Yesterday my track 'Who Am I?' was selected as the 'Alternative Jam' on BBC Radio 1 Xtra :) i love being alternative lol... Thank you to all the people who texted & emailed in such wonderful comments about the track to the DJs Dev & Sarah-Jane who were sitting in for Trevor Nelson & Gemma. You can listen back to it here

Also big love going out to Nerm (BBC Asian Network) who was standing in for Ras Kwame back in December on his Radio 1 show for selecting 'It's Time Now' feat. Deadly Hunta as 'Hottest Homegrown Track' & to Hue Stephens for also giving it a spin. Oh yeah! You can check that one here



& finally a HUGE thank you to everyone who came down to Strange Brew at the Roundhouse last night ~ we sold out! What a success, all the acts were amazing and I was happy happy over the moon to be performing with such talented musicians: Renell Shaw, Kaz Hussain (who has just been endorsed by Zildjian! & special guest Sam Carter :)



Sorry to everyone who couldn't get in :( i hope you found an alternative vibe...

Much Love going out to all of you & don't let those who would, weaken you xxx

Hello Hello ~ Happy Lovers Day to one & all ~



Yes I am writing a blog on Valentines night... I guess this stuff never stops lol. Anyway, I hope you are all loved wherever you are. I wanted to let you know about three very special shows and hope that you will be able to share them with me.

♦ Friday 20th February ~ Strange Brew @ the Roundhouse...

Yep, our residency at the Roundhouse is going really well... I love this venue! The vibe is beautiful. We have another treat of a lineup this month & are selling tickets for a mere £3 up front. Or if you're more of the spontaneous type you are welcome to pay a fiver on the door.



Here are some of the things people have had to say about Strange Brew:

&hearts"An exciting genre mix-up of live music" - eventful.com

&hearts"Showcasing unsigned acts about to blow" - Metro

&hearts"A night of eclectic live music" - TNT

&hearts"This is no normal showcase this is the best of the best, an event of the highest musical calibre" - Phatriff

&hearts"I left Strange Brew feeling inspired and in awe of what I had seen" - R.H.A.S Journal

So if you like the sound of that then come down and check the vibe for yourself :D

♦The the following week... Friday 27th February ~ Takeover @ The Royal Festival Hall

This is going to be an amazing show! I will be performing with the wonderful choir pulse & with the London School of Samba This show will mark the culmination of my residency at The Southbank Centre. Tickets are only £6 / £3 concession. There is so much going into this event that I can't explain it all here but here's a video to show you a bit more:



Also performing on the night Natty & Chipmunk

♦ Finally I want to share another event with you which is very close to my heart. Over the last few months most of us have felt sorrow and disbelief at what has occurred in Gaza. I have received hurtful messages when all I have done is try to promote peace. In the spirit of this I would like to invite you to Benefit Gaza @ The Cockpit Theatre



This will be a peaceful, non political/religious evening of food, live music, magic, poetry & readings.

This event is being supported by:

Global Help Initiative for Palestine
Viva Palestinia
Jews for Justice for Palestine
Zaytoun - Fairtrade Palestinian Produce
British Shalom - Salaam Trust
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Gaza Mental Health Programme
Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights/
Interpal

Tickets cost £15 and ALL money raised will go to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) who endorse and support the event and are a UK registered charity
http://www.map-uk.org/

I truly hope I will have your support with this and that you will come to one or two or all of these gigs!!!

Much Love & Blessings going out to all of you and if you've read this please let me know... I'm kinda lonely on Valentines Night!

♥

Greetings friends,

I know it sounds like a cliché but 2008 seems to have flown by yet a lot has gone on both in my world & globally... I wanted to write about some recent happenings that have been occupying my thoughts & time.

Obama ~

I guess one of the biggest events has been the US Presidential elections... this held and still holds mixed feelings for me. During the run up to election day and when the news hit that Obama had won I felt a genuine sense of elation, sincere emotional uprising and joy that I was on the Earth to see the day that a Black man won the US elections. It somehow seemed to redeem America somewhat as a country for the past pain caused by the transatlantic slave trade and the current effects still so evident in the obvious segregation and social imbalances. It made me so happy to watch the images on the news of people united in celebration, watching Rev. Jesse Jackson cry and scenes of Obama's Grandmother's village in Kenya all pulled at my heart and I have to admit I also shed a couple of emotional tears.



However in the cold aftermath of reality I had to let my often cynical nature start asking questions... In the greater scheme of things, whether you believe the world is run by the Illuminati or not, it surely cannot be denied that a man such as Obama is perfect in gaining support for the superpower that is the USA. Bush was and is so openly hated by the majority of people that it was expected for anything he or his regime came up with to be despised, ridiculed and at the least scrutinized. Yet most of the people I have spoken to are so pro-Obama that is hasn't even occurred to them that it may be useful to analyze his policies. This is surely a perfect smoke-screen for the powers that be to do their will? I am not saying I necessarily think that Obama has sinister intentions but that the people I believe really pull the strings have not changed and neither has their agenda.

