THE Grenfell Tower tragedy has rightly prompted a huge and sustained wave of revulsion and anger throughout the UK and far beyond. Music and art communities have often been at the forefront of the outrage, and benefits of all kinds for the survivors have been happening in London ever since, but we haven’t seen many in Scotland as yet. Looking to change that in Glasgow this weekend are two Subcity radio shows – Hawkchild DIY and Hyperfunk – who have teamed up to put on a benefit night at the city’s Stereo venue.
As Hashim Ali of Hawkchild DIY, the night’s main organiser, explains, his determination to help was born of a deep empathy for the victims rather than any direct personal connection. “When I clocked that this wasn’t being treated as the tragedy that it is, and when I became fully aware of the level of ongoing negligence from councils, the government and the press, and how working class and non-white communities are seen as collateral damage, I decided I had to do whatever I could,” he begins.
“I’m second-generation Middle Eastern, I was born and raised in Pollokshields and when I saw the people in the Ladbroke Grove area who’ve been worst-affected by the whole thing it dawned on me that this was a community that was extremely similar to the one I grew up in. A lot of the people I saw from there are the spitting image of the people I grew up around, so it really struck a chord with me, and I realised that this could just as easily have happened in our community.
"There’s even a mid-rise block of flats a street or two away from me in Pollokshields that they’ve discovered was cladded by the same company in 2014. So it all feels very close to home despite it having happened hundreds of miles away.”
Hawkchild DIY and Hyperfunk deal in a stripe of UK club music that has a lot of traction in the south of England but is not so popular in the house and techno-dominated clubs of Scotland, so the night will be a chance to hear something a little unusual as well as a chance to do some good. “Both of our shows play a lot of hip hop-derived club tracks influenced by labels like Night Slugs and Fade To Mind. Hip hop is seen as a bit of a gimmick genre in Glasgow at the moment, and we’ve always been interested in changing that perception. I’ve organised the night but I’ve left the programming to the Hyperfunk guys as they’re really good at getting that stuff right.”
The DJ line-up is four-strong, with Ali himself on the bill alongside Hyperfunk’s Curls. Sarra, of the Glasgow platform, club night and monthly Subcity radio show OH-141 also plays, as does the similarly minded Heidi Chiu. “Myself and Curls both play UK club stuff influenced by people like Jam City and Evian Christ,” Ali explains.
“Sarra [who’s been booked to warm up for Awesome Tapes From Africa at HEALTHY] plays R&B with a house twist, and Heidi Chiu is a new DJ but she’s well worth keeping an eye on. It’ll be an unusual sort of a night for Glasgow – it’s music that a mostly younger crowd of people who want to look beyond house and techno are into just now, but we think a lot of others will like it too if they give it a shot.”
Hawkchild DIY & Hyperfunk’s Grenfell Tower Benefit is at Stereo tomorrow/on Friday night, 11pm to 3am, £5 donation. www.facebook.com/HawkchildDIY / grenfellsupport.wordpress.com/
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