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UK-focused gospel music news, updates, articles and opinion

I really like the UK scene. Just when you think you have things totally sussed you get thrown a curveball.

  On paper, Michaela just shouldn’t work. The best
  years for the mellow sound were between 2004 and
  2006, when Siani and Raymond & Co championed
  high-grade RnB.

  Spoken Word, effectively Michaela's stock-in-trade,
  was - and this is putting it mildly - niche-within-niche.

  In other words it was (and still remains) difficult to find
  in the contemporary gospel mainstream.

  Since 2006, Hip-hop and subsequently Grime, and now
  Funky House have not only brought harder, edgier rhythms to
  the fore, it's also brought a much lower typical age of
  performer, with the likes of Victizzle, Simply Andy, Jimmy
  James and Sammy G  being in their late teens to early-mid
  twenties…

In other words, you don’t expect to find that many females in the mix. The current musical make up just doesn’t lend itself as easily to the ladies...

'COMPELLING AND INSPIRATIONAL'
Her press release says this 21-year old was 'dubbed by one judicious journalist’ as ‘compelling and inspirational, truly amazing’. It's one of those rare times I think a press release isn't being overly optimistic.

A few days ago I was in East London for the listening party for her debut album Fixing Barbie (one of the most delicious titles I’ve heard in years - can I use 'delicious' in that context?).

I was one of only a couple of people over 30 in the candle-lit, intimate and cosy creative studio space of invited guests.

I make the age point to go on to say this: if the reaction in the room was anything to go by, then Fixing Barbie’s eclectic selection of Spoken Word (‘Sorry, I’m A Christian’ is one of the most engaging pieces you will hear this year), RnB, Comedy, something she’s calling ‘Electro-Funk’, and even a kind of ode to a Funky House/Afrobeat mash-up could be one of the surprise hits of the year.

The preview generated a huge response from an age bracket that conventional wisdom would have you believe does not appreciate the subtleties of well-crafted music, Spoken Word and great lyricism.

INTENSELY PERSONAL
Fixing Barbie is an intensely personal journey, and Michaela is entirely vulnerable and fragile in places, a stance that doesn’t sit quite so comfortably with the overwhelmingly ‘positive confessionist’ tendencies of Black Christianity.

Ironically the soul baring does nothing but reinforce the healing that can actually be found when a life is completely surrendered. This is material that can (and should) travel well beyond insular Christian borders, and walk the fine line between bible-bashing and articulate discourse with assured footing.

Michaela began writing performance-poetry in what she calls her ‘chicken-shed bedroom’ on the very precisely-offered date of 22nd May 2006.

From God to politics, from America to her favourite pair of shoes, to exploring the nature and perception of love, Michaela has featured in some of the UK's most premiered venues for dance, music, and drama: Hackney Empire, The Roundhouse, Carling Academy, Bloomsbury Theatre and Trafalgar Square open stage to a crowd of 6,000 performing material from her first EP release, 2007's 22nd May.

  She's also a Battle-Poet, gaining three first-prize competitions at Theatre
  Royal Stratford East's 'Word Up Slam' all before spending a month touring
  across New York and Orlando in March and April 2008.

  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 
  And perhaps that’s the key driver here. Michaela and Fixing Barbie are
  arguably best experienced live, and you have that chance on 29th August, with
the Poetical Theatre production at the arts-friendly venue of Stratford Circus, along with an audience of 300.

With her electric live band and the thespian expertise of Identity Drama School, also featuring performances by Monica Palao, Rachel Kerr, Guvna B and a very special surprise guest, you have a chance to taste the Fixing Barbie experience first hand.

It comes highly recommended.

Tickets are on sale at UKGShop.com or via the website Stratford Circus.com website, and purchase of the ticket includes a copy of the album to be picked up at the venue.

If you’re reading this after the event, pick up your copy of Fixing Barbie at UKGShop.com.

That, like the event itself, also comes recommended…