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UK reggae has seemed increasingly detached from current affairs in recent years, but anyone who’s checked my eighties mixes will know it hasn’t always been this way. I guess the focus has moved to a more international market which means the particularities of life in specific areas of London or Birmingham don’t get a look in.

Plus of course, music is shaped by the society and economics around it. Perhaps Dan Hancox’s excellent article about Grime and the riots marks the beginning of a cultural shift (or perhaps it’s wishful thinking by youthful lefties like Dan, and knackered old ones like me).

Either way, I’ve been looking out for songs about recent events and have collected some of the better efforts below for your delectation. These are mainly thanks to the good people of the Blood and Fire board. I’ve not had much luck looking for things myself, but there do seem to be a bunch of people re-tagging their tunes on Youtube to tie them into the recent disturbances.

(Any further tips on 2011 riots tunes would be much appreciated, especially if they are any good – leave suggestions in the comments box if you find any…)

So here goes, in no particular order:

1. AMPASOUND – RIOT!!! FWD – London Riots!!! (Reggae Mix – Preview)

A skippy upful roots stepper, with suprisingly incisive lyrics (dissing Cameron for being on holiday), some good Darcus Howe samples and pretty great video.

2. Dub Investigation – Fire In The Town

Dub Investigation – Fire in the Town by Dub Investigation

Mournful, and melodic with a nice xylophone thingy. Reminds me a bit of Manasseh’s recent productions, which is a high compliment. Some different Darcus Howe and an articulate member of the public get sampled.

Dub Investigation are from Dublin, incidentally – a city with worries and troubles of its own. Indeed, the fucked up economy of the Republic of Ireland is one of the main reasons for Woofah not coming out and for its esteemed editor having to paddle twice as fast just to keep his head above water.

3. The Blackstones – Heat In The Streets

Languid one drop, in which the youth are instructed in no uncertain terms not to disrespect their culture or skimp on education. I think the Blackstones were a UK group who recorded at Studio One, but not entirely sure. Please note I have avoided googling them to bolster my credibility!

(Apparently this actually came out two weeks before the riots, so cue lots of “prophecy fulfil” type of talk… don’t call it a cash-in!)

4. Big Youth – London’s Burning

Mad Professor production – nice to see some legends stepping up but this isn’t my favourite by any means. Looking forward to checking the dub though!

5. Fresharda – 2011

Some contemporary dancehall, complete with vocoder! I actually quite like this – consciousness wins though I guess.

Dan Hancox linked to this from his ace Guardian piece, but I’ve included it here for completeness. I think Fresharda was probably first out of the blocks in terms of riot songs, but the lyrics are quite general so he may have had it in the can already…

6. King Hammond – Riot In London Town

And finally, the ridiculous King Hammond with a tune recorded in March. A perfect pastiche of 1969 Skinhead Reggae which gets huge points for namechecking Clissold Park, Stamford Hill and Manor House as well as many other London haunts. Well cheeky, this one makes me smile a lot.

Bubbling under

From the not quite as good, to the downright cringeworthy. Includes some jaw-droppingly bad lyrics, but also the occasional genius moment.

Incidentally, that old William Burroughs quote “riot sounds produce riots” – that’s been rendered a bit redundant in the era of 24 hour media overkill, hasn’t it? Old Bill reckoned a group of you could wander about with cassettes of riot noises playing and people would get so agitated that they would actually riot themselves. But everyone in the UK has now heard more riot sounds than they know what to do with on the telly, with mainly zero result.

In the more innocent days of 1989, some courageous souls tried out Burroughs’ idea every day at The Festival of Plagiarism in Glasgow, “with mixed results”.

I was up there, but the experiment was too early in the morning for me, so I missed my opportunity to see it all for myself, as did the wonderful people I was staying with. But this did have the unexpected bonus value of us all being slagged off by Stewart Home for being “bohemians”, the first and I think only time that word has been used in connection with me.

Just when you’d thought about giving up on Grime, Dan Hancox pulls this essential piece out of the bag for The Guardian:

In the wake of the riots, British urban music has been accused of promoting a culture of entitlement. Here, Professor Green, Lethal Bizzle and Wiley describe a world that politicians have chosen to ignore – and explain how grime is helping to give it a voice.

