then took a smaller plane and journeyed onwards to Walvis Bay and made our way to the nearby coastal town of Swakopmund, which is 356 kilometres west of Windhoek. Swakopmund is flanked by the Namib Desert and the icy Atlantic Ocean. Its one of the driest areas on the planet, with the dramatic Atlantic Ocean on one side of the road, and endless wavy, vertiginous sand dunes, of the worlds most ancient desert on the other. Swakopmund was established in 1892 when the Germans were looking for a harbour to link Europe with the south-westerly corner of Africa. You can still see the huge breakwater and picturesque jetty today.

THE JETTY

Swakopmund is meant to be the adventure capital of Namibia and activities include sand boarding, paragliding, camel rides, ballooning, township tours and scenic ariel flights over wildlife herds below. Even though there’s a huge focus on tourism activities, unlike many other places I’ve visited where tourists loot and pillage natural resource’s, Namibia is a country clearly focused on its conservation with uber clean towns and cities and signs that remind you to respect the natural resources. (When we went fishing we were told to throw back any fish that hadn’t grown yet to adulthood, and whilst quad biking through the desert we were instructed to follow only the safe trails behind the guide so as not to spoil the natural fauna).

With Swakopmund as a base you can travel to more remote safari focused areas of the country as well as enjoy all that the coastal city has to offer. There’s a local museum which houses relics of sailing ships that foundered on the skeleton coast, the jetty has world-class restaurants on a level with Nobu and Hakkasaan. Tiger Reef, which was two minutes walk away from the main town, has a huge beachside café and lake with flamingos that that was so beautiful I squealed when I spotted it!.

Although it’s been over a century since Germany stamped its influence on the country, the strong German influence can still be seen in the centre of the town with its old German architecture and wide streets. There are also numerous arts and crafts stores filled with stunning; modern furniture and art that makes Habitat look like IKEA. Local boys spend sunny days diving into the ocean and make Tom Daley look like an ameteur with their stunning shapes!

THE FANCY SWAKOPMUND HOTEL.

We stayed at the centrally located, creatively named The Swakopmund Hotel – built in and around the old station building – which combined history with fine Namibian hospitality, luxury and comfort. It was on a par with the best most welcoming (outdoor pristine pool, lush gardens, free gym access), tech savvy (free fast wi-fi), opulent breakfast bar (steak, game, fresh oysters and more) locations I’ve experienced. The hotel also included an entertainment centre, two cinemas, casino, and spa with reflexologist, gym and curio shop.

DAILY OYSTER BREAKFASTS AT SWAKOPMUND HOTEL.

After 3 days working at the Namibian Annual Music Awards, we had two and a half days off to explore and we packed in as much as was physically possible via our local connect Ludovic.

On our first free afternoon we were encouraged to go on a township tour, which I had to be forced into, as it always seems to me to be very distasteful. My Kenyan relatives in Mombasa hate it but inform me it’s a financially positive method for locals to earn money. Tourists visiting where you live, to watch the locals is akin to being at a zoo. But I guess it even happens in Hollywood with movie stars home tours. Once I was convinced to go it wasn’t too bad.

The Township Tour took place on a Sunday afternoon and our guide Castro took us to a few local spots. First to the home of Talitha, who used to work as a housekeeper for a German family but lost her job. Although her living space was small, it was fully equipped with all electric kitchen appliances like a fridge, microwave, kettle, radio, and TV. Photos of two sons adorned the walls and she became a bit emotional when seeing my cameraman Richard, as she said he reminded her of her of a family member that she hadn’t seen for years.

CAMERAMAN RICHARD AND TALITHA

OUR FIRST STOP ON THE TOWNSHIP TOUR WAS TALITHA’S HOME.

Her style of dress was Victorian from the Himba tribe. The length of the horn shaped hat she wore dictates a ladies age. The longer the length of the horns, the younger she is and she told us that they wear these outfits from the day of their first menstrual cycle. Talitha explained that ladies have to wait for men to ask for their hand in marriage. Men with 1000 cattle can marry numerous wives. Multiple wives will ensure that their husband is chaperoned everywhere. She added that 12 years education equals two cows and eight thousand Namibian dollars. We were also told that cousins marry cousins to keep wealth and cows in the family. Talitha asked us to guess how old she was. We guessed around 18. She was 46!

The second home we visited just 2 minutes drive away, was in a poorer township area where they didn’t have electricity at all so after 6pm, they used only candlelight. This was the home of a medicine herbal woman and her neighbours son who chatted in broken English with me. Theirs was a large wooden shack, which homed eight people. The lady kindly took time out to show us various herbs in jars that she used to heal locals. We were handed the jars to smell as she explained their benefits to us, which included body cleansing, weight loss, flu and more.

WE WERE WELCOMED TO A HOME FOR DINNER AND DELICACIE’S.

Our third visit was to a much wealthier family who ran a restaurant from their home, which was furnished and set up just like any other western home. Here Castro told us that ‘’ if you are lucky you will taste our Namibian delicacy’’. Intrigued and mouths watering we enquired what that would consist of? He explained ‘‘Caterpillar, it is a delicacy in the Owambo tribe’’. I like to think I’m adventurous but that would be a no-no for me. I also avoided the other delicacy –tripe- but instead, enthusiastically munched away at porridge meal so as not to seem rude.

Our final visit was to a local small community bar with a lovely, friendly vibe where on entry (like a classic western), all revelry stopped and time froze as the locals stopped to take us in for a few moments. We were offered drinks so Richard, eager to impress, bought their strongest rum and downed it all- making immediate friends. The uniting powers of alcohol! I wondered over to the jukebox where popular tracks were Milli Vanilli, Pharrell, Elton John and a number of local acts. Finally, local Namibian male vocal group AFRICAN VOCAL ACAPELA BAND sang three of their songs for us. Their soaring, stunning voices were so strong that we bought their CD ‘’Namibian RHYTHM’S’’. (They’re in Europe this month so look out for them!)

AFRICAN VOCAL ACAPELA BAND

On DAY 2 our fishing tour began at 8am, and unlike many holiday tour teams that keep you waiting endlessly at reception, these guys were there 20 minutes early. Impressive. We were driven a few kilometres out of town to a wild part of the Atlantic Ocean where the waves lashed the empty, vast, wide sandy shores. The sun was beating down, but the Atlantic wind was colder and so sunblock and sweaters were needed.

The friendly fishing instructor ensured we were well kitted up and helped us with bait, casting out and technique. It was only minutes before I caught a huge Cobb and 3 hours later we had a full bucket full of catfish, Cobb and more which another fellow tourist and her camping mates were happy to take for that nights open fire supper.

