On Tuesday 15th November, Kanéda put on a night of spoken word, rap, art and singing at Boxpark Shoreditch for The Survivors Trust.
The first act came from Jamahyl Chan (@blackanesehippy_), who started with a spoken word performance that explored the influence of a former teacher. He then followed with genre bending performances of ‘Allow it’ and ‘Her story’ that discussed the experience of survivors and the complicated emotional response they can have, the spoken word becoming musical in emotional climaxes of each piece.
The second spoken word performance came from Hannah O’Sullivan (@h.osullii) who gave an emotionally charged and extremely powerful explanation of the difficulties and losses of a survivor. After her performance, Hannah also spoke on the complexities of attending nights out in places like Boxpark for survivors, making clear how pervasive sexual violence is in society. If you want to read Sully’s piece, it’s available to read here.
Elijah Black (@poloblvck) was the third performer but the first rapper and singer, with an uplifting performance titled ‘Brave Soul’ which calls on everyone to recognise each woman’s immense value. The performance so well received that PoloBlvck performed the song twice, his hook sung back to him by the crowd the second time around. A mix and mastered version of ‘Brave Soul’ can be heard here.
Rianna Kellman (@rraanna) closed out the performances with a song written about the entrapment of unhealthy relationships and how difficult it can be to escape. The subject matter was heavy but conscious of this, Kellman’s melody was written to inspire and convey hope, a perfect way to leave the audience before everyone enjoyed the guest DJ set and the end of their night.
A big thank you must go to Ewan Keenan (@art.by.ewan) and Tamia Stone (@23teemoney) for the artwork that adorned BeatBox Shoreditch for the evening and to Kanéda (charitybykaneda) herself for organising such a successful event.
Thanks to Nabil Qureshi (@snab_shots) for photography.
