choice. I had no choice. I had no alternative." Paul Roberson
Robeson was one of our leaders behind the 1951 “We ChargeGenocide”
has fought for the liberation of Africa, Africans and all oppressed
people.
I wouldn't say all God's children. I don't think Nolan is too fond of
Canada's Prime Minister Steven Harper. Nolan is about the liberation of
Africans from Cape Town to Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia produced Nolan,
Rocky Jones, Shauntay Grant, El Jones and the late great Jean Daniels.
Daniels was one of the driving forces for black history month in
Toronto, Canada.
Nolan is not from the same tribe as Ban Ki-Moon or Kofi Annan. She is
from the same tribe as Nina Simone, Jayne Cortez,(Wolde) Semayat,
Nolan is about Bandung unity – the unity of Africans and Asians. She
remembers what happened in Indonesia in 1955.
The singer/songwriter producer is about internationalism. She knows
the difference between Communism and rheumatism. Many university
professors who are paid to teach political science don’t know or
pretend not to in order to keep their cash flow coming in.
Pick up a copy of Nolan’s latest CD, Jailhouse Blues. As the liner
notes point out: “Canada’s female federal prison population has
speeding up with a higher incarceration rate of Aboriginal women and
women with mental illness.”
Nolan is the 2014 winner of a Min Sook-Lee Labour Arts Award. These
awards are named after a
Check out Nolan: at www.faithnolan.org
faithnolan@xplorenet.com
GIL SCOTT-HERON'S PIECES OF A MAN
Marcus Baram’s biography of Gil Scott-Heron, “Pieces of a Man” is hot
off St. Martin’s Press. Baram’s 308 page biography of Scott-Heron is a
great follow up to Scott-Heron's own 2011 memoir “Gil Scott-Heron:
2012.
Scott-Heron was called the "Black Bob Dylan" and the "Godfather of
Rap" both titles he rejected. Clive Davis, the head of Arista records,
called Scott-Heron, the "Black Bob Dylan" and encouraged his
promotional executives to use that term in their publicity material.
Baram points out: "Clive said that so people could relate to what we
did," he later explained. “But he never said that to me. As far as I
knew, Dylan played harmonica and I played piano, Dylan couldn't
Scott-Heron had a Canadian connection and "Pieces of a Man" reveals
it. The book mentions Roy Heron, Scott-Heron's Jamaican-born uncle and
this writer. Roy Heron is the brother of Scott-Heron's father Gil Heron.
Caribbean island of Jamaica. Scott-Heron told me when I first met him
that his father was called the "Black Arrow" when he played in
Scotland.
When I first met Scott-Heron I got the impression that he had not met
his father at that time. Baram points out:"On his first Canadian
tour that summer (1976,), journalist Norman Richmond was introduced to
Gil and asked him about his father. Gil snapped,
upbringing.
Scott-Heron had only met his father six months before.
BLUES WOMEN IN CANADA
Shakura S’Aida, Diane Braithwaite, and Divine Brown ran the first,
third and last leg of the 28th Annual Women’s Blues Revue. These three
women brought back memories of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. S’Aida
came out the blocks like the Jamaican-born Robert “Blast Off” Esmie.
Braithwaite, like the Haiti-born Bruny Surin, ran the third leg and
Brown, like the Jamaican-born Donavan Bailey, anchored the team.
JIMMY RUFFIN JOINS THE ANCESTORS
Jimmy Ruffin, who had the smash classic, "What Becomes of the
Brokenhearted", died in Las Vegas on November 2014. He was 78.
The Mississippi-born Ruffin had a 50-year career, from the Motown
sixties to the digital music era. David Ruffin, who led the
Temptations from 1964 to 1968 died in 1991.
way:”Jimmy Ruffin was a phenomenal singer, He was truly underrated
because we were also fortunate to have his brother,
