Out of Many Festival - Eight Events Bringing Jamaican Vibes to Leeds this August!
For prime pre-Independence Day action, head to Jamaica House in Chapeltown on 1 August for August Mawnin, a traditional Emancipation Day early morning gathering featuring readings of the 1838 Proclamation of Emancipation, rousing renditions of Jamaican abolitionist speeches and moving songs of freedom.
Free admission, a ticketed event, more details here.
Get your dancing shoes ready on 6 August when a host of music legends take to the stage for Road to Trojan at Leeds Playhouse. Road to Trojan promises an incredible evening charting Jamaican music history from ancestral roots through to ska, rocksteady and the golden age of reggae popularised in the UK by famed label Trojan Records in the 1960s and 70s.
Join reggae icons, legendary singer Freddie McGregor and pioneer DJ Dennis Alcapone, the roof-raising 17-piece Jazz Jamaica All Stars History of Trojan spectacular featuring Brinsley Forde (Aswad), Noel McKoy and vocal trio Dem Three along with the Out of Many Community Choir led by Paulette Morris and choreographed by Donald Edwards as well as a National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica digital performance for the ultimate Jamaica 60 celebration.
Tickets £35/£30, more here.
On 10 August Ring the Alarm takes place at Leeds Central Library with a panel and performance with national and local pioneers examining the history, role and impact of sound systems from their genesis in Jamaica, to their evolution in Leeds and the UK. Guest contributors include Mark Iration from internationally renowned Leeds-own Iration Steppas Sound System with more guests to be announced.
Tickets: £7, more information here.
You're all invited to the Pop-Up West Indian Front Room Party at Victoria Gardens on The Headrow on 13 August. A joyful event for all ages recreating the vibes of a typical West Indian ‘front room’ party of the 1960s and 70s in the heart of Leeds City Centre.
Sing along to the community-curated reggae playlist from DJ Fluid and The Out of Many Community Choir, and ‘drop foot’ as they say in Jamaica with dance instructions from Leeds dance pioneer David Hamilton MBE.
Landing Here, with acclaimed children’s writer Trish Cooke, takes place on 20 August at Chapeltown Library.
Trish follows the journeys of Caribbean children arriving in the UK during the Windrush era. Explore the highs and lows of life in a strange land in her book Diary of a Young West Indian Immigrant, with a writing workshop and true recollections of those who made the journey from the Caribbean to Leeds as youngsters.
Suitable for children aged 9-11 accompanied by adults; free with ticket. More information here.
Children’s event Jamboree! (pictured at the top) takes place on 20 August at Chapeltown Library. Join writer and actor, Ansell Broderick for a fun afternoon of traditional Jamaican tales, folk songs and dance. From Anancy and Miss Lou stories told by Jamaican elders, to Maroon songs, ring games, Kumina and drumming all steeped in African ancestry.
Suitable for ages 5-11 accompanied by adults; free with ticket. More information here.
The Rebellion to Romance exhibition at Room 700, Leeds Central Library until 29 October explores the lives of the city’s second generation West Indians coming of age in the 1970s and 80s. Their keepsakes of the era will tell a powerful story of young Black people hugely influenced by Jamaican culture, music and style, immersed in their parents’ Caribbean roots yet shaping an identity of their own.
Gathered keepsakes and photos of the day curated by Out of Many Festival Director, Susan Pitter, will sit alongside recreated contemporary portraits by famed artist and ‘Godfather of Black British photography’ Vanley Burke. His portraits will capture a generation that can firmly say: “We are Black, we are British, we are West Indian and we are Leeds.”
Until 30 October, explore the wisdom, strength and resilience of Jamaican women across generations in The Wisdom Tree exhibition by London-based artist Charmaine Watkiss at Leeds Art Gallery.
The Wisdom Tree showcases recent work that acknowledges and celebrates the experiences and contributions of people of Jamaican heritage in the UK.
The Out of Many Festival launched in May and runs until February 2023. Details of the whole Out of Many Festival events here.