Moqapi Selassie (performance 1)

‘Ticka di Blackheart Man little children don’t go near him,’ so sang the legendary Bunny Wailer. Now here he is in Brum!!! Blackheart Man is a powerfully compelling one man show that examines growing up in England as a Black youth and a Rastafarian.Set within ‘No Man’s Land’ the travelling Blackheart Man stumbles across ruins which remind him of his humble beginnings in Birmingham, England.

Taking a rest from his arduous journey, he reminisces – recalling his past, as his Jamaican parents make a new life for themselves in the Mother Country, less than a decade after the end of the 2nd World War.He explains his upbringing as a Black British born youth, raised in the back to back housing of the 1950s and 60s, the racist taunts on the streets and in the playgrounds and the clash of two cultures when trying to make sense of your everyday world.Blackheart Man examines the rise in youth consciousness during the 1970s, as Black British born youths began to seek out their own identity.

Not shackled to the moral and social constraints of their parents, they embraced the teachings of Marcus Garvey, the lyrics of Bob Marley and the doctrine of Rastafari.With peace and love in their hearts and hope and unity in their veins, they embarked on their own journey. For the Blackheart Man it meant leaving the family home at the age of 18 as his father in particular disapproved of his grammar school educated son becoming ‘a dirty Rasta’.