I have not written in a while. I have been busy and a little overwhelmed. There has been lots going on some negative, mostly positive. I was starting to feel like I had lost myself a little, so I stopped blogging for a few weeks and made the decision not to blog again until it was a positive vibe.
I have missed out on a lot of things in life. Girls holiday, going to Uni, I have never been to the theater and never been whisked away for a weekend. I am very focused on what ever it is I am doing to make a living. I have been like that since I was 13 years old.
A good friend of mine asked me to go to a festival. This is something I have never done and to be fair didn’t really want to. Why would I sleep in a tent in a field? Why would you go and be bombarded with music all weekend? Why would you “waste” a weekend of study to have fun…a whole weekend? A festival is over hyped These are the things I said to myself when asked to go to a festival. I hold my hands up…I WAS WRONG.
Let me introduce you, for those that not had the privilege, to Love Supreme Jazz festival.
Now…. up until last Friday I did not like Jazz. I had no interest in Jazz….so a jazz festival was just…wrong.
I agreed to go to Love supreme for 3 reason…. Jimmy cliff…Gladys Knight and Lauren Hill. All 3 performing live. I think if there ever was a good reason to sleep in a field…then watching these 3 live is it.
So last Friday I went to work with giant bags packed with all the things I needed to survive 3 days of camping. I left work and started the journey to the festival to meet friends. I am usually anxious around things like this but from the minute my journey started I was calm. As if my body knew I needed this. 4 hours later me and friends are trying to build tents in a field, music blaring from the festival itself and I knew this was going to be amazing.
Love supreme in Glynde, tarted small and has been growing over the last few years. My friend who took me said that it’s a festival that has such a good vibe you don’t want to leave. And she is not wrong. It was so clean the whole weekend, amazing food, helpful staff. I didn’t see people falling over drunk, no fights, no certain crowds to avoid. At Love Supreme I saw every race and age. I saw people from all walks of life, all together and enjoying the music.
There was always something going on and all of such good quality I didn’t know where to go next. I could list and list the things I saw and did but …that would be long. All I know is I need to tell people about this festival so that people can go and replenish the soul once a year. Here is a low down of my “Best bits”
I started to listen to the artists I might see a few weeks ahead just to break myself in gently. But I didn’t listen to this until I was on the train going. I was just sitting there listening to different artists when the Teskey brothers started playing. It was “so caught up” When the into started I was feeling all sleeping on the train and then when it started kicking on, I was like…Hello…yes…I like this. Have a listen here. Let me tell you something…live…they blew me away. I have never listened to anything like that …that…kind of spoke to me. I don’t know how to explain other than listening to this band was like seeing an old friend after a long time.
So…I don’t know how to put this in words. I enter a big top tent. Like a circus tent…We go in because we can hear this beat. A thumping…from inside. I go in and there on a smoky stage is a woman playing an instrument and a man. Theon. He is playing a big giant Tuba. Now…I don’t like “that kind of thing” …or…I didn’t. But this an was playing a tuba like nothing I had seen before. I was transfixed. The bass sound was kind of pumping my head and the way he played it…wow. I get caught up in the crowd but…I felt like I was the only one who could really hear him. People were dancing and I couldn’t, I liked the sound, but I could catch a beat. I was just there …mouth open taking it in. He was playing music I have never heard in my life. It was a sound that was almost primitive in way. The crowd kept whooping and calling out with joy as he played another amazing tune that I had no idea what it was. I looked round and felt like I wish I could be part of this. That I could know the songs and dance like they did. Suddenly…. suddenly…I could hear something. Theon had started swaying with the Tuba. Less intense. Less angry. He was almost dancing with the tuba. If you didn’t know better, it looked like he was holding the tuba the way two people hold each other when they dance to a wicked reggae tune. He was swaying and playing…and then…. a big smile came on my face and I screamed….” Yes…. I know this…” a random lady next to me hugged me…for no reason and I liked it. And then he played the Corus and all these people sang “Murder she wrote”. He was playing “Murder she wrote” …on a tuba. Whilst skanking out.
