Black History Month 2022: A Celebration of Black British Women in Music
To mark Black History Month in the UK this year, darvaja is honoured to have musical icon and friend, Jenna G to share a mix with our community.
Jenna is a multidisciplinary artist, working as a singer, songwriter, DJ, creative director. Throughout her 20 year career, she has been a vocal advocate for black women in the music industry. She has consistently spoken out about the oppression and exploitation of Black Women within the industry, speaking truth to power with integrity and care. For darvaja, this emulates this year's theme of Black History Month - Actions Not Words.
With a brief to celebrate Black women in British music over the past 30 years, Jenna has produced an upbeat and uplifting mix. We spoke with Jenna to get her reflections on topics ranging from Black History Month to Mixcloud.
How do you feel about Black History Month this year?
The same as I feel every year ‘whys it only a month though?’ There’s so much that everybody raised and residing in this country should know about its Black history & culture a month is simply not enough”
How do you feel being a black woman in the UK music industry?
Being a black woman in every industry comes with multiple challenges, through my experience in music those challenges have been pretty insidious and unfortunately not just my own. There’s a pattern of pigeon holing, ignoring, undervaluing and under appreciating Black women’s contributions that permeates so much of the industry in the UK.
It's wild to me that music originating from Black Culture, the space it holds across our commercial stations, venues and channels isn't filled by more black artists.
How was making this mix? What were you looking to share? Was there anyone you would like to dedicate this to?
I love that you asked me to do this, its an honour to be able to contribute in any way to the important work darvaja does as an organisation and the subject matter was right up my street! If I hadn't seen and heard some of these women growing up, would I have believed it was possible for me to do the same? What would my contributions to music even sound like? My career is built on foundations that brilliant black women laid before me, to celebrate those that have and continue to inspire is fundamental and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share some absolute bangers…much like a month 45mins just wasn’t enough :P
What would you like to see change for Black women in the UK in the coming year?
I feel over the past 2 years we’ve all had ample opportunities to learn how Black British Women are at the worst end of a lot of societal statistics. More likely to die during pregnancy, more prone to mental health issues, less likely to receive shelter in domestic abuse cases, face more inequalities when pursuing justice, are completely missing from the top percentile of incomes, face a ‘concrete’ ceiling in professional careers…the list goes on. Now that we know all this, it's time for change. Not gradual or tokenistic but real burn the house to the ground change.
What does Actions Not Words mean to you?
Justice for Grenfell, black history to be made an integral part of the national curriculum from Primary through to secondary, charges against the police officers who orchestrated the murder of Chris Kaba, accountability and reparations for the looting and brutality perpetrated throughout the commonwealth.
Why have we shared the mix on Mix cloud?
Mixcloud is the only open platform that pays all creators in a track accordingly through the various collections societies.
If you're a DJ who posts mixes on Mixcloud with no track listing, I implore you to think of the artists who've made you’re upload possible by simply putting their details in a track list, by doing this you’re making it easier for Mixcloud to allocate a royalty payment, you are supporting the people that helped you create and all it cost you was a little of your time… Same goes for DJs getting a fee for playing in clubs, register with PRS - submit a track listing for your gigs, it doesn't have to be all five hours (if your that way inclined), include black artists, independent artists, artists local to you, it's literally money in a pot waiting for them…don't be a dick, be a darling!
Please note, we are sharing this mix on the Mixcloud platform, as it is the only open platform to give royalties to artists. To read more about Mixcloud, click here. For darvaja and Jenna, anti racism cannot truly happen if we aren’t paying and acknowledging people for their labour.
As Jenna shared, shortlisting tracks for this mix was really challenging! To honour and celebrate the full extent of black women in British music, Jenna has shared a longer playlist
To find out more about Jenna, and stay up to date with her work, you can follow her here,
Twitter/Instagram - @j3nnag