NAMIBIAS NATIONAL PLANT- the Welwitschia Mirabilis!

The same afternoon we were picked up at 2pm sharp for the Namib Desert Tour, where we were driven around and shown stunning views of the moons craterlike landscape.

The tour guide took us to specific spots to take in the view and snap pictures. For the final part of the afternoon we were introduced to one of the worlds most amazing plants- the Welwitschia Mirabilis- which grows only in the Namib, where rain may not fall for decades,

The plant survives solely on the condemsation from The Atlantic fogs which can be seen rolling in like huge fog tsumamis daily in the mornings. In online info this plant had looked like any other Kew Garden like species. Its only when you see the size of it compared to the size of a human, that you see its regality and awe at its strength to survive out in this very hostile, arid territory.

On our final day- DAY 3- we were scooped up at 8am sharp again for our Seal and Dolphin Cruise which was incredible fun. We were driven to Walvis Bay where we all boarded a catamarrang and cruised the ocean for three hours.

Yet this was no ordinary boat ride. Within minutes we were surrounded by giant red jellyfish (which I was assured were not hostile or stinging), huge seal colonies that swam alongside us (a few even got onboard the boat to eat fish and take photos with us!). This was clearly a moment they played along with, the captain feeds them fish that they don’t have to swim for and tourists are delighted- everyones a winner . During our cruise we were supplied with a delicious buffet lunch of seafood and drinks as the captain explained the logistics of oyster farming and sealing conservation to us.

The most stunning part of the cruise was as we sailed alongside the coastline, where hundreds and thousands of groups of flamingo, pelicans and seal all frolicked with ease with each other, and ignored us as we sailed past. It felt as if we were actually in a great David Attenborough nature TV special.

SEA CRUISE- FLAMINGO EVERYWHERE.

SEA CRUISE- PELICAN TIME.

QUAD BIKING THROUGH THE NAMIB DESERT-ONE OF THE BEST EXPERIENCES EVER!

Our final afternoon was as breath taking as the morning. We were taken Quad Biking for three Hours with our guide- Ngahupe. He told us to just call him ‘’KOBE’’. I was pretty nervous abut quad biking having never done it before, but I was soon put at ease and shown slowly how to use the bikes and how to mount tall dunes and slow down and release on approach to a massive drop.

We set off on flatter plains that quickly turned into steep, mesmerising scenes like never seen before. We were informed that many Hollywood film crews shoot sci-fi movies like Mad Max here. It really was unbelievable landscape.

As we rode by huge skyscraper height dunes I could only wonder at the beauty and pray I’d never forget the experience. Luckily we wouldn’t as we were not only taking photos but also filming our rides through the spectacular dunes to show you in all my various print press and online columns!!.

YOUNG LOCALS HAVE FUN RUNNING UP AND DOWN SKY SCRAPER SIZED DUNE 7!

The next day we checked in for our three flights back home, still in wonder and on a high from our time here. No one at Walvis Bay airport was bothering with the seal wrap on route home so neither did we- after all this was the country where everything was in perfect harmony with each other. Usually every African holiday destination is titled ‘’wildlife filled safaris, castaway coastlines, beach & bush breaks, etc but this really had been an incredible, unique experience.

Today’s demanding travellers want this and a lot more, and Namibia is one of the only countries I’ve visited that I can truly say has it all. World-class dramatic coastlines great to fish in, abundant wildlife as great as any other African country, adventurous activities that are much classier than your average water sport with sea life safari’s, quad biking through incredible dessert landscape’s, interesting, welcoming culture and Swakopmund is a very pretty, affluent town that rivals Aspen!

Alas, life is full of joy ,pain and balance and karma was about to kick us in the butt. On arrival at Heathrow as our bags came spinning around the baggage carousel, we noticed that Richard’s full to bursting bag now resembled a flatter pancake, and the locks of both of our baggage had been broken off with our possessions rifled through, and some contents looted. Double bad luck; our filmed footage had been stored in the checked luggage (as Air Namibia allow only very minimal hand luggage size and weight), and was now gone for ever. So alas, the memories will have to suffice.

The moral of the story; visit Namibia, its an incredible country, but don’t check anything valuable in luggage on Air Namibia and most certainly seal wrap everything. It might help deter the airport workers slippery fingers.

Africa’s countries are so much more than we are shown in the west. This amazing continents music, artists, arts, culture and destinations are getting more and more popular on our shores. Don’t leave it to long before you visit. Namibia puts many European, Asian and American trips in the shade.

Picture the scene; He says ”get yourself ready, we’re going to see a movie”. I ask which one, and then inform them confusedly that I’ve seen Gladiator (a million times). They reply with a wink ”not like this you haven’t”.

They were right. This was a screening of Ridley Scott’s historical epic classic movie at an incredible location, with live band playing the films soundtrack. Not just any band, location and experience either. It was at the Royal Albert Hall, with the movies every musical note played live by the Philharmonia Film Orchestra!

Over four nights, Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning ‘swords and sandals’ epic brought to life by the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Film Orchestra and the Philharmonic chorus. Did you even know there were so many sections of this musical brand? Incredible!

When the 100 strong Philharmonia Chorus rose and sat en masse it was magical watching them converse with the Film Orchestras strings, percussion, bass and synthesizers to recreate the film soundtrack.

For those who’ve never experienced this gigantic screen genre ( which made Russell Crowe look even more ruggedly handsome) ,with tops and tails band vibe, it’s nearly impossible to verbalise how amazing the live experience is. But I’ll try.

You may imagine that it would be difficult to view a movie and give equal acknowledgment to a live orchestra simultaneously, but its not distracting at all. If anything it adds to the whole enchanting vibe.

The live orchestra- seated en masse beneath the humongous screen – make the movie so much more dramatic and haunting as they raise their respective instruments to the conductors command as the drama unfolds. In fact, Its actually better that you know the movie well as an audience member, because as a dramatic sequence approaches, your eyes flick in anticipation to the American composer/ conductor – Justin freer – knowing he’s about to make the heavens rain down with brutal and beautiful musical war and drama.

You really appreciate the composition of the sound track so much more and sit in awe of the two genres synergy playing out before your eyes. It also makes you focus more on what the film would sound like without the live music soundtrack as the film audio is turned down slightly with subtitles on screen whilst the music levels are much higher. It puts the talent of the soundtrack composers into real perspective. Every emotional wave that you are carried upon is driven not just by the storyline and acting but really steered and lead by the purity and immediacy of the music.

The music was scored by the legend Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. Zimmer, who’s scored over 100 films (including The Lion King and Rainman), grossing more than 22 billion dollars at the box office. Zimmer’s been honoured with Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Grammies, so to state that his body of work is impressive is an understatement.