And from that point on I had the best weekend ever…
I don’t even know what to say….so…. we went to watch Gladys Knight. I really wanted to see her perform. But then we found out that these artists from South London were going to play. So, we watched 2 Gladys songs and decide to risk it and go peek at what was going on with Steam down. I know Gladys is a legend…But choosing to opt out and watch these…. best decision of the weekend.
What kind of music do Steam down play you ask? I can’t answer that. I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you what it felt like…. like I have wasted my whole life never hearing that kind of music before. They were amazing…political…. grimy…real. Ok ok let me break this down….at one point they got the whole entire audience to do the Grandad skank. Everyone. They got the whole place moving and broking out. I don’t know which part I liked best. All of it. The man who was playing keyboard pictured here…I don’t know his name so if you do…let a girl know…oh my god. He played like he was possessed. He done a solo with his eyes closed. He felt so positive and alive I could not help but smile with him. (He also put his phone torch on so I could take this pic …I need that in my life to be fair) All I can say is find these people…hunt then down…… And watch them play
Have you seen people dance to Jazz? I had not until last weekend, and I got to tell you…I like it. I was minding my own when we heard this beat and a whole lot of cheering coming from one of the tents. We went to have a look and I can’t even tell you what was going on. There was lots of young people playing jazz and a dance off going on. Yep…just like that. The man who was hosting it…he sounded like a speed garage MC. Like. It was a jazz dance off yet …I felt like I was in a rave. It was defo one of the highlights of the weekend as it showed me a whole different subculture that exists that I had no idea about!
Lauryn Hill
Some people loved it. Some people hated it. I felt like I was a teenager again and that I was listening to a woman who knows what real life feel likes. I have a top 5 list of people who I would like to see live and Lauryn Hill has always been on that list. I listen to at least one of her songs a day on my playlist on the way to work. So, when she came out, I was scared that watching her live would …destroy a million memories maybe. No chance. She was amazing. When She sung killing me softly was like a star struck kid just staring at her. Then I got lost in the moment and was singing along with her. She weaved love supreme into her songs and I thought that was well done. I have Never been to concert or stuff really. So, seeing Lauren was a bug deal for me and she did not disappointed. I could go on and on…however…. I need the word count for.
Jimmy Cliff.
Where do I start…The music…The way he held the crowd…the faultless voice? Na…let me start at the real start. Jimmy Cliff is my mum’s music. She loved a bit of Jimmy. She would sing “I can see clearly now” very loud…and very bad. Ut, that song lifted my mum on dark days. So, for me people like Jimmy Cliff is the staple diet of music of my life. I wanted to see him almost because my mum cannot…. if that makes sense.
When he came out, he looked…like a god lol. He had a crown and a robe, and he walked slowly to the drum and set at the front of the stage. When I saw him it suddenly hot me how old he is. Not that he looked old…Just that he has seen many things come and go. I was not sure If this was going to be amazing or just so so wrong. The sun was blazing hard. It was a spectacular evening. And then he started to sing. It felt like drinking a cold rum and coke (with ice) on a hot sunny afternoon. The feeling you get when you sip it and you know…yep…this drink is gonna hit the spot. That is what Jimmy Cliff done. He made me genuinely happy. I mean…like…like I was a kid again and nothing bad had happened. Like everything in life was gonna be fine. I stood there …big old grin..in my Jamaican colors …dancing like no one was watching. And boyyyyyy…its been a long time coming. His voice was crystal clear. He had such a positive vibe it made me feel emotional. Like…why have I been worrying for so many years…been so hard on myself…His performance was nothing short of breath-taking.
So, people, my point is this…. we must take time for ourselves. Have to. And you need to find a happy place. I have 2 regrets from the weekend. The first… I got to speak to a man called Orbison Robinson briefly. I spoke to him for about 20 minutes and I could have listened to him for hours. After my friend told me who he was and what he does so I had a listen. He performed live at the festival and I didn’t get to see it…and I am gutted…so Orbison…. lookout for me next time. The second….that I didn’t do this sooner.
The festival is a family friendly happy fest. It’s a must do on your bucket list. It is now my happy place.
No excuse me while I put on some Jimmy cliff and have a likkle rum….
You can checkout Love Supreme Here