Clare Ents

13/06/2020

Today we’re showing love to perhaps the biggest thing to happen to UK music since the birth of jungle: Grime.
Check out our playlist here : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7LIgFZVAnmmNE0kPJv9CzY?si=W4T9TUi5SCGkGD-u3U0AUg

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Grime is a uniquely british style of rap which sees MCs spitting over high-bpm breakbeat rhythms, derived from earlier jungle and garage sounds. It is known for its abrasive, aggressive lyrics and jagged electronic sound, which together represent the harsh origins of the style.

It is a genre indebted to the Black-British community, who pioneered, and continue to dominate the scene, and who successfully helped bring global attention to the entire U.K. rap scene. Such individuals include the likes of Wiley, Kano and Dizzee Rascal, the last of which won the 2003 Mercury Prize for his debut album ‘Boy in da Corner’. However, Grime is not UK hip-hop, and its progenitors are keen to stress the uniquely British origins of the sound.

Though Grime reached its peak in the mid 00s, the genre continues to be popular to this day. Skepta and Stormzy are perhaps the two biggest grime stars to emerge since the end of the 2000s, with the former of the two being famously co-signed by Drake, who featured on perhaps Skepta’s most famous song ‘Shutdown’. Grime has also gone on to influence later genres, such as U.K. Drill which, though inspired by the Chicago drill sound, draws from that proud, Black-British culture which underpins the spirit of grime.

Similarly, the success of Grime brought a new found appreciation for the breakbeat rhythm, and many modern UK rap/hip-hop hits continue to make use of this earlier grime sound. Indeed, it continues to attract support from UK fans due its gritty lyrics and high energy beats - just blast ‘That’s Not Me’ at your next house party and you’ll see what we mean.

Clare Ents · Playlist · 44 songs · 5 likes

12/06/2020

Today’s playlist is live now! Check it out: https://open.spotify.com/user/ytm9ynibwbyiw897jtxay33wi/playlist/1Ui13UqW9abMvzPqaHbEed?si=NDKtU6FjQbC0ZydTAT9fEw

Emerging in late-60s Jamaica, reggae music began as an offshoot of earlier RnB-inspired genres ska and rocksteady which quickly became the dominant sound in Jamaica, due to its tendency for highly politicised lyrics that commented on social and economic injustices heavily felt by the island’s citizens.

Like most music in Jamaica, reggae first spread across the country via soundsystem parties; a unique type of gathering where DJs would play new & popular records to large crowds. Prominent from as early as the 50s, soundsystem culture often involved fierce competition between DJs to secure exclusive records or ‘dubs’ over which one would speak or ‘toast’ in order to entertain the crowd. It was this exact culture that would bring reggae to the UK; early hits were first discovered at underground ‘blues parties’ frequented by first and second generation Carribean immigrants in the late 60s. As these events grew in popularity, the reggae and dub sound began to imprint itself into the UK music scene, going on to influence new styles like jungle and DnB.

But reggae’s hopeful and uplifting lyrics were more than just a reaction to the Jamaican struggle. Rastafari, a Pan-African religion which deified the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Sellasie I, was central to the evolution of reggae music, using it to preach messages of love, unity & peace. It was this spiritual foundation that propelled reggae to fame, not only within Jamaica, but across the world. Bob Marley is perhaps the most famous artist to preach the Rasta message, and it was him who, together with The Wailers, helped sustain reggae’s international presence during the 70s, his revolutionary lyrics embraced by all those who rallied against rising social and economic injustices. However, it was always in Jamaica that his lyrics were most strongly felt, as Marley was hailed as a messianic figure, whose ability to unite the nation was most poignantly displayed at the 1978 One Love concert.

The legacy of reggae continues on to this day, not only in its influence on new genres, but through the success of derivative styles like dub and the more-upbeat dancehall.

