In Shoreditch We Trust

By Hermann Djoumessi

Shoreditch Festival 2005 provided food for the soul at the BBC Big screen in Shoreditch Park and at Shoreditch: Africa 05 in Haggerston Park.

On Sunday the 21st of August 2005, the curtain fell on a community event with a twist: Food for the Soul.

Organised by the Shoreditch Trust and championed by the Arts Council of England, the BBC who loaned its giant screen to the event, the Arts Council of England, amongst others, the festival offered a fantastic programme of events celebrating this year’s theme: Food for the Soul.

Throughout two weeks in August parks, gardens, streets, historical buildings and extraordinary venues opened up to showcase the work of contemporary artists, performers and entertainers with a mix of exciting events and experiences fuelling the soul including music, theatre, dance, visual arts, performance, children’s events, walks, talks and parties in the park. Visitors also enjoyed the tasty delights that Shoreditch and Hoxton have to offer amongst the huge variety of restaurants, pubs, clubs and healthy eating initiatives. Steve Bedwell, commenting on the Festival said, “the Shoreditch Festival has already established itself as one of London’s most innovative community festivals. Last year, the Shoreditch Festival attracted over 14,000 people to events in the area.”

However, Shoreditch would not be Shoreditch without a bit of controversy and the debate set on the 17th of August at Mother Bar was the perfect talking shop with its questions along the lines of, ‘what role should artists play in regeneration? Can a festival for, by and with a ‘community’ be ‘artist led’? And what do we mean by the Shoreditch / Hoxton community?’ The debate set local people’s perception of art and to some extent the festival itself, as an attempt to gentrify the area and to rid it from its working-class roots against those who might think that in one of the poorest area in the UK, a bit of gentrification and education could actually be needed as it brings a focus to the area, attracts business and thus jobs, galleries, arts projects, education, TV. It creates and finances the regeneration of the area and puts it at the forefront of creativity and innovation in the UK, but it also raises council-tax and housing rent, pricing out the very people it wanted to attract in the first place, whilst angering those who were against them, thinking that ‘those creative-based business only cater for middle-class-educated folks anyway.’ It also raises another issue, featuring the doomsday merchants who prey on our youth, as it invites drug-dealers to the area.

Again, Shoreditch would not be Shoreditch without a grand finale in Haggertson park and its explosion of African culture, featuring music, food, market stalls, workshops, games, crafts and dance to delight and surprise throughout the day. Featuring cutting-edge, international African musicians including London-based Nigerian four-piece JJC and 419 Squad who fuse African rhythms, hip-hop, salsa and more to Anglo-Yoruba lyrics. Flown in all the way from Ghana the Hip life dynamo himself Tic Tac and the Congolese rumba stars Koko Kanyinda and Soukous Koumbele who deliver their own brand of rumba, infectious soukous, and African funk with wild dancing and acrobatic conga solos, which contributed to a spectacular live performance. You would agree with me that after two buzzing and busy weeks it was now time for the soul to get some rest.