Zimmers Gladiator soundtrack album sold more than three million copies worldwide and spawned a second album ”Gladiator: more music from the motion picture”.

The lavish experience of watching one of the most expensive films of all time with over 5000 fellow fans of the creative arts, all dressed to the nines, at such a fancy venue also adds to the very rich cultural occasion.

Also, the story of a general who became a slave, and a slave who became a gladiator played out onscreen in the round Roman Colosseum, was complimented by the fact that we were also experiencing the storyline in another regal, opulent venue – the Royal Albert Hall, with its cascades of balconies and in-the-round setting.

Writer, film music journalist and producer Michael Beek says ” a film as far reaching and visual as gladiator demands music that both supports the weighty needs of the action while at the same time gets under the skin and it’s the very soul of its central character. With Gladiator the music is more important than ever, with its plethora of exotic locations, immense battle scenes and complex characters. Film director turned film composer Hans Zimmer, had the luxury of visiting the set and soaking up its atmosphere long before he would normally start thinking about the music. Most music composers are usually given the finished film to work with”.

Like the old movie theatre’s, where there may have been an intermission, there is one here too, during which previously unseen behind the scenes footage, interviews and photos from the Gladiator set are played to the delight of zealous movie fans, who didn’t want to grab a fancy ice cream, glass of wine or champagne midway.

At the end of the movie, the orchestra continue to play to the endless credits, which really is fascinating, and a further moment to acknowledge just how much emotional dramatic affect the film soundtrack brings to the overall movie genre, before the audience gives them numerous, well deserved standing ovations.

Gladiator plays for four nights at the Royal Albert Hall- May 24, 26, 27 and 28, but if you miss these then there are other similar classic movies in this genre throughout the year.

Music from Titanic, West Side Story will have their dates as well as Tim Burton’s films like Batman, Alice in Wonderland and Edward Scissor Hands, takes place on December 12 2014.

However, the one I’m most looking forwards to be December 8 when The Godfather will play with live orchestra.

It really is a must do, at least once in your lifetime unique experience, and whether on a date or a night out with friends and family, you can be rest assured it’s a very stylish and unforgettable evening that will never be forgotten.

(ALL PICS COPYRIGHT / COURTESY; RICHARD PASCOE PHOTOGRAPHY)

JASMINE WITH NAMIBIA’S STYLE DON- LOUX THE VINTAGE GURU (SECOND FROM LEFT) AND TEAM.

The vision that is sold to us westerners about Africa is always so far from the truth it’s a blatant lie.

With the press content we are brain washed with, the UK population wouldn’t be wrong to presume that 1) Africa is a country instead of a continent the way African countries in the are always lumped into stereotyped generalisations in the media. 2) That all Africans are poor, poverty stricken, destitute populations, in need of charity donations for which we westerners should indulge in the latest sponsored outrageous assault course of choice to help. 3) That Africans are all diseased, politically incorrect countries where naked children run barefoot through dry dusty dirt with dribbling noses and extended malnutrition-ed bellies. 4) That African countries are so far behind the rest of the world that generally we’d rather holiday anywhere but there, but if it’s a former English colony we may consider it. 5) That on the global world map it looks smaller than its true size when in fact it is much bigger. In reality, you can fit North America into Africa and still have space for India, Argentina, Tunisia and some left over. Apparently the distortion is the result of the Mercator map, which was created in 1596 to help sailors navigate the world. It gives the right shapes of countries but at the cost of distorting sizes in favour of the wealthy lands to the north.
Luckily, my late father was Kenyan and so these untruths were drummed into my mind at a young age whilst my west London school was still telling me about the ‘’poor Africans’’ in my sponsored walks.

LANDING AT MAIN CITY WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA.

So it was with an open mind that I flew to Namibia this fortnight, in my capacity as one of the judges, for the forth Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAS) in the coastal town of Swakopmund – Namibia and Africa’s favourite holiday destination where the leadership of the Erongo region was hosting the awards.

A REAL EFFORT IN THE GLAMOUR AND CULTURAL STAKES!

3 flights from Heathrow later arriving with packed planes full of Germans, my cameraman and I were very pleasantly surprised. There’s not too much online about Namibia as a tourist spot so we weren’t sure what to expect at all.
Unlike countries like Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria, which we hear much about, Namibia is clearly Germanys best, kept secret (until my next blog when I tell you all about it as a tourist spot).

SWAKOPMUND HOTEL.

We stayed at the colonial styled former railway station hotel, the creatively named The Swakopmund Hotel which was on a par with the best most welcoming (outdoor pristine pool, free gym access), tech savvy (free fast wi-fi), opulent breakfast (steak, game, fresh oysters and more) bar locations I’ve experienced.

The NAMAS were for the first time being held outside of the main city of Windhoek at the Swakopmund Indoor Sports Centre, which is huge. NAMAs executive chairman Tim Ekandjo told me ‘’ after Windhoek, we felt it appropriate for the NAMAs to relocate to one of Namibia’s many other amazing hotspots, and following an extensive procurement exercise and expression of interest, the Mayor of Swakopmund, his worship Juuso Kambwehse, made the decision to host in Swakopmund this year’’

MUSIC ACT LIZE WITH NAMIBIAN TV HOST.

Impressively for any show, the NAMAs don’t allow backing tracking or lip-syncing so all performances have to be totally live. This sets a high standard with a little fun pressure for the performers and keeps live music alive.

4 TIME NOMINATED ERNA CHIMU

My fellow judges were Babafemi Olagbaiye – MTV Networks Africa and founder of One Music Network which broadcasts to 15 countries globally, Lee Kasumba – Head of Channel 0- a pan African music channel and Philip Nwanko – head of music and talent for Trace TV- Africa’s number one music channel.

STYLE AND FASHION ON THE NAMAS BLUE CARPET

The calibre of acts catered to both young and old, so whilst you could see a Beyonce or Kanye style set it would be immediately followed by an older, more traditional set by a traditional dialect singing elder.

The awards ceremony was broken down into two separate days. Friday night was the VIP music industry only music industry awards which featured the more niche awards like best entertainment journalist , and the Lifetime Award honoured Axali Doeseb, the conductor of the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra and author of the Namibian national anthem, Namibia Land of the Brave. Doeseb received the Lifetime Achiever Award after the NAMAS Executive Committee nominated him for his commitment to the art of music.
Tim said ‘’we celebrate our rich history in music by paying tribute to all those who played a role in where we are today’’.

I expected this night to be a low-key big cocktail party style awards but it was in fact a full on production with numerous performances from big African names like Ms Lady May and the Shambo Queen, full laser light shows and audience dressed in full ball gowns and richly textured suits.

