Percussion & The Afro Cuban Music Night

Back in May I wrote a blog post highlighting images of dance and movement at the monthly Afro Cuban Music Night in London. I wanted to post some new images featuring musicians and percussion instruments. This is Richard Sweet on okonkolo, the smallest of the three batà drums used to play traditional Afro Cuban music: This … Read more

New Images of Dance at London’s Afro Cuban Night

It’s been a few months since my last post on London’s Afro Cuban Music Night and I’ve wanted to do a piece highlighting images of dance. The following three photographs allude to dance using fragmentation – parts of the body to suggest the whole.  The dancer is an Italian called Cesare. In the photo below … Read more

Japan: tradition and modernity in popular culture

I recently saw an advert on the London Underground from the Japan National Tourism Organisation who have launched a campaign entitled Japan – where tradition meets the future and it reminded me that I’d been meaning for a while to write a post on this very theme. I wanted to examine this theme using images … Read more

London’s Afro Cuban Night and Travels with Percussion

The first Tuesday of every month sees London’s Afro Cuban Music Night, run by musicians Vicky Jassey and David Pattman of Bombo Arts. I’ve written several posts about this night, but not since last summer so I thought I’d update with some pictures I’ve taken in the last few months.  The evening consists of two … Read more

rhythm and clapping

Amongst the first words I ever uttered was the Farsi phrase “das das”.  It literally means “hand hand” and was accompanied by repeated simultaneous clapping movements – das das, das das  – an endless source of entertainment and distraction when Bibi, my paternal grandmother who I lived with, played with me in this way. Later on … Read more