Feeling Inspired: Young Fathers' likes and inspirations

Adura Onashile
One of the highlights of the Edinburgh International Festival last summer was Adura Onashile’s tour de force performance in Medea. I knew Adura was a talented playwright when I saw Expensive Shit at The Traverse some years back, but seeing her on that raised stage commanding our attention was incredible. I was mesmerised by her ability to present the character of Medea in such a relevant and contemporary way, which for me transcended the original text. Just wow! [Alloysious Massaquoi]

Alan Lomax's recordings
As close as you can get to hearing the kind of music that’s been around soothing souls, from all over the world, for millennia. Gets to the root. [Graham 'G' Hastings]

being_a.blessin
I met her at the [Proudly Black and Excellent Awards Gala] in Glasgow last year. Both she and her outfit stood out to me. She has an incredible sense of style, she’s driven and ambitious. Dundee-based for now and is currently doing her dissertation for law school. [AM] being_a.blessin pictured above, photo by Jack Visser

BE United
They have existed in the arts and cultural scene in Scotland for a bit, and seem to have steadily grown as a platform uplifting African & Caribbean creative voices that would otherwise be lost in the noise of a sector which is still shutting people out, socially, economically, etc. Even though I've never collaborated with them, I believe in the work Emma Picken and her crew are developing and am glad to see it being recognised by recent partnerships with the Edinburgh International Festival and nominations for the excellence of their work, by Creative Edinburgh. [AM]

Christine from Knights Kitchen
The gentrification Leith Walk has been going through in the last couple of years has created great opportunities for new businesses to establish themselves there. Christine is the 'sauce' and matriarch of this amazingly delicious East African haven, which has already established itself as one of the ‘must go’ eateries around. If you eat meat ask for the Herdsmen Brunch, if not the Savannah Brunch is your deal. You’ll thank me later. [AM]

Claricia Parinussa 
Claricia Parinussa is an interdisciplinary performance artist working under [nussatari]. They founded and lead ID.Y, a QTIBIPOC-focused cohort offering producing, management, artist support, advocacy, research and anti-racism practice facilitation. 

As Nusa Revlon they are also a member of the underground ballroom scene, leading the Scottish ballroom community with educational and support project House Ball Scotland. [AM]

Dambudzo Marechera's The House of Hunger
I’m cheating a bit because I haven’t even finished it. The book is brutal, in a good way. But you need to work up to carry on reading. The documentary about Dambudzo was something we kept looking at while recording [Heavy Heavy]. Sometimes playing video on silent while listening back to what we’re working on helps; the scene where he’s walking through the streets of London in particular. [GH]

Death Metal Angola by Jeremy Xido
Last year marked the tenth anniversary of this remarkable film. Giving insight to a movement that transcends politics and war, this truly all-encapsulating piece puts together the power of music and how expression does not have parameters or boundaries, illustrating what can be birthed after the consequence of war. Bringing light civil conflicts and what provoked such an impactful movement. Call it what you want, death metal, dark metal or rock… I call it revolutionary music. To me the screams represent revolt, the lyrics represent hope in darkness. Thanks to this film, death metal now makes sense to me – I truly know what it means to rock out.

The expression of death and chaos is real and penetrates the soul of others. Sit back as you look into the Kings Club, the home of revolutionary music and get a picture of how rebellious music has its place for change and growth within Africa. [Kayus Bankole]

Hew Locke
Hew Locke’s The Procession is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I don’t think many people who have seen it will ever forget it. We went to see it after the album was done and it was like a full stop on what we felt the album was. A consistently brilliant artist. [GH]

Toots And The Maytals' In the Dark
Never tire of this album. The first music I played to my child after they were born. I see it as an essential part of their education. If you don’t like this album, I don’t trust you. [GH]

James Baldwin interviews
A master. Sets the standard for why you should be deadly serious in what you do. Take it seriously. Protect it. Don’t be floppy. [GH]

Joy Sunday
We met at a POC event during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and also on a night out. She had such a strong presence and was down to earth. We got on really well. Fast forward some months later – she’s now set to be a part of the Hollywood elite as she continues to ascend to new heights in the industry. [AM] Joy Sunday pictured above in Netflix's new series Wednesday.

Larry Achiampong
I got to hear him talk about his practice recently at Edinburgh College of Art. What struck me in Larry’s talk was how he expressed his views with a frankness that went completely against the formality of the academic institution where we were as well as all it represents. It reaffirmed to me that staying true to who you are and where you come from will always be more powerful than conforming to others’ expectations of you and your work. [AM]

Melissa Wright Katongola
French-Congolese creative who models and is studying Law and Politics at Stirling University. I met her when the Amazon Prime Anansi  Boys production was being shot in Edinburgh. She’s socially engaged, politically aware, wanting to make a difference. It's ppl like her who are helping to shape the future of our world now and that makes me hugely hopeful and excited for what’s to come. [AM]

Muirhouse Living Memories
We used to nick a lot of photos from here for our early gig posters – brilliant photography. Reminds me of being wee, being with family. The Edinburgh I remember, concrete and green. [GH]