BEST FEMALE WINNER FLORITHA.

The main night was both eye opening and mind blowing. On arrival hundreds of excited guests were queuing outside in their very opulent glad rags to walk one by one through a single security metal detector. It turns out the Prime Minister was attending so security was crazy. Once through, the excited throng the blue carpet was totally unregulated and heaving with music stars, entertainments journalists, supermodels, fashion designers and more.

NAMAS STAGE SET.

Interestingly there were no high-powered PR clipboard-wielding dragons managing the blue carpet. It was literally a free for all, that in the UK would be absolute heated pandemonium, but here it was a buzzing with positive energy, friendly faces everywhere, accommodating mish mash that worked. Enthusiastic fans took photos of the stars, audience took photos of themselves in front of the branding boards and not one area of the carpet was sectioned off for ‘the main TV crew/ VIP team’. No hierarchy.
Surprisingly whilst the country’s entire environment is fiercely protected for conservation and from poachers, many of the attendees were dripping in regal outfits made of animal skins, fur, feathers and more.

GAZZA HAD THE STADIUM UP ON ITS FEET AND SCREAMING IN JOY!

This main night saw performances from big hitter names like Gazza, The Dogg, Sunny Boy, Exit and Freeda. The performance variety showed versatility and potential for much growth show casing the best from the region.

Categories included the usual best female, male, single, song, album, but also Best Shambo, best Afrikaans, Best Damara punch, and Reggae amongst others. Winners of each category picked up prize money ranging from 20,000-50,000 Namibian dollars. 17 Namibia dollars to the pound, so still a huge financial incentive at between £1000- £3000 a win! The sponsor MTC even pay acts for performing at the ceremony, which isn’t usual across the west.

WINNING A NAMA IS VERY LUCRATIVE FOR REPUTATION AND BANK BALANCE.

All category winners walk away with a brand new Huawei P6 Smartphone. Female and Male Artists of the Year, Erna Chimu and Gazza, each walk away with N$50 000, a holiday for two at any of the NWR lodges, as well as laundry services to the value of N$10 000. In addition, they and the Album of the Year winner, Elvis se Seun, will perform at the TribeOne: Dinokeng music festival, the biggest of its kind in Africa. All other category winners take home N$20 000.

Many of the songs were sung in local dialect, which made the show feel authentic, and kept their heritage, culture and traditional elements strong. The costumes, language and fashion showed no compromise to western pressure and customs.

The set was simple yet dramatically stylish with grand staircases flanking the stage and huge laser light shows. Clearly an incredibly highly skilled production team were behind the staging.

FREEDA DOES HER THING!

My favourite female performer of the night was Freeda- an African version of Beyonce meets Pink- who fearlessly threw in acrobatics and wild choreographed dance routines into her song. Her rehearsal showed and stage presence was impressive.

FREEDA WORKS IT AT THE NAMAS.

Exit- voted Most Popular Artist of the Year, is the man of the moment. His latest album, ‘My Notebook’ went viral with every jukebox, taxi, house party and club banging hits like ‘Koskola’ and ‘My Notebook’, with his album and performances garnering great reviews. “Getting the best Kwaito award was really just amazing,” Exit said.

NAMIBIAN PRIME MINISTER DANCES WITH MUSIC ACT BLOSSOM.

It was wonderful to see the right honourable Prime Minister Hage Geingob, who was presenting an award, engage positively when the music acts acknowledged him. One of the winners – Blossom- bowed to him before collecting her award and he rose from his huge, leather ,central seat in the front row to have a quick dance with her. He also acknowledged the music industrie’s value and contribution to the Namibian economy. This was a beautiful moment where the synergies of politics and creative arts remixed. In the NAMAs programme various politicians are vox popped to ask about their favourite music acts too showing a much closer synergy between the African worlds of politics and creative arts than the west.

THE NAMIBIAN PRIME MINISTER (IN ALL WHITE) APPLAUDS WINNER THE DOGG ON HIS AWARD.

Interesting to see many of the winners speeches nodding to Namibia’s relatively recent independence from Germany in 1990. When music act Lize said ‘’there is truth in supporting your community’’ she was given a resounding round of applause.

GAZZA’S PRESENCE AND CHOREOGRAPHY KILLED IT!

Even bigger was the moment when Gazza, who put on my favourite performance of the night with his high energy singing and dancing, mentioned in his wining acceptance speech that ‘’the road from 1990s independence has lead to my success now and I want you all to stand for OUR OWN elected prime minister and salute him!’’ to which the audience couldn’t scrabble up quickly enough to do and cheer.

I’ve been working in music awards for the past two decades across the globe and the NAMAs stood up to all of these in terms of quality, excitement and standard.

Many of the NAMAs acts could be incredibly successful internationally, in the same way that many Nigerian acts have broken through to the UK and USA, and play listed on Radio 1. However it’s about creating that one big breakthrough hit and then following it up with a carefully diarised plan of releases and campaigns.

Winners from this years NAMAs will also go on to perform at Africa’s mega music festival in South Africa this September- Tribeone Dinokeng- Africa’s answer to Coachella, SXSW and Glastonbury!

For the TribeOne music festival, Gazza says his fans, the audience, music lovers and the entire Namibian nation can rest assured that he will deliver an entertaining and quality performance that will put the nation on the map.

FULL NAMAS PRODUCTION TEAM LEAD BY INCREDIBLE LIVE MUSIC COMPANY MAN- JANDRE LOUW.

NAMAs was screened live on national broadcaster NBC and was impressively bang on time! The NAMAs organising committee and production company Rockstar4000 did a great job. I predict this side of the world attracting more and more international music industry brands and acts over the next decade, with the level of entertainment and tourism potential here.

NAMAs 2014 most certainly rocked!

JASMINE WITH HARVEY.

Michael Harvey Jr better known as MC Harvey or simply Harvey is a British rapper, actor, television personality, former non-league footballer and a mate of mine via work for the past decade. He first came to fame in the early 2000s as a member and one of the hot boys of English rap group So Solid Crew, before then pursuing a solo career in 2008.

Growing up on the Plough Road area of Battersea in South London, Harvey was one of the founder members of the UK garage collective and it was during this time as an MV News Presenter that I got to know him and his then girl friend Alesha Dixon, who was in girl band Mis Teeq.

HARVEY WITH ALESHA

Harvey began dating singer Alesha Dixon in 2000, marrying her five years later, and they were known back then as the cooler, urban version of Posh and Becks. So it was tough for them, their families, friends and all who knew and loved them as a couple, when Harvey became a nationally hated character after cheating on her with singer Javine Hylton with whom he was then starring with in West End musical Daddy Cool in 2006. The national papers were full of the scandal, which must’ve been hell on earth for all involved.