There’s too much happening to make much sense of it all right now.  I’ll try to write about Hackney soon.

I mentioned the death of Mark Duggan, shot by police in Tottenham, in my last post.

Thursday

There have been mixed reports about the circumstances of his death. Rumours circulated that Duggan was shot whilst on the ground, execution style.

A “non-police issue handgun” was collected from the scene. The media reported that a bullet had lodged itself in a police radio. It now seems that this bullet may have originated in a police handgun. There has been a lot of discussion about how many shots were fired, and by whom.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has been  quick to deny the “execution” allegation. They are promising a ballistics report on the incident very soon.

Saturday

On Saturday afternoon some friends and relatives of Mark staged a protest outside Tottenham Police Station. They wanted answers and didn’t get them. It has been suggested that a sixteen year old girl was batoned by the police and this lead to the subsequent riots.

Stafford Scott, Tottenham resident and community activist gives the background and wider context in this interview:

(transcript here)

Sunday

LONDON — As political and social protests grip the Middle East, are growing in Europe and a riot exploded in north London this weekend, here’s a sad truth, expressed by a Londoner when asked by a television reporter: Is rioting the correct way to express your discontent?

“Yes,” said the young man. “You wouldn’t be talking to me now if we didn’t riot, would you?”

The TV reporter from Britain’s ITV had no response. So the young man pressed his advantage. “Two months ago we marched to Scotland Yard, more than 2,000 of us, all blacks, and it was peaceful and calm and you know what? Not a word in the press. Last night a bit of rioting and looting and look around you.”

Eavesdropping from among the onlookers, I looked around. A dozen TV crews and newspaper reporters interviewing the young men everywhere.

[from NBC News]

I wrote quite a lot about UK policing earlier in the year in relation to the failure of policing (at best) that lead to the death of Smiley Culture. News about that case was always going to ebb and flow, not least because it is now in the bureaucratic hands of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

But… it was never just about Smiley Culture. Since Smiley’s death a number of other people have died in suspicious circumstances in police custody. Many questions are being asked about heavy handed policing at demonstrations against the austerity measures being introduced by the UK government to pay for the banking crisis. In recent weeks London’s Metropolitan Police have been implicated in the “Hackgate” News International scandal.

Jody McIntyre’s series of films touches on some of the issues, asking the right questions and making the right links. The first episode is above and includes involvement from Benjamin Zephaniah, Merlin Emanuel (both of who have lost family members in police custody) and victims of police crime. The soundtrack includes contributions from grime artists Ghetts, Logic, Mic Righteous and DVS. A future episode will deal with the coalition government’s budget cuts.

The terrible truth is that hard times can bring people together. Four years ago it would have been inconceivable that student protestors and grime artists would find common ground.

Things aren’t about to get any better – an “anarchist threat” is already being talked up by the Met in the run up to the 2012 Olympics, with predictably hilarious consequences.

More seriously, Mark Duggan was fatally shot by the police in Tottenham last night, about a mile away from where I am typing this. Unusually, the IPCC were on the scene within hours – perhaps as a result of the scrutiny they have found themselves under this year?

Max Schaefer – Children of the Sun (Granta, 2010)

I first read about this book the year before last over at Stewart Home’s blog. My interest was piqued as the subject matter was notorious gay neo-nazi skinhead Nicky Crane, who I’d previously written about here when his appearance in a Psychic TV video came to light. There wasn’t that much material available about Crane online (or anywhere) at the time and I’m still slightly concerned to see my site is the third thing that comes up in a google search for him.

I’ve been meaning to review the book for ages – it was my holiday read last year. This is based on my notes from a while back and what I can remember now.

“Children of the Sun” is fictionalised but accurate – Schaefer has certainly put the necessary research into this and there were no cringeworthy bits that usually crop up with depictions of the far right (from posh plays to The Bill). Various aspects of the British fascism are portrayed accurately but without descent into unnecessary trainspotterish detail. Some brushes with anti-fascists are described in similar ways to how they have been told to me as well.