10/06/2020

Day 3 and the playlist is live now! Check it out -> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3bztfmay6T66MtsPRxP2DM?si=br17sRRzTU-_uur6eoMy1g

Read on for a little history about House & Techno!
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Two of the earliest styles of dance music, House and Techno have a shared history originating in two key cities: Chicago & Detroit.

Off the back of the 70s disco craze, house emerged in 1980s Chicago as a new style of electronic music which favoured thumping 4/4 bass lines and funky synth leads. Like disco, house was a style embedded within a specific party scene, and it was through clubs like The Warehouse and Music Box, owned by early pioneers Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, that house rose to fame.

As the Chicago house sound began to come into its own, a similar process was underway in Detroit, the birthplace of Techno. Influenced by early electro-pop, DJs like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Robert Hood began to experiment with new methods of production to create their own style of dance music. Unlike house, Detroit techno was primarily instrumental, and its beats more complex than the 4/4 kick drum that underpinned house.

By the mid-80s both house and techno had begun to attract international attention. The Detroit sound became a mainstay of the Euro rave scene, while house found its success in Britain with the development of new ‘acid’ sounds created using the still-adored Roland TB303.

As the dance music craze gripped the world, more and more European DJs began contributing their own spin on house and techno, but it was primarily black artists from Chicago, Detroit and New York that continued to dominate the airways well into the late-90s.

Since then, house has shot into the mainstream, and is played everywhere from raves to beach-side bars. It has found a special home in the clubs of S.Africa, inspiring subgenres like kwaito & gqom. Techno, however, has largely stayed in the clubs, favoured for its increasingly deep, sparse and ambient rhythms.

Celebrating the influence of black artists in the world of music. 7 days, 7 playlists, endless vibes.

09/06/2020

It's day 2 and today we're showing love to some of the black artists that gave us funk and disco! Playlist is live on our spotify now - check it out !!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0NxXTcVDTM291yDyKvyknv?si=k--IIzh1STG90HE2Iz_S1A

08/06/2020

With all that’s happening right now, we at Clare Ents think it’s time we show some love and support to the many black artists whose music we enjoy each and every day. This week we’ll be sharing some of our favourite music produced by black artists, giving them the attention and respect that they deserve! Each day we’ll release a new Spotify playlist focusing on specific a genre/style, starting today with jazz & blues. Check it out -> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3fStfZKd7xldWaZ84en3Hb…

We shared a lil history of jazz on our Instagram (.ents) as well with some great resources for those who want to learn more! We’ll be doing the same for every genre for the next 7 days!

(Photo: Louis Armstrong in Amsterdam, 1955)

08/06/2020

EDUCATE YOUR SELF!

In the past weeks, many incredible books and articles on race & racism have been made freely accessible to the public. By virtue of being at Cambridge, we have access to an even greater number of these publications FOR FREE and we suggest that you make use of your privilege as a student of this university to educate yourself using these works. Below is a selection of the ebooks available on iDiscover.

If you haven’t read it already, we strongly recommend you start with Reni Eddo-Lodge’s incredible book:

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (2017) - Reni Eddo-Lodge: http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/t9gok8/44CAM_ALMA51615189690003606

Taking up space - Chelsea Kwakye & Ore Ogunbiyi: http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/t9gok8/44CAM_ALMA51629537820003606

White Fragility (2018) - Robin J. DiAngelo:
http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1ii55o6/44CAM_ALMA51633725260003606

Black Feminist Thought – Patricia Collins:
http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1ii55o6/44CAM_ALMA51528325500003606

White Privilege : The myth of a post-racial society - Kalwant Bhopal.
http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1ii55o6/44CAM_ALMA51572162410003606

Stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in America - Ibram Kendi:
http://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/1ii55o6/44CAM_ALMA51633725230003606

While we hope that you will make time to read the above texts, we also know that in this current climate not everyone has the luxury to do so. The articles below should all take less than an hour (some less than 10 minutes!) to read, but they are rich with important, eye-opening information.

