{"id":7491,"date":"2018-09-23T06:41:12","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T06:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=7491"},"modified":"2025-12-26T22:14:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:14:58","slug":"young-fathers-touching-heart-scottish-creative-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2018\/09\/young-fathers-touching-heart-scottish-creative-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Fathers: touching the heart of Scottish creative diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>The audience falls silent as Alloysius Massaquoi takes the mic. \u2018You\u2019re hearing right,\u2019 he says with a smile,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>\u2018I\u2019m a black guy with a Scottish accent. I\u2019m not here to take your jobs, or steal your women\u2026\u2019 A pause, the smile grows wicked\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2018Well<span class=\"s1\">&#8230;<\/span>we\u2019ll see.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Laughter, whistles and loud applause.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span><a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.young-fathers.com\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Young Fathers<\/span><\/a> have won the <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.smia.org.uk\/scottish-album-of-the-year\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Scottish Album of the Year Award 2018<\/span><\/a> and both the judges&#8217; decision and the joke go down happily with all genders in the large (and largely white) crowd filling Paisley Town Hall.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The winners also look and sound delighted as they jostle to find their verbal balance.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>They hadn\u2019t prepared a speech<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> they weren\u2019t expecting to win.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The first group to secure the SAY Award twice (the Edinburgh-based trio won it in 2014, the same year they won the Mercury Prize) can claim to have made history<span class=\"s1\">.<\/span> And to make it in Scotland is something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic for Scotland to show diversity in music\u2026\u201d says Massaquoi, jokily but firmly resisting Kayus Bankole\u2019s suggestion they keep it simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"p4\">No we\u2019re not keeping it simple, we\u2019re not keeping it simple<span class=\"s1\">.&nbsp;<\/span>It\u2019s definitely an honour, I think we\u2019re the first group to win it twice so we\u2019ve made history and to do it in Scotland as well is fantastic<span class=\"s1\">.<\/span> You know<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> obviously we\u2019re a multi-racial group and we always stand for inclusion, openness, kindness and also love<span class=\"s1\">.&nbsp;<strong>Alloysius Massaquoi<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ls_embed_1537438774\" src=\"httpss:\/\/livestream.com\/accounts\/3661274\/events\/8358629\/videos\/179941719\/player?width=640&amp;height=360&amp;enableInfo=true&amp;defaultDrawer=&amp;autoPlay=false&amp;mute=true\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"> <\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The audience erupts again. <a href=\"httpss:\/\/youngfathers.lnk.to\/cocoasugar\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>Cocoa Sugar<\/i><\/span><\/a> is the undisputed album of the year. Love is in the air.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Diversity, however you define it, is the theme of the night. Once again the SAY Award has demonstrated the extraordinary wealth and variety of musical talent in Scotland. And if there was no jazz or classical in this year\u2019s longlist, there is an almost bewilderingly diverse<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>display of some of the freshest and best of contemporary Scottish music for the judges to work their way through \u2013 and for the rest of us to enjoy in the live music performed on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p1\">Can-do elixir with just a hint of chilli<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s a sparkling and intoxicating mix: the mood, the music and the generous camaraderie.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Competitive of course \u2013 the first prize, after all, is \u00a320,000 \u2013 but consistently \u2018collaborative\u2019 too.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Collaboration is the word that keeps cropping up as the ten shortlisted artists line up<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>\u2013 Mogwai<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> Franz Ferdinand<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> Karine Polwart<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>with Pippa Murray, and Conflats collaborators Kathryn Joseph, James Graham and Marcus Mackay among them \u2013<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>to receive their \u00a31,000 (and mysteriously boxed, large piece of artwork)<span class=\"s1\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The evening is charged with the positive energy that drives so much of Scotland\u2019s collaborative creativity.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>In fact \u2013 the thought occurs to me looking round the many generations of music fans in the Victorian building \u2013 if you could bottle the spirit of this moment, Scotland would come up with a can-do elixir more powerful than any whisky<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>\u2013 or even the \u2018illicit gin\u2019 cocktail fired up for the night with chilli syrup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">But there is also a poignant undertone.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>This was Paisley\u2019s third and final (for now anyway) hosting of the SAY Award. At last year\u2019s ceremony the town was charged with anticipation of the benefits that would come if they won City of Culture 2021. Three months later that prize went to Coventry and this year, though Paisley\u2019s civic pride persists, the spotlight of anticipation beams elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Now the focus is on Dundee<span class=\"s1\">.<\/span> A week after the SAY Award ceremony, the new V&amp;A opened to a tidal surge of media attention on the Tay<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> and Primal Scream headlining the 3D festival launching Scotland\u2019s first design museum. The big name Glasgow band combined with Dundee\u2019s up-coming <a href=\"https:\/\/iambecharlotte.com\/\">Be Charlotte<\/a> (who featured in last year\u2019s SAY Award programme) and new visual work by Jim Lambie, plus graffiti and Beano comic cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"httpss:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/SXWosjED0dE?rel=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p1\">A brief digression<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">I wasn\u2019t in the Dundee audience<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> but the excitement made its way across the airwaves, inviting a digression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">From critical reviews it seems as if Paisley\u2019s town plan has stood the test of time better than Dundee\u2019s waterfront development.