By Neil Armstrong
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Photo contributed. In 1993,
SWV's success led to 11 Billboard Music Award nominations, four American Music
Awards nominations and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
|
Blockorama, the largest and longest running stage at the
annual Pride Toronto Festival, is celebrating its 20th anniversary
and organizers say it is the best party at Pride.
They also say it is a family reunion and while people have
tried to replicate “the recipe so many times…it’s
unique and the energy is inescapable.”
Nik Redman (DJ Nik Red) and DJ Craig Dominic of
Blackness Yes!, -- the organizing committee that created the event in 1999 –
are the team leads for Blockorama and they are promising a fitting celebration
with R&B legends, SWV (Sisters with Voices), as the headliners.
Redman has been volunteering and
deejaying at Blocko for 20 years, 16 years as part of Blackness Yes!
Twenty years ago, there was nothing intentional for the Black queer
and trans community at Pride, he said.
“The group of friends who were all community activists and organizers
felt it necessary to create a space that would be a celebration of Black
diaspora queers and also offered a “safe “ space for those in the
community who were not quite out to come and celebrate their lives with DJs,
dancers, drag queens from the Black diaspora.”
Dominic has been involved with Blockorama as
a performer since 2009 and became a member of Blackness Yes! a year later, shortly
after the first Blockobana when he inquired about becoming part of the team.
Blockobana takes place on the Sunday of the
Caribbean Carnival (some still call it Caribana) weekend in Toronto. It was the brainchild of DJ Blackcat
about eight years ago and will be held in Regent Park as the anchor event of
what Palmer describes as the burgeoning
“black pride” weekend.
The
The history of Blockorama has not been without its challenges dealing with Pride
Toronto.
Some years ago, Pride Toronto moved it from its original Wellesley stage
to the parking lot of the Beer Store on Church Street, then subsequently to
George Hislop Park on Isabella Street, and had plans to move it to the
Alexander St. Parkette.
These decisions and concerns about funding cuts came to the fore in
2010 when a community meeting was held at The 519.
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| Photo contributed DJ Nik Red of Blackness Yes!, organizer of the annual Blockorama celebration. |
Redman notes that throughout
the years the relationship with Pride has been sometimes like distant
relatives.
“Blackness Yes! has endured in the past awkward meetings with folks at
Pride who didn’t know we existed. Then there were the people who felt we
existed but only as a checkbox on their diversity report card, not as a
community partner that should be respected.”
Despite this Redman notes that there were also people at Pride who did
their best to advocate for Blackness Yes!
“Now we are acknowledged as one of the teams central to Pride Toronto, but
some things are still an uphill battle.”
Redman says it seems like Pride is competing with Blocko on their
other stages and although it has been 20 years they are still not getting the
respect they deserve.
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| Photo contributed DJ Craig Dominic of Blackness Yes!, organizer of the annual Blockorama celebration. |
Dominic said the same reason Blocko was
important in 1999 is still the same today – “a Black space made by and for all
Black people to celebrate Blackness.”
“ You can find a lot of black sprinkled
throughout the festival now but we all know the saying: ‘Everybody loves Black
culture, not everybody loves Black people.’ Well, we do!”
He believes the issues today more revolve
around erasures and microagressions.
“Pride Toronto tries to walk a delicate balance between the
corporations and community and I recognize that is not easy but at some point,
they must realize that Pride belongs to the community,” says Redman.
In January this year, Pride Toronto held community consultations on Blockorama
& Blackness Yes!"
Redman says these were consultations driven by Pride Toronto and “we
as a committee are still looking at the information and waiting to meet with
Pride about next steps.”
In 2016, as the honoured group, Black Lives Matter Toronto, held a
sit-in protest at the Pride Parade where it issued nine demands to Pride
Toronto.
Among the demands were the doubling of funding for Blockorama to
$13,000, and full and adequate funding for community stages including logistical,
technical and personnel support.
On its website, Black Lives Matter Toronto has crossed these out
indicating that they have been achieved.
Over the years, Blockorama has attracted international artists like
Diana King, Destra, Alison Hinds, En Vogue and Evelyn "Champagne"
King.
Also on the bill have been
Canadian artists such as D’bi Young, Zaki Ibrahim, LAL, Witch Prophet, Tika,
Shi Wisdom, SATE, formerly known as Saidah Baba Talibah, Trey Anthony and Keisha
Chante.
To choose their headliners, Blackness Yes! devises a wish list and although
some of those artists get “scooped” from them and end up on other Pride stages
– something that is frustrating for Redman, they put out feelers and see who
are available and affordable.
Pride Toronto notes that Blockorama has provided a loving space within
the festival that respects intersections, accessible needs, the importance of
programming and community-led space.
Redman says the feedback from patrons to the annual event has been
very encouraging with many saying, “It
feels like home for a lot of us and Blocko continues to shatter myths.”
“People insist on it now because that’s how they celebrate Pride at
Blocko,” he said.
His involvement is sustained by “seeing the joy on someone’s face the
first time they find Blocko and community. There is something very inspiring
and electric that happens in the space.”
Dominic says Blocko is essentially the last
community-led space at Pride. “It’s a force and a culture that has to be seen
and witnessed. There’s an authenticity in the love people bring to the space, I
find.”
Blockorama, a free event, will be held on
Sunday, June 24, 12:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Wellesley Stage. SWV is
scheduled to perform at 8:30 p.m.
SWV was founded in 1992 in New York by three best friends, Cheryl
"Coko" Clemons, Tamara "Taj" George and Leanne
"Lelee" Lyons. Their debut album, "It's About Time," was a smash hit
selling over 13 million copies worldwide and spawning three Billboard chart
topping singles, "I'm So Into You," "Weak" and "Right Here."
The group disbanded in 1998 with each member pursuing different interests, but
since 2005
SWV has reunited from time-to-time for special performances.
In 2011, the
group finally recorded its fourth studio album, "I Missed Us," which earned it
a 2013 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance.
This
achievement has inspired SWV to head back on the road for a make-or-break
comeback tour, which was chronicled in the hit WE tv docu-series “SWV
Reunited.”
[A shorter version of this story has been published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, June 21-27, 2018.]
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