Keskidee Centre
The Keskidee Centre, or Keskidee Arts Centre, was Britain's first arts centre for the black community, founded in 1971.[1][2] Located at Gifford Street in Islington, near King's Cross in London, it was a project initiated by Guyanese architect and cultural activist Oscar Abrams (1937–1996)[3] to provide under one roof self-help and cultural activities for the local West Indian community. Its purpose-built facilities included a library, gallery, studios, theatre and restaurant.[4] The Keskidee became a hub for African and Afro-Caribbean politics and arts, and for years was the only place in London that produced black theatre,[5] developing its own vibrant drama company and attracting both a black and white audience.[6]
History
[edit]In 1971, Guyanese-born architect and cultural activist Oscar Winston Abrams (1937–1996), who had settled in Britain in 1958,[7] bought a run-down Victorian mission hall[8] from the Shaftesbury Society for £9000[2] and transformed it into the Keskidee Centre,[9] which came to provide "a unique and hugely influential cultural and political environment for the black community throughout the 1970s and early-1980s."[2] The community centre's name and logo derived from the keskidee bird native to Guyana and elsewhere in the Caribbean.[9][10]
The Keskidee Theatre workshop was founded in 1971, with a full-time drama company dedicated to black theatre, under the artistic direction of African-American Rufus Collins, who had originally come to Britain on tour with The Living Theatre.[11][12] Among other professional actors, directors, and playwrights it attracted were Yvonne Brewster, Anton Phillips, Howard Johnson, Jimi Rand (Say Hallelujah),[13] Edgar Nkosi White (Lament for Rastafari, 1977; Les Femmes Noires/The Black Women),[14][15] T-Bone Wilson (Jumbie Street March; Body and Soul, 1974),[16] Pat Maddy (Gbana Bendu, 1973),[17] who at one time was Director of Drama,[18] Yemi Ajibade, and Lindsay Barrett.[9][4] Productions of Derek Walcott's Pantomime,[19] Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers (1975)[20] and Lennox Brown's Throne in an Autumn Room (1973)[21] were also staged.[22]
Nigerian artist and sculptor Emmanuel Taiwo Jegede was also an artist-in-residence;[23] his son Tunde Jegede, born in 1972 and now a composer and virtuoso kora player, has credited the Keskidee Centre with initiating and nurturing his earliest appreciation of African diaspora culture.[24] Errol Lloyd was also brought in by Abrams to be artist-in-residence (1974–75).[4] As an indication of the significant role played by the Keskidee Centre in nurturing, supporting and celebrating Black visual artists, Diaspora Artists quotes from the Preface to the journal Savacou, issue 9/10, written by John La Rose and Andrew Salkey: "At the time of writing, the most recent medium session, held at the Keskidee Centre, on Friday 10th March 1972, was A Tribute to Ronald Moody, a historical exposition, illustrated with slides, of Jamaican sculptor, arranged and presented by Errol Lloyd, the Jamaican painter."[10]
Linton Kwesi Johnson was the Keskidee's first paid library resources and education officer, and his work at the centre featured in Franco Rosso's 45-minute documentary film Dread, Beat an' Blood, produced in 1979.[25][10] It was at the Keskidee Centre that Johnson developed dub poetry, a staged version of his poem "Voices of the Living and the Dead" being produced by Lindsay Barrett there in 1973, with music by the reggae group Rasta Love.[2] The venue was also used for community meetings and events by the Caribbean Artists Movement.[2] On 10 December 1974, Angela Davis spoke at the Keskidee Centre, while she was in London to attend a rally in support of South African political prisoners.[26]
Up-and-coming bands such as Misty in Roots and Steel Pulse also played at Keskidee, and in 1978 Bob Marley used the centre to make a video (in which a seven-year-old Naomi Campbell took part along with other children) for his song "Is This Love?"[2][27][28][29]
The Keskidee Centre ran into financial difficulties in the 1980s, and closed in 1991. The building was subsequently taken over by the Christ Apostolic Church.[6]
Oscar Abrams died on 15 February 1996, aged 58.[2]
Legacy
[edit]In 2009, The Keskidee was the subject of a BBC Radio 4 programme based on oral history interviews conducted by Alan Dein as part of the King's Cross Voices project.[30][31]
On 7 April 2011, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Keskidee Centre,[32] an Islington Council heritage green plaque was unveiled on the building, at the time a church, by David Lammy and former resident artist Emmanuel Jegede.[5][33][34][35][36]
On the night of 8 March 2012, the building was ravaged by fire.[6][37] The police treated the blaze as suspicious, and the investigation was closed a month later after a Scotland Yard spokesman announced that the police had "exhausted all lines of inquiry".[38]
References
[edit]- ^ Anthony, Charlotte (June 2019). "Lost Interiors: An investigation of the Keskidee Centre". The Hidden Interior. Interior Educators. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Keskidee – a community that discovered itself. Islington Local History Centre celebrates the Keskidee – Britain’s first arts centre for the black community" Archived 17 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Islington Local History Centre, 2009.