I am not going to go into the matter any further here but if you wish to read more into some thoughts that I agree with and that summed it up perfectly for me please check out Immortal Technique's Blog: 'America's Great Hope'.

iTunes Feature ~

So after staying up late to witness the election result I was invited to go into the Apple Offices in London & perform a few songs for the iTunes staff who kindly featured my debut album on the front page of the Reggae Section as well as 'Best of 2008 so far'. I'm not going to lie, this was a great feeling and as the show took place on an already special day it was a treat to vibe out to the atmosphere. It was encouraging that although we haven't put any money into PR or marketing for this album, it has still been recognised. I appreciate all of the people that have supported the album since it's launch.



Album Launch on Youtube ~

Speaking of the launch... I had a lil promo video of this special night put together :) If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet please do!



Since launching the album I've been out performing my acoustic set to promote... I want to send a big shout out to my band Renell Shaw and Kaz Hussain without which all of this right now wouldn't be possible. Alongside supporting Natty on his UK tour we have performed at loads of different venues up and down the country getting our message out there.



Strange Brew @ the Roundhouse ~

A big highlight has to be being given residency at the Roundhouse in Camden with our own night that I co-produce and host: Strange Brew provides a platform for hot rising talent and I am proud to be a part of it. November's debut was a sell-out success and Tickets for December's show are on sale now for a mere £5. We've got a packed line-up of impressive talent:



Supporting Fat Freddy's Drop ~

After hosting Strange Brew in the FREEDM Room at the Roundhouse I was so excited to be asked to support the amazing Dub / Blues / Reggae band Fat Freddy's Drop in the Roundhouse's main space and at the University of East Anglia :) The shows were amazing... we made a lot of new friends and also played a session on BBC Suffolk Radio which will be aired soon.

So what else..? Well other highlights have been being asked to read a poem at the opening of the Poetry International Festival at London's Southbank Centre by Yemisi Blake, performing and doing a Q&A on being an independent artist at Music Live by the Syllabus Student Music Network and also watching Nitin Sawhney perform at the BBC Electric Proms :) Oxjam was great and a lot of money was raised... I'm rushing the end of this as I only have six minutes of battery power left which is a shame as the following is the most important part...

Disposable People ~

I want to leave you with a request... Please if you google one thing today, please let it be 'Disposable People' and this is why:

An estimated 27 million people are still locked into slavery and servitude across the globe. I recently went to an exhibition at the Southbank showing a series of photographs taken from around the world showing some of today's slaves. The experience touched me in a way that has left me marked since, the images and testimonials have remained with me and I feel haunted by the thoughts that these people are living now, having had their freedom snatched from them... I am not going to go into any more detail about this shocking yet very real issue as I want you to grow your own thoughts from the information you find without having mine taint your initial shock at the fact that there are more slaves alive today than were ever stolen from Africa during the entire duration of the transatlantic slave trade.








Free the Slaves

Much Love going out to you, lets do what we can to keep our eyes open xxx

Greet​ings my lovely myspace peopl​e.​.​.​

I am very excited to let you know that I will be suppo​rting​ the very talen​ted Natty​ on the 2nd half of his UK tour next week:

Monda​y 13th - Glee Club in Birmi​ngham​

Wedne​sday 15th - Scala​ in Londo​n

Thurs​day 16th - Conco​rde II in Brigh​ton

Satur​day 18th - Thekl​a in Brist​ol



These​ will be some of my first​ gigs out of Londo​n & it would​ be great​ to see some of you there​ :) I have some guest​list avail​able for Birmi​ngham​,​ Brigh​ton & Brist​ol so if you want to come & vibe out for free pleas​e get in touch​ at aruba​redmu​sic@​hotma​il.​com

Other​wise ticke​ts are avail​able for aroun​d £8 from the usual​ onlin​e ticke​tweb/​maste​r etc.​.​.​ detai​ls on my page.​

Plus,​ those​ of you who will be in Londo​n on Satur​day 18th I have helpe​d to organ​ise a wonde​rful free music​al extra​vagan​za at The Queen​ Eliza​beth Hall.​ Unfor​tunat​ely I won'​t be able to play now as I'll be suppo​rting​ Natty​ in Brist​ol but I hope many of you will go down & check​ it out. There​ are some wonde​rful artis​ts perfo​rming including Ayanna Witter-Johnson, ​Nathan "Flutebox" Lee, Sam Carter and Nila Raja who all feature on my debut album. The evening will also present contempora​ry dance​,​ cutti​ng-​edge live visua​ls & much more.​ Pleas​e check​ out EAR Inspired



Much Love going​ out to all of you,

Aruba​ Red x

Greetings,

Firstly please accept my apologies for not writing for such a long time. I have no excuses other than having been consumed with finishing my album & trying to push it with everything I have.