During that time, Harvey approached me in my role of Head of Production at MTV BASE and wanted to bring a concept for a new comedy show to the channel called The Young Gods Of Comedy. After cussing him in my office for hours and giving hell on all our behalf, we came to an understanding. He quite rightly told me that their business was private and that no one knew the real story and that he wanted to keep his career professional. He was right. Alesha will always be my girl, but an adult doesn’t take sides in business and to this day I still value working with them both. I respected his hustle and we worked on his show together. It wasn’t all smooth sailing and we had an almighty row once in the main MTV editorial glass walled boardroom where all the staff watched us arguing before we came to an ‘’understanding’’ LOL.

HARVEYS YOUNG GODS OF COMEDY SHOW ON MTV BASE.

He continued his grind by joining the line-up of Angie Le Mar’s play The Brothers at the Hackney Empire in 2008, which I also transmitted on MTV Base.

Since then Harvey has grown up, had a daughter with Javine called Angel Hylton Harvey in 2008 and also appeared on reality TV shows The Games, on Channel 4 in 2003 (which he won) and several series of The Match on SKY One.

HARVEY AND JAVINE.

He’s also appeared on Never Mind the buzzcocks, News night, The Weakest Link Music Extravaganza Special, Celebrity Come dine with me and Celebrity Big brother 10. You can see that this guy doesn’t sleep and is not to be slept on with new hustles and projects daily.

HARVEY ON CELEBRITY COME DINE WITH ME.

Today he’s about his family. He’s engaged to his Persian fiancé and they are getting married soon. He’s all about being a good father to his daughter and now he has a new online TV show called FACE TO FACE on urban music site GRM.

The show is a special collaboration between, Harvey, GRM Daily and Adrian Scott (Mellow 9), and focuses on the many ‘beefs’ within the music industry. Presenter Harvey brings the main perpetrators of the beefs to the table where they can re-live and reflect on those moments in a face 2 face interview.

In the first episode, filmed by GRM Daily, Harvey brings together a representative each from Pay As You Go Crew and Heartless Crew — Bushkin and Maxwell D respectively.

Face to Face brings together artists to have had past issues and Harvey acts as the mediator and gets them to air issues and talk it out in a positive way so they and their fan bases can see the growth and maturity in the game.

This past fortnight Harvey sat down with my LONDON360 team and reporter Aaron Page to talk about his life to date.
As with any time you’re hanging out with Harvey, his conversation is so dynamic and full of banter that I thought it would be great to just let you read the whole interview live, untweaked and uncut before the TV feature airs next week.

Interviewer- Aaron Page- LONDON360 REPORTER.

Aaron; All right, so Harvey how did you come up with the idea for face 2 face.

Harvey: I’m a massive boxing fan. Big fan of a guy called Max Kellerman he’s the guy that did the Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto face to face two weeks before their fight and I remember getting the concept idea off that. I was thinking to myself no ones really touched in that in music where they’ve actually artists flesh out their problems maturely and in an adult manner, so its really more inspired by Max Kellerman the boxing host .I just kind of took elements out of it, its my own magic.

Aaron: Ok so it’s more of the face off between the boxers the way they have to sort of pipe each other up and its basically about fusing the tension between them.

Harvey: Of course and as you know, to be a boxer you need to be professional. Boxers you know boxers fight out of the boxing ring they lose their license so every thing that is done through the boxing trade is done with discipline and respect so the good thing about Max Kellermans version was they have to sit their and talk about the fight as men and as adults. I’m trying to bring that unity and incorporate that back into the United Kingdom cuz I think that we suffer from a big thing in this country and its called ego and no one likes to admit when they are wrong or no one likes to sit down and as men and put their past differences behind them and you know with me I know that my personality can change that because I’ve got the respect of the artists. I come from a crew that started so long ago so for me now in this present day and age its about bringing unity back into the game and any problems that people got, discuss it, talk it, move on and lets unify as one.

Aaron: So many gang issues are resolved through mediation- with your new show you are acting as the mediator.
This is a system that many people use when in gang culture tell us why you think it works?

Harvey: To me communication and talking is the best form of communication so that word mediator makes me sound like I’m some president or something but for me I know how to talk to people and I don’t fear I’m bringing up uncomfortable situations to someone cuz usually when people go over that situation and discuss it maturely we usually make progress and get somewhere. Its when people come in and have arguments they stay away from each other and then people start feeding others people gossip and the problem turns bigger then it actually , so I thought this show was ‘let me just get two heads Maxwell D, Bushkin and let them discuss it at the table’ that way anyone that created gossip in east London and north London is now all eliminated , so it was just a bunch of hype and talk so definitely if you wanna call me a mediator I’d take that title.

Aaron: Can you talk bout talk about any experiences with gangs and how you view those experiences now?

Harvey: My experiences with gangs… I was probably in the biggest music gang in Britain -we never called it a gang but in the media they would of labelled us as ‘gang’ ,what can I say ,unless you’re a strong character ,boy, you would have never survived. Every member of So Solid is a strong person cuz we’ve all got our individual journeys, and remember artists now, they have the pressure they share it with each other cuz there’s a market ,back in our day So Solid there was no black artists, we was the best at what we was doing but with great power comes great responsibility so that means we was getting heat of the road, we was getting heat of the media, I mean I don’t think anyone has been as hated as us for the price of success, surely when you’re successful you’re meant to embrace that? Nah not really, not in this country, people like to see you fail so if you are getting heat from the streets, if you are getting heat from the media, you just get to the point where its “ you know what bloods, its just us against the world” really innit ,because the bigger we get the more people are gonna oppress us and call us gangsters and say you know we’ve spoilt music and youre just a bunch of violent boys from south London, so you just become strong and you become thick skinned and you just become a warrior, you deal with it.

Aaron: So viewing being who you are now and looking back, do you feel if that if So Solid changed something about them they wouldn’t have the hate from Daily Mail and police shutting down the shows, would you prefer to do that or just be where you are now?.

Harvey: No way, no way would I change it ,where was the Daily Mail when people was pulling out guns on me where was the Daily Mail when my life was threatened? so why am I gonna sit down and say I should change it to benefit a newspaper that’s never gonna happen when my life’s getting threatened and we was going for all the pressures we were going through individually. They didn’t care about us ,they didn’t care if we got killed they didn’t care when I got stabbed, they didn’t care that Mega was dealing with all these pressures, they didn’t care when you know Romeo got stabbed, so I cant ,nah never, that’s never gonna happen, I would never change it. So Solid would never be So Solid without the drama. It would be like S Club 7, there would be nothing to talk about, so with So Solid the controversy made us who we are, that’s why now people call us legends, we don’t suffer that heat no more, its more the young kids that we are trying to help. You my little brother Chip and Cashtastic, I’m just trying to pass my knowledge on to them to make them do it right and avoid the type of problems. Dya know what I mean so I would never ever change it. I would never ever change my personal life, I would never ever change being when I got stabbed 10 years ago, I would never ever change 1 bit of it ,no way cuz ,you know what ,I look back now and I think wow, at least I got the street wise knowledge and that mainstream knowledge, cuz that’s the best form of knowledge.

