October in the UK is Black History Month and ArtsWom wanted to do something to raise awareness of this fact. Rather than simply write article after article of our own views and opinions, we thought it would be far more interesting to ask bloggers who appear to have an interest in black history or culture what they think. Over the month, we will be posting the replies to our questions. First up, Mark from Urban Review…

1. Can you please explain who you are and summarise your perspective of the aims and purpose of BHM?

My name is Mark Shipton, I am from the UK & run a music based site called Urbanreview.co.uk, I have always had a love for music & I was always telling my friends about different tracks without much reaction, so one day I thought I would find some people who might enjoy my opinionated personality. To my great surprise, people were interested & my site continues to grow, with music fans from around the world.

While I am hardly the best person to comment on Black History, my life has certainly been hugely influenced by Black Culture, since a very young age I have enjoyed modern black music, even before I could recognize it as being “Black”. I love urban music. I would estimate that 80 - 90% of my music collection was performed, produced or written by someone of the black community.

My personal view on the purposes of BHM are that this year it is almost 100% focused on gun & knife crime in the UK, I think this is unfair, as not all violent crime is committed by black people, just as not all crime is committed by the young. I think this may have a negative effect in associating Knives & Guns with the black community but it obviously is a good aim, as educating about the causes & consequences of crime can only be positive.

I think that BHM should be to remember Black icons of the past, Martin L-K being the most obvious, but also icons of modern life, such as the music industry greats; Jay-Z & Kanye West spring to mind as two of the most globally recognizable Black celebrities of modern time, both of which are positive role models in my eyes.

2. For 30 years, October has marked the celebration of black history and culture in the United Kingdom. Why is it important that we carry on this tradition?

BHM should always continue as it can be used as a tool to communicate & inform the Black community of not only the past, but issues that face them today, such as this years theme of Gun & Knife culture.

I also think that it should remember the origins of the modern day Black man & woman, the slave trade, origins on Africa & the integration into modern western society. I think that the UK still has a long way to go to fully accept Black people into every aspect of life, racism is still an issue that faces Black people today, it should be used as a tool to unite people of all back grounds. I also think that as the Black population of Britain grows, there is also an element of racism towards white people form black people, I think that this may form from anger or as a way f revenge, but this issue also needs to be addressed & not ignored.

3. Which black personality has had the greatest influence on your life and why?

The Black personality that has most influenced my life has been Hip-Hop producer “Timbaland”, I belive that he is a musical genius, he is the greatest producer that the music scene has ever known & has influence my love of music 100%. As a child, I was listening to Timbaland’s production without even knowing it was him, only as I grew older & more interested in Tim did I realise the tracks he produced & was like; “I loved that song when I was little”.

My dream one day would be to be a part of the music industry & be as big a Tim, I would love to meet him & just watch him work, he has literally molded my life & I follow his work at every step.

4. Throughout the month there are numerous events running across the country, encapsulating various facets of black history and culture – what would your dream event be? No matter how impossible!

My ‘Dream Event’ to celebrate black history month would be to form a ‘Super Group’ of all the best black music artists from the UK, i.e. Beverley Knight, Lemar, Taio Cruiz, Knao etc to produce an album of covers. Covering songs from previous black artists, i.e. Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder etc. I think this would be great to hear their spin on the tracks & would summon national coverage to raise awareness of the issues & aims of BHM.

I think that the entire project could be presented in a concert that would be televised by MTV for example, this would culminate the efforts well & simple produce something that was entertaining.

5. Name one website that you would recommend to someone with an interest in black culture or black history (other than your own, of course!).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/

I have chosen the BBCs 1Xtra website, I think that this is a good place to start if you wanted to catch up with modern black music & culture.

6. The influence of black music on the modern industry is obvious. What three key artists have been instrumental in orchestrating this state of affairs?

The 3 artist that I think have had a major effect on the modern music scene are as follows:

Jay Z - The founder of modern Hip-Hop, before Jay-Z, Hip-Hop was more of an underground scene, he brought it to the masses.

Stevie Wonder - I think Stevie is one of the greatest singers of all time, he just simply makes music you want to listen to, most of his hits were created before I was born, & yet I still love to listen to them. He is the most one of the most respected faces of Black music in the US & UK.

Timbaland - I am very Biased towards this man, but I have chosen him anyway. Although not quite a house hold name, he is always 100 steps ahead of modern music, producers are just making beats now, that he was making in the late 90s. You might not know it, but I can almost guarantee, Tim has produced one of your favorite tracks of the last 10 years. Genius!

For further resources for Black History Month, please read here