The heart of the story is the interplay between two protagonists – one a contemporary of Crane’s on the far right, another a young researcher who is obsessed with Crane after his death. Although violence and sex are certainly part of the narrative it’s not a football hoolie book which is hagiographic and uncritical.

There is also a good depiction of the paranoia that an obsessive immersion in this material can induce…

The book is not something to read on the train as lurid news clippings and far right agit prop are reproduced throughout. Crane still exerts a morbid fascination on many from beyond the grave – both on the far right and in aspects of gay subculture. I saw him around on a few occasions whilst studying in central London in the early nineties and can confirm he seemed like someone best avoided. The fact that he was living something of a double life doesn’t really detract from this. Clearly a novel about his life will raise more questions than it answers, but it is a good read and I’d definitely recommend it if you have an interest in this sort of subject matter.

General Impressions on the March

The Smiley Culture March for Justice took place the weekend before last and was a resounding success. About 1,500-2,000 people marched from Wandsworth Road to New Scotland Yard in militant but peaceful formation. My marching partner History Is Made At Night has already written his account of the day, so check that out. As he points out the marchers included families of other people who have died in police custody and also a good few portable soundsystems, giving the event both a poignant and carnival air.

The day also marked the appearance of various socialist groups, with the Socialist Workers Party manufacturing their own placards and the Socialist Party producing a special leaflet for the occasion.

The Rally and Campaign

Standing outside New Scotland Yard with a couple of thousand people whilst Buju Banton’s “Murderer” and Barrington Levy’s tune of the same name boomed out is something I will never forget.

Speakers at the rally included Merlin Emmanuel, Lee Jasper, Asher Senator, Blacker Dread, journalist and victim of police violence Jody McIntyre (links are to transcripts of speeches or thoughts on the day). Relatives of the late Sean Rigg, Julian Webster and Kingsley Burrell spoke about their campaigns for justice.

Lorna G also took to the platform. Lorna is probably best known for her Mad Professor produced hits “3 Weeks Gone” and “Gotta Find A Way” – both classics of UK dancehall MC-ing and lovers rock respectively. What I didn’t know until recently was that Lorna was the sister of Cherry Groce, who was shot by police in her home in Brixton in 1985. This was one of the contributory factors to the ’85 Brixton riots. The police officer was later cleared of all charges. Groce was paralysed from the waist down and suffered numerous other health complications. She died last Sunday.

The Justice For Smiley Culture campaign announced the following demands for reform:

• Any officer that has had somebody die whilst in their custody is immediately suspended until further notice, pending inquiry.

• No member of the IPCC can have worked for the police or any other organisation where there is a clear conflict of interest.

• Any police officer that has had somebody die whilst in their custody and there are no witnesses other than police present, take a lie detector test on oath.

• All police officers record arrests using a mobile video device, that we might have an accurate account of events should anything go wrong with suspects whilst in their custody.

Asher Senator finished the rally on a more upbeat note with a performance of his Smiley Culture tribute “Character Reference”. This story of Smiley’s career includes some of his routines and some great info on UK reggae and soundsystem history:

(Video filmed and uploaded by the Heatwave crew )

Official Campaign t-shirts are now available from THTC’s webshop.

Photo by Duncan on Flickr. Graff by unknown.

More recent developments

The Sun has once again reported one of the police officers’ version of events completely uncritically:

A Met officer said he watched in horror as Smiley, 48, plunged the blade into his own heart during a drugs bust at his home.

The singer, real name David Emmanuel, had gone into the kitchen of the mansion to make a cup of tea.

One source said of the Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry: “The officer said he was monitoring Mr Emmanuel who picked up a knife, waved it in his direction and said, ‘Do you want some?’

“A split second later Mr Emmanuel turned the blade towards himself, said ‘I do’ and stabbed himself in the chest.”

Once again an anonymous source, who seems to be privy to police evidence to the IPCC which the public is not, has briefed The Sun. The journalist responsible is an ex-police officer.