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>The walk between Gilmour Street Station and Paisley Town Hall reveals grandeur bequeathed by 19<sup>th<\/sup> century textile barons, and not yet obscured by ugly 21<sup>st<\/sup> century opportunism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The visitor arriving in Dundee is confronted with<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>\u2018the worst kind of ill-considered British \u201cregeneration\u201d, disparate buildings emerging on adjacent plots with apparently no coherent plan\u2019. <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/757945c8-\"><span class=\"s2\">Edwin Heathcote in the Financial Times<\/span><\/a> \u2018The new railway station-hotel combo is ghastly\u2019 <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/entertainment-arts-45524485\"><span class=\"s2\">Will Gompertz, BBC. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">And the star of the show? She gets critical mauling at times. But overall the looming new presence on the Tay is welcomed<span class=\"s1\">.<\/span> To Gompertz<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> Kengo Kuma\u2019s concrete building, is \u2018<span class=\"s3\">like a crushed municipal car park, framed by some of the ugliest modern buildings I&#8217;ve ever seen. And yet \u2026 the V&amp;A Dundee is terrific.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter wp-image-5986 size-medium\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.walkingheads.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/43046341082_9d23e2c375_k-700x467.jpg\" alt=\"Inverted pyramid of layered concrete, Kengo Kuma's V&amp;A Dundee, image Ronnie Macdonald CC By 2.0\" class=\"wp-image-5986\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">New landmark on the Tay: V&amp;A Dundee image Ronnie Macdonald CC By 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p1\">&#8216;Larger than Life Sciences&#8217;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Time will tell if <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2018\/09\/15\/video-interview-kengo-kuma-v-and-a-dundee-museum-nature-artefact-movie\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Kengo Kuma\u2019s building<\/span><\/a> will do for Dundee what Frank Gehry\u2019s<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Guggenheim has done for Bilbao.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>But there\u2019s no doubting what the creative industries already do for Scotland. <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.creativescotland.com\/what-we-do\/creativitymatters\/economic-value\"><span class=\"s2\">According to Creative Scotland<\/span><\/a> the sector contributes \u00a34.6bn to the Scottish economy and employs more than 73,000. It stimulates new business and brings new visitors \u2013 music tourism alone generates spending of at least \u00a3295m in Scotland each year, creating an estimated 3,200 jobs (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.innerear.co.uk\/wp-\"><span class=\"s2\">new research<\/span><\/a> suggests live music attendance in Glasgow is worth more than \u00a3159m sustaining more than \u00a31,140 full time jobs in the city).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"p6\">The Creative Industries is now larger than Life Sciences and sustainable tourism in terms of GVA and employs more people than the Energy sector. <strong>Creative Scotland<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s a dynamic sector, dominated by small companies \u2013 88% have fewer than five employees, and more than half are sole traders \u2013 accounting for many people on stage in Paisley Town Hall and probably quite a few folk on the dance floor too. That breeds and encourages the collaboration evident in so much of the exciting new work presented at the award ceremony. But it\u2019s not easy to survive in a tough environment and SAY Award organisers<span class=\"s1\">,<\/span> the <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.smia.org.uk\/about\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Scottish Music Industry Association<\/span><\/a>, have an ambitious mission to invest in the essential infrastructure to nurture and sustain a lasting industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading p1\">At the cutting edge of Scotland&#8217;s future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Here\u2019s a closing thought. Paisley and Dundee are at what <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2018\/sep\/17\/britains-insecure-towns-left-behind\"><span class=\"s2\">Guardian columnist John Harris<\/span><\/a> calls the cutting edge of modern Britain, striving for new purpose and prosperity in our post-industrial era. Both the V&amp;A and the Say Award celebrate something of vital importance to the quality of life in Scotland: the enormous range of creative skill and talent to be found from coast to coast. From north to south. From Scots who were born and raised here or, like Aloysius Massaquoi, are proud to call it home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Hovering on the brink of Brexit it\u2019s easy to get caught in a spiral of despair.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>We all need a reviving dose of creative spirit. With chilli oomph. To quote Ghanaian-born Kobi Onyami shortlisted for the 2018 award with Gold, an album exorcising the fear he left behind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"p1\">I\u2019ve received a lot of Nos in my life, in this music career, so thank you to the SAY Award for this resounding Yes:&nbsp;<strong>Kobi Onyami<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Let\u2019s raise a toast to diversity and creative collaboration.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>And to Young Fathers: <a href=\"httpss:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Young_Fathers\">Alloysious Massaquoi, born in Liberia came to Edinburgh aged 4, Kayus Bankole born in Edinburgh to Nigerian parents, and Graham &#8216;G&#8217; Hastings born in Edinburgh, reared in north Edinburgh\u2019s Drylaw housing scheme. <strong>Wikipedia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>See full list of eligible albums for SAY Award 2018 <a href=\"httpss:\/\/www.sayaward.com\/eligible\"><span class=\"s2\">HERE<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>Featured image: Young Fathers, first band to win SAY Award twice, Image <a href=\"https:\/\/Young Fathers First Band to Win Prestigious SAY Award Twice - Paisley Scotland https:\/\/bit.ly\/2M67ZYh\">Paisley Scotland<\/a> CC By 2.0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article is also published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walkingheads.net\/young-fathers-winners-of-say-award-symbolise-the-generous-can-do-diversity-of-scottish-creativity\/\">Walking Heads&nbsp;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Young Fathers symbolise the generous new diversity of Scotland. Celebrating the spirit of creative collaboration found in Paisley at  Scottish Album of the Year Award ceremony and the launch of V&#038;A design music in Dundee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[108,270],"class_list":["post-7491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-design","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17601,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7491\/revisions\/17601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}