Taste Of Texas
Texas in the heart of Soho doesn’t get much more transnational. Attending this VIP event was special, but what I witnessed was priceless. Taste of Texas.
‘Texas is full of white, racist, Republican people right? Sure like the UK is only immigrant-hating, old people. Figure this, diversity exists everywhere; you just have to be willing to listen.’
I didn’t expect much from tonight.
But the story of how I got to the Texas Music Takeover takes some explaining.
After a busy day at university, I needed to unwind and was pleasantly surprised to see this pop up on my calendar.
My story to this venue, once again full of an older generation is related to my time spent in Fort Worth.
One of my last interviews in Fort Worth was with a lady from the Visit Fort Worth team.
Visit Fort Worth is the tourism bureau for the city with strong ties with London.
I said that if they needed to help with any events in London that they should give me a shout.
That’s a by-the-by comment and you send it full of hope and you expect an empty (or no) response in later months.
Turns out they remembered and invited me.
I’m glad they did.
There were nine artists performing and the music was of a strong quality.
I listened properly to the set by Abraham (pictured), Grady Spencer and Kylie Rae Harris.
But my ears drew to Abraham Alexander.
Abraham reminds me of Cooper Lower. Remember him?
He was the white Australian teenage who wrote songs about white colonialism and how it destroyed the lives of the indigenous.
Truly revolutionary and a new form of expression that accepts entitlement and uses it to apologise for the past and look to the future.
Abraham practices a same note but faces the abject hate towards coloured individuals in America.
With his aptly named song, ‘America’ he portrays a vulnerable self who needs to come to terms with the travesty happening in his home.
It’s a tale of understanding that the dream is not perfect, far from it; but accepting that life comes through peaks and troughs.
It’s an outburst of emotion that a man of colour has always wanted to share.
He has the charisma to openly and passionately play this soulful music.
Tonight, he was thoroughly applauded for his perfomance.
He told me not so long after that there was a time that the room would’ve been silent.
He’s happy that people are listening and are personally moved.
He wants that effect with his music but understands that he’s starting from a few places behind others.
Only in the industry for the last three years, Abraham has now signed a record deal and his music will be available on all major platforms soon.
Abraham and Cooper are two examples of the arts industry reversing stereotypes and showing that identity, as personal as it may be, can always change.
It gives a lot of hope for my dissertation.
I met some more people than can help me with my dissertation too which was the main aim.
The music was fantastic, a mix of Abraham’s music, deep country and old school traditionals.
No-one I speak to wants to visit Texas, and I’m not surprised.
The stereotypes sound horrible.
They sound like you’ll visit and never return.
But with people like Abraham and Leon Bridges making waves in the world of music — diversity is coming and it’s here to stay.
Taste of Texas