history :: Black music in Hobart

a review from 'Kashishi's The Gig Chaser', published in Togatus (April 2006):

"Black music in Hobart - It's easy to forget but we actually have quite a large African population in Hobart. Easy to forget because we don't see many of them out at gigs or shows very often. On the 7th and 8th of this month there was a celebration of black music in two gigs at the Trout and the Republic. Both gigs featured Sinpare - a hip hop duo from Kenya. Trout also featured a screening of B.L.A.C.K. An Aboriginal Song of Hip Hop and the Republic featured King Marong and Afro Mandiko - a band combining killer traditional African grooves with elements of modern dance groove and Indian styling. Both of these gigs kicked total butt. The music was awesome and the pubs were full but for me the best bit was that there was such an excellent representation of Africans in the crowd. There are cultural differences with how Africans and Whiteys party, some of this being that Africans are a lot less repressed on the dance floor than we are and this distinction amongst other things really breathed a vitality and newness into these gigs, there was a potent energy at both shows and I hope it happens again (thanks Moses). When I was watching the documentary, I was excited for the Australian Aboriginals who were finding a voice in hip hop and saddened by the knowledge that there are very few Tasmanian Aboriginals left. I was inspired by the thought that we do have at least a tenuous connection with the ancestral caretakers of Tasmania and that we also have a new generation of people from a very different culture to share with, the African Tasmanians."

any comments about this review, get in touch with Kashishi at tas.independent.gigs@gmail.com