Thursday 21 June 2018

Blockorama Celebrates its 20th Anniversary at Pride with SWV


By Neil Armstrong

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.
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. 
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.]

 

No comments:

Post a Comment