Socialist Worker (to give them full credit for a change) printed a riposte, including a response from Merlin Emmanuel:

Smiley’s nephew, Merlin Emmanuel, said he was “disgusted” by the story and condemned police leaks about his uncle’s death as “damage limitation”.

“I am perplexed by the police’s continual release of information without making a statement themselves,” he told Socialist Worker.

“The Sun has shown its true colours. It wants to impose the interests of the elite.”

Forthcoming events

There is to be a Youth For Smiley Culture event on May 7th at ULU Malet Street, London WC1 featuring grime artist (and Woofah cover star) Durrty Goodz amongst others.

There is also a talk of a major concert to raise awareness of the campaign, with venues like Wembley Arena and artists like David Bowie, Sade, Nas and Damian Marley being mentioned as possibles.

Smiley’s hit “Police Officer” has been remixed for re-issue and a compilation of tributes is being prepared featuring Maxi Priest, Sade and Asher Senator.

A march on Downing Street is also being organised.

Campaign Links

Twitter

Youtube

Facebook

A slightly odd article by Dr Perry Stanislas has appeared in The Voice entitled “Why We Must Not Rush To Judgement Over Smiley Culture’s Knife Death”.

It’s odd because it wastes no time in arguing for the case that David Emmanuel may have killed himself and pouring scorn on others who say he may have been killed by the police. Which seems to be in direct contradiction of its title.

Let me be clear here in saying that I do not know how David Emmanuel (aka Smiley Culture) died. I wasn’t there – only the police and David Emmanuel were.

Dr Stanislas also mentions his involvement with the campaign following the death of Colin Roach by a gunshot wound in Stoke Newington police station in 1983. I’ve not been able to establish the extent of his involvement because he isn’t mentioned in my main source about the case: “Policing in Hackney 1945-1983″ commissioned by The Roach Family Support Committee.

The book does not conclude that the police killed Colin Roach:

The Inquiry does not commit itself to an alternative explanation of how Colin Roach died. What it clearly and incontrovertibly shows is that he could not have died in the way the police and the inquest say he did. The Report does not say or suggest, for example, that Colin Roach was shot by the police in their own station. But it does show convincingly that he did not shoot himself with a gun which he carried into the station: which is what the police and the inquest asked us to believe.

Was Colin Roach shot by someone else, in or outside the foyer of the station? The Report does not say definitively that he was because it does not know. However, it does remind us — as the inquest did not — that this is not quite so implausible a story as it appears at first.

[...] The police are not in a position to challenge this argument, says the Report, because they never investigated it. From the first to last, the police behaved as if the ‘fact’ that Colin Roach’s death was a suicide was a foregone conclusion. The police certainly advanced an account of what they said or thought happened. But they conducted no investigation.

It seems strange to me that Dr Stanislas has come to a conclusion about the Colin Roach case which are at odds with the campaign he was involved in.

The “Policing in Hackney” book also includes details of how Colin Roach was attacked by the press dept of the Metropolitan Police and the media after his death and how people protesting about his tragic demise were persecuted by the police when marching peacefully through Hackney. That is the context in which the investigation of Colin Roach’s death took place.

Smiley Culture’s family have stated that they were not aware of any reason for him to commit suicide.

They have asked that his mysterious death be investigated properly and promptly so that the truth about it can be revealed. That is all they have asked for, and I think most people would agree that their request reasonable and proportionate.

The family of Colin Roach did not get the benefit of a proper and prompt investigation and neither have the family of Ian Tomlinson. So the Emmanuel family can hardly be blamed for being suspicious about the process, or seeking to draw attention to it so that it is subject to a high level of scrutiny.

Speculations about the cause of David Emmanuel’s death are understandable, but they – and Dr Stanislas’ article – are a sideshow.

“I’m not surprised people are suspicious”
London Mayor Boris Johnson on David Emmanuel’s death.

“Cops must be filmed to prevent deaths in custody”
Patrick Augustus

(Patrick is best known for writing the novel “Baby Father” (X-Press, 1994) which was then turned into a TV series. But he also served time in the British reggae scene.)

Some information about the (private) funeral.