Aaron: Do you feel that there is a void now that So Solid is inactive and there is no real voice for like disadvantaged youth of London?

Harvey: I wouldn’t say there is a void, but I think people are realizing what we done wasn’t easy and its big shoes to fill and that will never be filled, but there was a lot a lot of positives, Wretch 32, that’s a positive, Chip is a positive, Giggs is a positive and they are all covering different parts of England. I would say Giggs Is probably the closest to So Solid. Cuz he’s had a very similar life to it, Chip’s growing up – he’s not a bad boy, not a bad kid. He’s a straight A student, you know? He has amazing talent. He kind of has a similar life to me as a youngster. Could have been a footballer, could have been a musician. Chip is going to do something with his life. Giggs I can relate to because he comes from struggle. Wretch growing up in the state, Giggs growing up in Peckham. These are not areas for the faint hearted. If you’re a weak soul, boy you’re not going to survive around there my friend.

Aaron – Do you feel that there’s no outlet for the youth of London, in order to speak for them, because they have no voice now. Even if you have Giggs and Wretch, to an extent, they will just be demonised. If they do manage to get through, they wouldn’t have done so much because everyone is still scared of them. Do you feel like there could be something missing?

Harvey – There’s definitely something missing. As much as there are a lot of positives right now, there are a lot of negatives. I think that in this country – I’ve got to word this correct – We have to think what the biggest mafia in the world and I’m sure you know who they are. You want artists to change their lives, but how can they change their lives if you keep banning their shows? People like ourselves, we get to a certain level, we are now mainstream artists and we have fan bases all over the world now. We work as hard as the average man. But then, when these boys are walking into shows, the government are banning them because they’re saying that we’ve got fear and violence, but you can’t blame the artist. Surely that’s your job to control who’s coming into the venues. You can’t tell an artist where he can’t be booked. I had an incident myself the other day; I ain’t heard this phone call in 7 years. I done an event out of London and then someone – the police – rang and said we want to pull. It was Romeo and me only attract girls, we are not bad boys no more. You know what I mean? If you put Harvey and Romeo across any bill across England, men will not turn up. A thousand women turn up, at what point do you expect violence to kick off? Me and Romeo – we’re past that. We’ve done Big Brother. We’re mainstream. All I say to myself is ignorance. I believe sometimes what they do they see these names and they Google it and the first thing they see is gun and they think “Oh God! Everyone’s gonna die!” But if you accommodate these artists in the right venues, violence can’t happen in the O2, it’s the most secure venue in England. You embrace these kids, support them, instead of cutting off their – this is their income. They’re now earning money legal. If you shut off that income, they’re just going to reverse and go back to violence, isn’t it? That’s why kids are out there now because my mother’s a youth worker. She has since lost 9 youths clubs in her borough. Where’s you think the kids are gonna go? Where they gonna be? Where they gonna play? When I was young, Romeo and me, we’re legends going out. We had all the youth clubs in South London. We had after school football, so even though sometimes we didn’t get on, we still have to sit next to each other on a Saturday, we still had to play against each other. We still had youth club outlets. These kids have nothing. They just have – that’s why you wonder why you see them standing outside White City station. You wonder why kids are getting bored and robbing. Because the government’s taking away everything, and all you’re doing is building fancy flats. But who is that built for? That’s not built for the inner city, not for the people that struggle. I come from struggle, so where’d you expect them to go? When you’re knocking down all these council estates, you’re knocking down stone bridges, people don’t just disappear, and they just move somewhere else. The government ain’t thinking about that. Getting rid of a council estate isn’t going to get rid of the people. So the change comes from the bottom. And only way the change is going to start is for people – pioneers – people like myself, people like Jasmine Dotiwalas of the world, people that make change in our culture, and so unless we team up, and we unify, it’s going to be a dead end road. That’s why a lot of artists need to lose their egos. It’s important. I was in the studio with so many different artists, and that’s how we should be, we shouldn’t fear each other. I certainly don’t want to be scared of my own culture, no way.

AS HARV SAYS, HE’S A SEX SYMBOL WITH HIS LIVE GIGS- WHY WOULD POLICE WANT TO SHUT HIS SHOWS DOWN?

Aaron – You mentioned wanting to get Dizzee and Asher together, but how hard is that because So Solid and Roll Deep have beef?

Harvey – We don’t have beef with Roll-Deep. Maxwell D is one of my closest friends; Maxwell and me were in Nando’s the other day. Max came to my show with me the other day. We’re close friends but if you’re talking about the history about what happened between them two. Asher is not hard to get along with at all, that’s my brother and band mate. That’s easy; I think it’s more with – more getting Dizzee. I got a great amount of respect for him, me and him get on extremely well, but it’ll be nice for Dizzee to come out and play, sit down and maturely discuss it, because him and Asher have excelled so far in their careers. Asher’s smashing his acting, Dizzee’s killing it with his music. I think they can sit down as men and to be fair they sorted out their issues last year, they both sat at the same table at an awards ceremony, so there’s not really no beef, but I think people just like to see them talk about the beef. I’d love to see it, I think if you get them two at a table, you’re probably get to the 20 million views category, you know? The people love to see Asher and Dizzee go at it, I’m sure they’d love to see Lethal B and Wiley, I’m sure they’d see Megaman and Wiley at a table, because them two have got a massive ego, and they’re both geniuses at what they do. So that would be good to watch. Wiley’s involved in every beef, he’s already tweeting me today because he’s seen it, you know what I mean?

Aaron – What’s your dream Face 2 Face?

Harvey –

My dream Face 2 Face would be Biggie and Tupac but they’re dead! [laughs] Jasmine Dotiwala already did Puff Daddy and Snoop when she was at MTV, but my dream one would be 50 Cent and Ja rule. I’d have to hire a lot of security. A lot of, I’d have to get a few of the CIA and MI5 for that one. I think they squashed it but that would be epic to see because that beef got violent, you know? People getting stabbed and shut out of it. When music escalates that far, sometimes you think – I always say it’s just music man, even sometimes I think the beef back in the day with people, it’s just music that we’re fighting over. When you get older you feel it a bit embarrassed about it, like really? There are bigger problems in the world. You know?

