Set in Concrete

The following is a gallery of the amazing things the rastas can do with concrete… I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

The first fortnight

Just want to say this does not mean I will only post fortnightly… but outside influences have prevented me from sitting here writing a post… but I’m in the mood to make up fr the fortnight wait… if any one is out there… But Irie, I am writing for myself just as much… “Sellasie Ai JAH! Rastafari” Been to two 12th Tribe of Israel meetings… Been learning plenty and giving much thanks. If you experienced one of these meetings you would wish all meetings were this civil, all topics were necessary, well thought out, well debated, and everyone was given the chance to give their thoughts… Even myself as a relative newcomer was given the oppurtunity to give my thoghts and feelings on one of the topics… Many topics were discussed, and won’t go into all of them… Been spending time with the brethren for a while now, I always feel welcome… had tea on saturday before the rugby… Been learning about reggae music… my dls are full of it… STELL PULSE MAX RESPECT!!! Also about concrete sculptures, which I have lovely photos of… and butternuts (but that’s another story!)…

TO BE CONTINUED AFTER SOME FOOD!!!!!

With a bit of Freestyle Thrown in…

Freestyle Marketing by my mate Nattydub Judah!

Blessing the pipe…

Yesterday afternoon I paid a visit to my Rastafarian friends at the gardens here in Kitwe. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, or a pen and paper… Because there was a lot to hear and see. The Rastafarians make concrete sculptures and decorations for a variety of uses, they would use clay, but they don’t have a kiln, or clay. The main guy is a trained potter, who was working with a nationalised company called Zambia Pottery… but as with most of the Zambian nationalised companies it liquidated. Competing with cheap asian imports is difficult, so it’s down to using concrete, but being very humble people, they aren’t the type to complain. They do the best with what they have got, and they have made beautiful pillars, flowerpots, statues. I have a plan to set up an art exhibition at the gardens, and change the context of the objects from props to art, it might allow them to sell more and for higher prices. The money made will be spent on buying new instruments, community work, farming etc… nothing for any real personal gain, just invested straight back into their projects. Anyways, has anything I’ve just written got to do with blessing a pipe… well the whole afternoon, we blessed this beautiful stone pipe I received as a gift only the night before. The gift was a “thank you” for putting the video that started all this online. This is the pipe… with this inscription upon it.

“747 never give up hope”

The blessing of this pipe was beautiful in my eyes, shared amongst the Rasta’s, allowing us to share many conversations, about the past, present and the future… and this is why I wish I took pen and paper, we spoke of many things… Including the story of Mushala, a rebel leader who planned to take over the north-western province of Zambia… Also a very poetic love story of one of Rasta friends here who fell in love with a girl who mistook his poetic wooing as crazy banter… And life in the Zambian Army, where the first thing said to you as a trainee is “We are going to destroy you! And then we will rebuild you in our own fashion”… Each of these topics deserve more research and their seperate postings… So you’ll just have to watch this space…

Photographic Evidence…

Photographic Evidence can be a powerful thing and after power we get manipulation, hence we have photoshop. I however will not manipulate you, I will just share with you some moments of my evening in which the video was taken.

It started with a video…

It started with a video, this tale I hope to tell. A fortnight ago, I attended a Bob Marley memorial concert in the medium sized mining town of Kitwe, Zambia. I have called this town my home for near on twelve years now, and this is the year I decided to go for the first time. In my excitement, I forgot one of Zambia many intrigues, nothing happens on time. The show was meant to start at 12:00 and I arrived at 15:30 and the show started at 17:00… This was not to dampen my spirits, as once the music started all my troubles dissappeared. The music was great, the atmosphere was hazy, and everyone was have a good time… This is the introduction to the video which starts this tale I hope to tell