The campaign for Justice for Smiley Culture (aka David Emmanuel) continues apace. It has been heartening to see the family make links with other deaths related to police activity such as that of Ian Tomlinson (who was killed by police two years ago whilst walking home during the G20 protests), and the more recent case of Kingsley Brown.

Kingsley died just two weeks after the mysterious death of Smiley Culture. He called the police to protect him and his young son. The police took him into custody instead, and admitted him to hospital in a critical condition. Kingsley Brown died on the 31st of March. His family are alleging that the police beat him prior to his arrival in hospital.

Justice 4 Kingsley Brown & Smiley Culture (AKA David Emanuel) Meeting in Birmingham

Location: The African Caribbean Millennium Centre
339 Dudley Road, Winson Green, Birmingham.B18 4HB

Email:  info@acmccentre.co.uk or phone 0121 455 6382

Time: ‎6:30PM on Friday, April 8th

“The family of Kingsley Brown will now join the  family of David Emanuel at the meeting this Friday in Birmingham. Two families united in grief . One people committed to securing justice.”

London March: 16th April, 12pm

Assemble: Southbank Club 124-130 Wandsworth Rd SW8 2DL
JUSTICE MARCH to SCOTLAND YARD, VICTORIA

Interview with Merlin Emmanuel in Socialist Worker

More tributes

“Smiley was one of the true originators of British rap-ology and will always be remembered for his unique lyrical skills.”
- David Rodigan

An interview with lovers rock singer and UK MC Lorna G has been placed on youtube.

Lorna also performed at Smiley’s nine night alongside Asher Senator:

(Part 4 of 4 – check the rest as well!)

Resources

downloadable flyers and radio advert (mp3 and wav)

Dubstep advert for the April 16th march:
Smiley Dubstep ad for justice march by Merlin Emanuel

Campaign Facebook page

Youtube channel

Justice for Smiley Culture Campaign at City Hall – and Wembley Arena!

Furious scenes at the Metropolitan Police Authority meeting at City Hall today as David Emmanuel’s death was discussed.

The disruption to the meeting was covered by both the Guardian and the Evening Standard.

The Standard’s coverage was criticised by campaigners, not least because its reporting said that protesters were “thrown out” or “evicted” from the meeting. The Guardian and other accounts from attendees including Lee Jasper and Changita stated that protesters left of their own accord, in disgust, chanting “no justice, no peace”.

It is worth putting this ‘disruption’ in context.

The MPA meeting also discussed the case of Daniel Morgan, who was killed in 1987. Nobody has been convicted for this crime. Investigation of how the case was handled revealed police corruption. 24 years later, the family of Daniel Morgan are still seeking justice and have only just received an apology.

The Emmanuel family and its supporters do not wish to wait for 24 years for their questions to be answered.

According to Lee Jasper’s account (linked above) the Emmanuel family and it supporters were blanked by Kit Malthouse, chair of the MPA (Malthouse later suggested that he didn’t know family members were present and that he will now meet them).

Questions were asked by members of the panel in the meeting about the police briefings after David Emmanuel’s death. These questions were acknowledged, but they were not answered.

There is a video of the meeting available here. The relevant bit commences at 26 minutes in, and ceases at about 32 mins with a GLA testcard. When the meeting resumes, MPA member Cindy Butts is noticeably tearful whilst chanting outside the chamber is still audible. Footage of the meeting also appears in the BBC report here.

The argument put forward is that the police have got better. If you’ve read anything about deaths in police custody in the UK you will know that wouldn’t be difficult.

Rodigan wearing a Smiley Culture t-shirt at Wembley

Tonight also saw one of the largest reggae concerts for some time in London, with Nas and Damien Marley taking to the stage at Wembley Arena.

Support acts Spragga Benz and David Rodigan both payed tribute to Smiley Culture, with Roddy donning a Smiley Culture t-shirt and pointing to it whilst busting out Buju Banton’s “Murderer”.

Apparently the last tune played tonight by a DJ, as the audience left, was Smiley’s “Police Officer”.

Finally, a reminder that the campaign’s official facebook page is here and twitter feed is here.