Aaron – Do you think it is just music? If you met Dizzee in the street without music at all, do you think you’d still have similar personalities, would you still act the same way?

Harvey – You can’t really say that, because music has made us act this way. I just believe that turning into an adult makes you grow up. So either you’ve made it as a musician or if Dizzee worked in a butchers, we both still grew up in a tough area, we were ignorant and young, you’re still going to learn things about life and growing up. You can’t be a bad boy in entertainment, it doesn’t work. You can use the image; I’d sell the image all day, because people like to see that. But if you’re telling me right now that any musician that is earning a lot of money is fully still in crime, then he must just love crime. Because we aspire to earn legal money don’t we, and have an easy life. So if you get through that and get that, and then you’re still active in crime, then that’s your fault. Like, you’re – that means you like crime. And that means you wanna go to jail, so you can only be blamed and accountable for your own mistakes. That doesn’t make sense to me. Who really enjoys crime?

Aaron – Why do you think it’s such a popular thing in the UK/US, all over the planet, people love to hear stories about selling drugs and people being shot. Super violent things as well.

Harvey – TV’s a powerful thing, and what’s fed to people, people take literally sometimes, and they think that’s the way to live. I’m never going to take away rapper’s stories, because we wrote guns, we wrote about what we seen. I can only write about what I see, and when we launched, I didn’t get back in the palace, eating cream cakes and I come from struggle. So what did you think we were going to write about? We were the voice of the youth and the streets. I don’t have a problem with people relating to realness, because I’m not really a pop guy. If I want to hear real stories, I’ll listen to Giggs, I’ll listen to some of the new young artists. All I say is think about your content. Know when to change your content. For me, Giggs is a genius at it. The last album he brought out, he done it as – just entertainment. He highlights that now. He says this is what they want to hear. I’m the master at giving you this, but at the same time he still grown as a musician. Chat about violence, no problem, but make sure there’s some growth in your music, you know what I mean? You know half of these rappers; half of their fans are not guys! And in England, that’s what you realize, man on the streets ain’t buying your records! If you look at a quarter of our supporters, and you look at the main sales, they were in London, Birmingham, Scotland, and Ireland. Don’t let it fool you. I think Internet views and YouTube views – they fool people’s head. Anyone can press a button, if a hundred thousand people are watching an artist’s video, why aren’t a hundred thousand people buying their music? Because if that was the case, that means every black artist would be in the top 10 everyday. It’s the way that the higher power would call it, they must love the way this system’s run, because now people become lazier, A&R’s don’t have to leave their house, signing an artist just YouTube him. When Universal signed me, they came to Coliseum to find me. That you got an A&R of Universal in Coliseum in a ghetto rave. I’m going to sign that kid, that’s the one I want. Now everything’s become lazy because of the social media world that we live in. A lot of kids are misled. They think that representing a postcode and talking about how many bodies you have is cool. What scares me – half of the kids that are talking about this haven’t even done it! They haven’t even done it, you know? Yeah there are kids that are being violent, but you’ve got to be very careful what you’re saying. When you say that you murdered a person, that’s a big statement, you know what I mean? When you’re saying it, just think about what you’re saying, because if someone said to me – I can talk about violence and guns. I can talk about being stabbed. I’ve got the scars to prove it. But I’m glorifying it. Lying in my blood 13 years ago was not a good experience, so any kid that thinks it’s cool to get shot, stabbed, is not the one. I’ve experienced that, fighting for your life, lying in your blood, not good. Not good.

HARVEYS ALWAYS ON TELLY.

Aaron – Do you have any plans for any more music coming out?

Harvey – I’ve never stopped bringing out music. I mean, the last – last year was an amazing year for me because I brought out an EP called Christian Bale. He’s one of my favourite actors because if you look at Christian Bale’s films, he’s got so many different shades to his character. He can be Batman one day, an anorexic, and then American Psycho. And for me, that’s all of my characters! [Laughs] so that’s why I named it that. It was good when I brought out that EP last year. I worked with every artist. I had Cashtastic on it, I had Chip on the EP, I had Wretch on the EP, and it was so nice to work with the new generation, and being in the studio with them, because the amount of respect that they give you and the acknowledgement for them having careers now, you know? Chipmunk calls me Uncle Harvs, you know what I mean? Krept and Konan have done a show the other day, and me and Krept took a picture together to put on his instagram, he put a picture of a hammer and a brick, and he said the pioneers, the wall breakers. I’m honoured. It’s nice to see kids like that that are making themselves acknowledging and realizing what we’ve done. So last year was an amazing year, I brought out an EP, and then we done the last ever So Solid concert, and we sold out the O2 twice. What am I complaining about?

Aaron – So is So Solid done forever?

Harvey-It’s a lot of energy, So Solid man. And yeah, sometimes when you end it like that, so perfect, there’s a big saying in my life, quit while you’re ahead, you know? And what could you do? The government didn’t let us perform together for 7 years, and then we put on a concert and still sold out. It’s a lot of power. So, for me, it was emotional, but I’m done man. Still touring, we’re doing a tour this year, and we’ll always do shows together, but So Solid as a collective? Yeah you might – 3 years do like a big show, Wembley, but in terms of doing loads of tours and – I’m exhausted bruv, eighteen years. Eighteen years!!.

HARVEY ON CELEB BIG BROTHER.

Aaron – Do you have any more plans for music this year?

Harvey – I’ve got an EP coming out in just under 2 months. I’ve literally finished an EP last night, but this EP’s going to be so different. This EP is strictly directed at women. This is kind of opening myself to women, like, this is me, this is what happened, its how I felt. You’re not really going to know the days I was in my house broken, I would never let people see that side of me. You hear things where I got a song talking about a woman cheating on a man, it leads you to go “Did Harvey get cheated on? Is that his story?” that’s how I like to leave people. To make their own stories out of it. I’ve got a song on there that also talks about celebrity girls. They have it all. But they have the most issues, I got a song on there, so, that’s gonna cause a lot of who’s he talking about. I’m not talking about just my experiences, I just know that girls that I’ve experienced that are famous, and they could say that about male artists. They have it all, they have all the success and the accolades, but when they got it they’re not really happy. One thing I could say me in my life now, I’m so happy. I’m gonna open up myself to the women, so you got some naughty songs in there, the videos are going to be very different, they’re going to be very sexual. They’re going to be controversial; they’re going to be very artistic, like videos in museums. I shot a video already, it’s very lesbian and bisexual, but I like to – Harvey’s never going to stop being controversial, I’m fine with that. I want people to go “Did he just do that?” But I’m going to be different, not in a bad way, but did he just do that with women? Did he say that? It’s got good features on that, I’ve got Young Spray featured on there, got a few artists in there, but I’m not going to name their names yet. I’ve just sorted out a deal, gonna have Angie Stone on there. On my Instagram, there’s the pictures. These are the levels.