I felt it was time to reach out to all the people who have been supporting me with heartfelt words & encouraging messages. I thank you all sincerely for staying in touch; this is what I have been up to:

Album Release:

My self titled-debut album Aruba Red has now been released independently through AWAL and is available in physical format from Rapshack as well as for download from iTunes

Much Love going out to everyone who is supporting independent music.



I have been humbled by people's responses and would like to thank those who have left reviews on iTunes. This is the first material that I have released and at times this has been a nerve-wracking experience, to know that people are feeling the message means so much to me.

Album Launch Party:

I held an album launch party at The Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday 17th September. Celebrating the end of one long journey & the beginning of a whole new one was both inspiring and also made me reminisce on all the things that influenced the sounds on my first record.



A Big Thank You to everyone who helped make this a success. Shout outs to Riz MC for hosting the night, Paradox & Reggae Roast for providing the best vibe I have felt in a long time, Sam Francis & X7 for your most talented dancing, Your Mum Visuals and my sister Kyla. Thank you to Darius and my band Renell Shaw & Kaz Hussain, Special Guest Artists: Yemisi Blake, Deadly Hunta, Prashant "Engine EarZ Mistry", Sam Carter, Nathan "Flutebox" Lee and Yao Adu. Also thank you to Crown, AWAL, Catch 22 and of course Neil, Cindy and the entire Southbank Centre team for all your support & for providing me with such a beautiful venue.



Music Video for Who Am I?

The week before the launch my sister Kyla Simone and I flew out to my mum's previous home in La Palma and we shot the music video for "Who Am I?". Kyla shot, directed and edited this single-handed in less than a week and I am so very proud of her. She recently graduated from the Glasgow School of Art with a First Class Honours Degree (with distinction!) and I was honoured that she was willing to work on this project. I hope you enjoy it:



If you're feeling her style please check out some of her other work:

Paradox: This Music of Ours

Marrik Layden Deft: Insomniac Olympics

What the Future Holds:

So what's next..? Well I have realised that with every achievement comes the realisation of how much further there is still to go. I will be gigging with my acoustic set up around the UK and offering my sounds to all who would hear them.

There is also word on the grapevine that I will be supporting a very talented artist on his tour in October. Alongside this my collaboration with Nitin Sawhney will be released next month on his album London Undersound. Last Train To Midnight has been getting regular airplay on both BBC Radio 1 & 2. It was an honour to work with such an inspiring artist & if you enjoy deep, dubby trip-hop, please contact your local radio station and request the track :) You can get a snippet of it here: Last Train To Midnight

Much love & respect going out to all of my friends, family & supporters who have been coming to my shows over the last months. To see people singing along to Rebel Soldiers and Who Am I? is crazy and uplifting for me. There have been times along the road when I have had doubts about my decision to pursue this life but when people offer their feedback it makes me more sure that this is what I am meant to be doing right now.

I leave you with an extract from my album inlay:

"I would like to acknowledge those who helped me leave my old life to pursue this one, those whose inspiration has been so valuable: The freedom fighters and political prisoners of the world who will not be silenced, those who dedicate their lives to the fight. The musicians and artists who document reality, I send love, respect and strength your way."

With Love,

Natascha

Aruba Red x

It's a strange and beautiful thing to be able to express yourself through music.
But please don't think because I am recorded onto this thing and speaking to you that I believe my opinions are more valid than anyone else's. Until I am satisfied that I am living my life in accordance to what I feel is right, who am I to judge?

However, when injustice causes my heart to burn and my anger to soar into double-time it becomes problematic to remain silent and to stay true to my pledge of non-judgement.

Within dreams I rage fire onto the systems that plague us. Those who aid the continuation of those systems fall victim to the power of my fantasies. Language takes on new form. Morpheus seems to live within my subconscious and he breathes life into the energy of my speech.

My expression is an extension of my journey, my experiences, my world within worlds.

Many paths have carried much burden. Our lives intertwine, crossing and twisting vine-like. From adversity and tragedy can come unimaginable strength. Bled through generations until the echoes of warriors past are needed for the next cycle of revolution, the next sequence of struggle.

I come not to preach, not to instruct. I stand before you without expectation. I bring my offering to share & acknowledge what has come before me. What has happened beneath many moons for us to exist today.

Inspiration is not hard to come by if you are not afraid to open your eyes. Drink in reality, do not dilute it. It is here, bitter sweet for us to taste.

Hey, if you get a chance please check out the new microsite launched today for the 'Emerging Artists In Resident' @ London's Southbank Centre:

www.ear.typepad.com

The site will feature information on all of the artists, blogs, photos & info on up-coming shows etc. as well as new tracks :)

I have a blog up on the front page so please pass through..it would be much appreciated

Much Love

x~Natascha~x