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Introduction To Red Light Busking presents Kanda Vol.1 Bedroom Shut Music Up

Updated: 2 days ago


Our why




Transcription of Video


Being an 80’s baby and growing up in a Caribbean home meant that often we were exposed to practical teachings and traditions for use during testing times. Prayers at night time kept us connected to the most high. Bay rum and thick spicy soups filled with yam, banana, dasheen and dumplings were used as a way to fight colds and flu. While sayings filled with gems of philosophy such as ‘those who don’t hear must feel' kept our brains alight in trying to make sense of a culture from lands our parents called Home but we were like tourists too.

During these early years of the 2000s, the bedroom would be our sanctuary. Looking around our room personalised with experiences of who we were and who we were becoming. A glimpse at our high deck Hi-Fi system reminded us to tune into radio stations like Deja vu, Rinse FM, and Haveit FM. Having a blank cassette tape was a must, so we could record while listening to MC's spitting vocalised sparks down the radio waves, having us debating in our bedroom and beyond as to who was the best MC. For those lucky enough, a TV in our room gave further rise to our love affair with music. The Box, MTV Bass, and especially Channel AKA gave us visuals of people we really saw growing up. More Fires Oi was iconic. Though the setting of our room was deeper still, as looking around you'd find posters of Bob Marley and the conquering lion of Judah, a few books on Marcus Garvey and his ideals of black star line uniting a group of people whose history had at times not faired so kind. But we wanted to learn, as we were told ‘you can't know where you are going if you don't know where you’re coming from.’

And maybe that's why some of us were lost to the system, as the bedroom too for some of us, held years of prison letters from friends and family who looked just like us. Telling us of their trials and tribulations from inside the bars of Babylon, sending us music so that their feelings inside could be given light outside. The media had on rare occasions reminded us that we were over-represented in the prison system. Are lyrics from a cell now lyrics of the world? The tales and slang from behind bars, played through the speakers of London driven cars and beyond, though to what effect… Without a doubt, the bedroom was our place of refuge, our mind's place for reflection as we tried to make sense of the world around us. Wondering why at times things felt so tough, like a never ending uphill battle, especially in these current times of 2024, you have to wonder if things really have changed, a report Fighting Racial Injustice Rap & Drill gives much doubt. Or maybe it’s simply that our parents were right in their saying’s that "you have to be tough to survive in these ya times..."


David Anglin (2024)


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