Aaron – About the controversy with you and Jammer going back and forth, about the So Solid clash, and did it actually happen?

Harvey –

Jammer’s my mate! See Jammer, is a young man to me first and foremost. And Jammer is smart. He incites beefs, but that’s a part of his character. He does it to get his viewers up, and to create – Jammer’s a marketing genius. Jammer’s said a few little cocky things on my Twitter page, but what I’ve done, when your boss I choose to ignore him, because I’m not giving you props or fame. If I start talking to you, you’re going to get that mainstream following, you know? One day, he got a bit cheeky, so I thought let’s have a bit of banter, let me come out of play, but like I said to him you can’t outfox a fox. Remember you’re talking to Mr. Miyagi. So, it’s all-good, but on a serious note, jammer’s a genius at what he does. He makes me laugh. He can rattle people’s cages, but you can’t rattle my cage, I’m Yoda. How you gonna rattle my cage? So that wasn’t even beef. Nah, banter. But anytime that boy better know, wanna do a Red Bull clash with So Solid, I’m ready. Mega’s ready. Romeo’s ready. Asher’s ready. It’ll be amazing for the scene. Boy better know versus So Solid. Culture clash at Wembley Arena. I don’t really care about the battle. We’re all going to write cheques, what’re you arguing for? We’re giving it to the crowd like we hate each other, but we’re all good friends. Frisco was on my last EP. The connection between South London and North London is like one family. So, from Chip to Spray to Skep to the Jammers, we all get on. But Jammer knows, come for me again, I’ll be waiting. LOL

Aaron – That’s a better way to have beef, where it’s just literally, it starts and ends on the stage, and then afterwards you go have a drink afterwards.

Harvey – Of course it is. What, should it end in violence? In deaths? I think – that confuses me about this present day and age. We talk about death like we’re going down to the shop. This is someone’s life. Do I think it should end like that? Of course it should end like that. I’ve got bigger fish to fry than my own – than hurting my own culture. The good thing about Jammer, and me we laughed at everyone, five minutes after we were on the phone laughing, saying look at these Twitter people, we call them Twitter fiends. Anything for a bit of drama. We’re on the phone laughing; we’re sucking them in, keeping the market in.

Aaron – There’s been rumours of a tell-all book coming from you?

Harvey – [laughs]

A tell-all book? I don’t do them celebrity books; I think you got me mixed up for Jordan. What does tell-all mean? Yeah, um, it’s close, but my one’s going to come out at a very different angle. It’s more about giving change and giving people upliftment. I’m not really here to – if anyone thinks I’m going to write a book talking about giving you stories about my experiences with famous women, like talking about Alesha or Cheryl Cole, I’m not doing that, I’m not selling my soul. It’s more inspirational. People have to understand that – I’m going to put this in a skillet right now. This is old news now. I’ve got a six-year-old daughter – Alesha has an eight-month-old child. Cheryl Cole has a massive career. I’m sure we’ve got better things to do than talk about each other. It’s boring now. Boring, dead, old, so. That’s all I can say. I’m more concentrated on uplifting the youth. The youth need guidance, they need help. The youth need to start thinking open-minded. They got to get out of this postcode box. You know? What makes me laugh – everyone’s representing these postcodes but our parents pay council tax, we don’t own any of the streets we live in.

THERE WILL BE NO HARVEY TELL ALL ABOUT CHERYL OR ANY OTHER LADY IN HIS NEW BOOK.

Aaron – Do you have a vague release date for this book?

Harvey – At the moment, the publisher that I’m doing it with, we’re coming from a very different angle. And we’re kind of – when it comes to autobiographies you’ve got to be very careful, because you can set yourself up to be shut down. So I’m – mine really isn’t represented as an autobiography, it’s going to be presented differently.

Aaron – Do you feel this is like part of a rebranding? Because the way you’re portrayed in the media is a certain way, are you trying to rebrand yourself as this inspirational figure that unites your culture?

Harvey – I’m not really trying to brand myself, I’ve got nothing to prove to people. That’s old news – I’m not going to be bitter and say the media gets me because since I’ve done Big Brother, they’re alright with me now. I think it just – even though I didn’t particularly want to do that show, it was more like – people expect me to go on there and be this like guy that gets all the chicks and the women, being really tacky, I don’t know what perception they got of me, but when they went in there they learnt that I’m a normal educated funny guy. If you watch that show, you’d know I was the – the reason I was popular was because everyone was like he’s a loving guy and he cares for everyone. I got nothing to prove to the media, I’m past that. I’m not going to live my life through the media. I had my time, I’ve done wrong. That’s not the media’s fault; the media didn’t make me cheat. I’m not going to sit here and blame them. I only blame them when they add the devil stories around it. Some of the stories are really fake, and you’re like, when did this happen? But make your bed and lie in it. You know? That’s the price of success. So, I’m not even going to hold bitterness towards that. You just got to move forward. I’m not rebranding myself, this is who I am. Harvey’s always was a loving guy. Harvey always cares about the youth. I’ll always put people before myself. That’s never ever left me. I was like when I was 18, difference is I wore m heart on my sleeve; I was a bit more fiery. It would be a lot harder for you to see that side of me, but anyone that knows me will go he’s just a loving a guy. That’s my character. I love seeing people do well. I’m proud of every crew that’s out there, I’m proud of every rapper, I’m proud of every man. If Skepta’s and Chipmunks and all these new breeds of characters are doing well, that’s only benefiting the scene. I’m not gonna look down at it and go “oh look at them”. For me now, people are seeing what they’re meant to see. This is who I am, I’ve never changed. Fame hasn’t changed me, money hasn’t changed me. Same old guy, still go to the same chicken shop in Battersea. I may live in the countryside but I still drive 50 miles to get my haircut. What’s changed? You tell me.

Aaron – Finally, what can we expect from you in the near future?

Harvey – I’ve got my film out now, it’s called the Deadly Game. That’s out; you can get that on iTunes, in all stores, in the Cinema. That was with me and Gabriel Byrne. If you don’t know who he is you don’t know acting. Vince Regan is in 300, Leo Gregory, that was an amazing cast. An amazing film to be in. You know? So, for me right now, it’s just about winning!

WATCH THE FIRST EPISODE OF FACE 2 FACE ON GRMDAILY HERE;
http://grmdaily.com/video/face-to-face-with-michael-harvey-bushkin-x-maxwell-d-grm-daily/