- ^ "Oscar Abrams", Diaspora Artists.
- ^ a b c "King's Cross", KXV-2006-206-01: Errol Lloyd interview. Soundcloud.
- ^ a b Pavan Amara, "Cherished King’s Cross black arts Keskidee Centre is latest to get a heritage green plaque", Camden New Journal, 8 April 2011.
- ^ a b c Pavan Amara and Andrew Johnson, "Fire rips through pioneering black arts venue where Bob Marley shot Is This Love video" Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Islington Tribune, 9 March 2012.
- ^ "The Keskidee Centre – Britain's first dedicated arts centre for the Afro-Carribean [sic] community". Caledonian Park. 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Keskidee Centre, formerly Gifford Hall", The National Archives. Records held at English Heritage Archive.
- ^ a b c "Keskidee Arts Centre — Biography" at Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ a b c "Keskidee Centre", Diaspora Artists.
- ^ Yvonne Brewster, Colin Chambers, "Black theatre", Drama Online. From Colin Chambers (ed.), The Continuum Companion to Twentieth-Century Theatre (London, 2002).
- ^ "Keskidee Centre", Unfinished Histories – Recording The History of Alternative Theatre.
- ^ "Say Hallelujah", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "Edgar Nkosi White" at Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ Alda Terracciano, "Edgar Nkosi White", FutureHistories.
- ^ "Jumbie Street March", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "Gbana Bendu", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "Yulisa Amadu Maddy", Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy & Virginia Coulon (eds), A New Reader's Guide to African Literature, Heinemann Educational Books, 1983, pp. 410–11.
- ^ "Pantomime", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "The Swamp Dwellers", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "Throne in an Autumn Room", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "Keskidee Arts Centre — Productions", Black Plays Archive, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ "The Keskidee — Music, art and poetry" Archived 17 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Islington Local History Centre, 2009, p. 3.
- ^ "General Biography" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Tunde Jegede website.
- ^ "Dread, Beat an' Blood", Learning on Screen, British Universities Film & Video Council.
- ^ "Angela Davis at the Keskidee Centre", George Padmore Institute, 26 February 2013.
- ^ William Perrin, "Celebrate the creative legacy of the Keskidee Centre 27 October", Kings Cross Environment, 29 September 2011. Includes Bob Marley video filmed at the Keskidee and on Gifford Street.
- ^ "Bob Marley songs: 13 of his greatest ever", Features, Smooth Radio, 5 February 2019.
- ^ Kathryn Whitbourne, "5 Things You Didn't Know About Bob Marley", 3 February 2017.
- ^ "The Keskidee centre on radio 4", Archives and Identities – UCL AHRC Community Archives project 2008–9.
- ^ The Keskidee, BBC Radio 4.
- ^ Martyn Glynn, "Keskidee Centre to celebrate 40th anniversary", Net-Lettings, 30 March 2011.
- ^ Peter Gruner, "Green plaque honours Keskidee arts centre where Naomi Campbell met Bob Marley" Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Camden New Journal, 25 March 2011.
- ^ Rob Bleaney, "Plaque for Islington arts centre which starred in Bob Marley video", Islington Gazette, 29 March 2011.
- ^ Pavan Amara, "Cherished King's Cross black arts Keskidee Centre is latest to get a heritage green plaque", Islington Tribune, 8 April 2011.
- ^ Mark Blunden, "Honour for arts centre where Bob Marley danced with Naomi Campbell, 7", London Evening Standard, 21 March 2011.
- ^ "Bob Marley's 'Is This Love church' destroyed by fire", BBC News, 9 March 2012.
- ^ "Investigation into fire at historic Keskidee black arts centre is closed, say police", Islington Tribune, 27 April 2012.
Further reading
[edit]- Colin Chambers, Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: a history. Routledge, 2011.
External links
[edit]- "Islington Local History Centre celebrates the Keskidee – Britain’s first arts centre for the black community", Islington Local History Centre, 2009.
- Cllr Claudia Webbe, "Memories of the Keskidee", Islington Labour, 16 March 2012.