White Fragility (2011) – Robin J. DiAngelo: https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116

On Violence (except from Wretched of the Earth, 1963) – Frantz Fanon:http://abahlali.org/files/On_Violence.pdf

On Detroit and Techno: https://pitchfork.com/features/electric-fling/9588-electronic-warfare-the-political-legacy-of-detroit-techno/

Put our colonial history on the curriculum – Maya Goodfellow: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/05/britain-colonial-history-curriculum-racism-migration

A brief history of police brutality in the UK - Micha Frazer-Carroll: https://www.huckmag.com/perspectives/opinion-perspectives/a-brief-history-of-police-brutality-in-the-uk/

Or tune into one of these podcasts:

This American Life, (esp. Ep.547 ‘Cops see it differently’): https://www.thisamericanlife.org/547/cops-see-it-differently-part-one

About Race with Reni Eddo Lodge: https://www.aboutracepodcast.com/

Code switch, ‘A Decade of Watching Black People Die’: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865261916/a-decade-of-watching-black-people-die

Hopefully these resources will be of use to you, if you have any suggestions of things to add please do get in contact! And stay tuned as we begin a special week long celebration of black culture and music on our Instagram (.ents), starting tonight with Jazz and Blues!

07/06/2020

Like many of you, Clare Ents has been following the news coming out of the UK and USA. We too, would like to express our outrage and upset over the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Belly Mujinga and countless others who have lost their lives at the hands of institutional racism. We also offer our sympathy and support to the Black community at Clare, Cambridge and across the world, and to all those engaged in the fight against racism.

As we mentioned before, we will be circulating some resources in the coming days to aid everyone looking to support the cause. First and foremost, we urge all Cambridge students to like and follow the CUSU BME Campaign, and to sign the open letter, demanding that the University of Cambridge actively contribute to the fight against racism, turning its empty words into actions of substance.

Open letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D2VnQ2z-77b-r-SIP4OkAwCco9uC_d_ZnIAhbeefZr4/edit?fbclid=IwAR1GBjMCHSxqD4arEQpnq49yWphSIYFgtvf8CCfUL1bTN1Ku3xQ2xbZ9Pac

Likewise, we suggest that everyone takes a look at the following google doc, which compiles all the ways in which you can continue to support the BLM movement from your own home. This includes, links to petitions, email templates and ways to donate both your money and your time:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x65xLdIUDWMUl4_nkuD-EeP98UuJ2nuknUDsqUm7R9s/htmlview?fbclid=IwAR2_s0rntMQWx00vsjib6h8LnNzU0WVQXlHwyNxeGni2E_TnAvnEfsCw03w&pru=AAABcp5MRtY%2ANi7oVOUM8a2_WrzaWbAJFw =1386834576

The two links below will take you to funds which are currently being used directly for ongoing protests and resistance movements both in the UK and USA.

Support UK BLM: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ukblm-fund

Donate to National Bail Fund Network: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bailfundscovid

Tomorrow, we will circulate a selection of pedagogical resources (books, articles, etc.) which are essential reading for those wishing to educate themselves on topics of race, racism, colonialism and the fight against these issues. Until then, we urge you to support the cause, share this information and give what you can.

Sending love and support to all,
Clare Ents

We’ve moved the Open Letter to a Google Form, due to high traffic — please sign at: https://forms.gle/Mogw8pEqRRQ5eaxg9 (you don’t need to fill it in if you’ve already signed it here) For societies and J/MCRs, please message the BME Campaign’s page or email us at bmecampaigncambri...

15/05/2020

Just over an hour until Jake Skelton blesses your speakers (and screens) with a tasty jungle mix. Streaming from 9-10. It's gonna be heavy.

08/05/2020

TODAYS SET IS AT 6pm not 9pm.
Bringing those sweet world and Afro beat vibes in the sunshine.

Planning to run from 6-8.

See u all soon xx