National Geographic: Through The Lens
Picked this up in a charity shop on Leith Walk. We cut it up and stuck the photos around the studio. Great photos of people. Helped us picture a community to sing to. [GH]

Ncuti Gatwa
When I think of where he’s at now – set to become the first Black Doctor Who, following his breakthrough role in Sex Education – it takes me back to a time when he, Kayus and I and our siblings were part of a handful of Black kids in our school. [AM]

Ode to the Ancestors by Sherry Davis
I became aware of Sherry Davis’s Ode to the Ancestors exhibition, on display at the Horniman Museum in London and Fort Jesus (National Museums in Kenya) until the end of 2023, through a social media link. The friend who sent it to me had met Sherry – who is a London-based musician, filmmaker and curator – a few years back and heard her talk passionately about the erasure of African archaeologists' work, like her grandfather, have suffered through time. She was in the early stages of her research then, so it’s amazing to see what she has accomplished on our behalf, taking a step forward and reclaiming African history. It’s my ‘must go’ exhibition next time I’m in London. [AM]

Rings for ma and da by Kevin Harman
Ma and Da frequented a pawn shop with the family jewels. Looking forward to take away tonight. Da went to see a man about a dog… again. Ma and da punched 360 degrees, it left a… [KB]

Roberto De Simone's La Tradizione in Campania
Robert Del Naja [Massive Attack] played us this when we were in Bristol doing some recording with them. Think he knew we’d love it. It’s one of the many strings of ancient folky music we tuned into while making the album. This is Neapolitan; translate the words for a good laugh. [GH]

Rev. Louis Overstreet
One man band. One example of the many great gospel leaders from the Deep South. Proper rock’n’roll. A lot of the tempos for this album were set with this in mind; fast and driven, still human though. [GH]

Tanifiki
Another example of how moments of crisis can also boost entrepreneurship of the best kind. East-African born Ben and Scottish partner Jonathan defied the doom and gloom of the COVID malarky and against all odds, decided to merge their two setups into a joint venture and opened coffee sanctuary Tanifiki in Portobello. In the space of 12 months it’s already an established airy industrial-design style space (aesthetically my fav), where you can experience the boys’ own coffee brand Rafiki Coffee, roasted in Scotland and sourced from Rwanda. [AM]

The Wedding by Stewart Kyasimire
Watching Stewart's most recent filmic accomplishment, the BBC Scotland drama The Wedding, brought both a smile to my face and a warm sense of familiarity. By focusing the six-part short TV series on a Scottish African wedding (inspired by his own life events), Stewart offers us six very entertaining (and superbly acted) insights into the impact life-changing events like that can have on the community you hold close around you. It made me think of my family and how much these celebratory moments have helped shape our joint history. Definitely worth the 'binge' watch on BBC iPlayer. [AM]

Tony Mills, Artistic Director, Dance Base
I was at Dance Base last month to attend one of their new Scratch Nights and was chuffed to see Tony fully taking on this artistic directorship role. I’ve known Tony since his early days as one of the leading breakdance dance artists in the Scottish scene, and it’s great to see institutions like Dance Base put their trust on homegrown talent. [AM] Tony Mills pictured above; photo by Ian Georgeson.

Toyin Ojih Odutola
I was lucky enough to catch her 2019 exhibition, A Countervailing theory, at the Barbican. It blew me away and has stuck with me ever since. She reimagines Blackness on canvas by finding ways to visually portray her subjects in new narratives that gives them back their humanity. This feeling was heightened by an immersive soundscape composed by Peter Adjaye. [AM]

Honourable mentions 

Family, Fife and drum, 2nd line music from Louisiana, The Harder They Come, Howardena Pindell, Africa, Fela Kuti live at Glastonbury
Privilege (1967), Rock Dreams by Guy Peellaert, Lee Scratch Perry in Black Ark studio, Go Go Music from Washington DC, Driver man, Passa Passa DVDs, The Last Poets, Lou Reed telling an audience to shut up, Soul Stirrers, Jamaica, Tapes from Africa, Bongou Cafe on North Fort Street, Nollywood films, the Radio Garden app, Life Magazine, Junkanoo drums, James Brown, a good straight face, The The Infected video album, Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln's TV Performance, Otis Redding live videos, The Cake performing You Can Have Him, Alan Vega hitting the drum machine on stage, Remembering Marvin Gaye: Life in Ostend documentary, Nehama Tales To Entertain The Dead photobook, Dusttodigital and FilmCoOp on Instagram, footage of American spirituals, good suits (loose, slept in, like what old blues guys wore), Michelange Quay's films, Sun Ra, the National Youth Choir of Namibia, Roy De Carava, Law Holt, Callum Easter, Dark Magas by Miles Davis, Intercultural Youth Scotland, Black Scottish Adventurers, The Black Curriculum, Saul Williams and Frida Orupabo

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Our February issue is a Young Fathers takeover – alongside an extended chat with the band, their former manager Tim London pens a letter to Kayus, Alloysious and G; plus Young Fathers collaborator Callum Easter fills out this month’s Q+A, and YF-approved features on theatre maker and director Adura Onashile and the Tanzanian underground sound of Singeli.

Scroll on for more from the Young Fathers takeover, or pick up a print copy from locations across Scotland