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THE CITY THE BUZZ
My
BRISTOL Meet new-wave jazz/soul artist Samantha Lindo I’ve just released Those Kids, a single about hope, healing and finding home. It combines cinematic strings reminiscent of the 1950s jazz standards of my grandfather’s record collection; the R&B harmonies that marked my teenage years; and the Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohenlike poeticism that inspired me in my early twenties. The single started with a personal meaning about finding home in myself but through making the video, the subject matter expanded to comment on youth homelessness. I live alongside young people at risk of homelessness at the UK’s first zero-carbon social housing project. Having moved 25 times – partly due to being in a single-parent family when I was young, and insecure renting – I have first and second-hand experience of the need for secure, just housing. Without it we can’t heal, build and fulfil our potential. I’ve been talking about the importance of community since my 2017 TEDx performance at Bristol Beacon [on YouTube] and always chosen to live in community settings. It’s a counter-cultural way to live in a society often defined by individualism – causing lots of the mental health, loneliness and environmental crises we face.
Wall-to-wall works of wonder
After seeing Beyonce headline Glastonbury with an all-female band, I co-founded allfemale arts collective Girls Girls Girls. I figured that by collaborating, we could empower other womxn in music – still quite a male-dominated industry. We connected with UK charity The Orchid Project, campaigning to put an end to FGC, and used shows to raise awareness. To celebrate our 10th anniversary I performed in an all-female show at St George’s Bristol (I love the acoustics there) featuring Brit nominee Beth Rowley, ethereal grunger Eliza Shaddad and the Murmuration Choir. It was amazing to reflect on what we’d done in 10 years, including touring the UK and singing at the Museum of London’s Votes for Women exhibition.
We’ve really enjoyed this year’s approach to Upfest – Bedminster’s walls becoming ever-more vibrant and awash with new colour but incrementally, for 75 Walls. With 75 murals being painted over 75 days for the project, while there’s perhaps slightly less fanfare for artists than when thousands would witness them painting live during buzzing Upfest weekend – customary prepandemic – we’ve loved the surreptitious appearances, day by day; incredible pieces steadily materialising every time we pop out to North Street for groceries or a cheeky cocktail. 75 Walls also features a landmark 50/50 gender split for the artist lineup, adding to the phenomenal amount of female artist talent on show already on Southville streets.
My favourite urban place is probably St Paul’s as I’ve lived there the longest. It’s full of art reflecting my own Jamaican heritage – where I grew up, on the outskirts of London until we moved to the South West when I was in my late teens, I didn’t have any of that. And I love Carnival. My favourite natural place is Conham River Park. It feels like you could be across the world on a sunny day – there’s a community of year-round bathers there.
• upfest.co.uk Images: Wonderful Inkie and Zabou work on West Street and Winterstoke Road respectively, and Liam Bonini’s beaut of a piece beside North Street Standard
14 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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AUGUST 2021
I start the day with a stretch on the yoga mat and a shot of cider vinegar – I swear by it. I do
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No 201
Samantha has always chosen to live in community settings as a counter-cultural way of life in a society often defined by individualism
a few hours of creative work then run before I listen to Woman’s Hour – I started in lockdown and can’t give it up! I try to practice or write, do some online lessons and listen to PM rewound. I’ll have the front door open so I can chat with whoever is passing. I love Rising Arts Agency’s citywide exhibition on care. They are contributing powerfully to some of the most important conversations we are having. Isolde (who runs the Murmuration Choir) is doing great work creating art that engages with the climate crisis. That needs to happen more to connect what can, sometimes, be quite a heady issue, to the heart. I also love Holly from the Ishmael Collective, a Bristol jazz group just breaking. Her voice is insane and she has such an ethereal stage presence – she is clearly channelling something so deep. I don’t eat much meat but when I do, I make it Star & Garter jerk chicken with rice, peas, coleslaw and dumpling by Lisa. Radek’s vegan raw chocolate brownie is the best Bristol-made treat – gluten and refined sugar-free. I used to be in a band with Radek and test out his recipes. For vegan breakfast with yummy beans and Columbian flavours: Este in Easton. Jubilee Food Hub in St Werburghs also do amazing coffee, pastries and homemade ice lollies. Political leadership is incredibly complex and the mayor deals with competing issues really quite well. One thing I’d do is gather partners/stakeholders in education, sustainability, business and social justice to cocreate a citywide apprenticeship programme, specifically favouring Black and minority ethnic young people, and those from economically neglected white working-class areas, to build industries of the future: insulation and retrofitting, hydrogen, electric batteries, innovative tech and regenerative farming. • @samanthalindouk
