Malik Al Nasir

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Malik Al Nasir
Malik Al Nasir.jpg
Born
Mark T. Parry [1]

Nationality British
Citizenship United Kingdom
EducationM.A.
Alma mater Liverpool Hope University
Occupation(s)Writer, poet

Malik Al Nasir (born Mark Parry, also known as Mark Watson) in 1966, Liverpool, England is a British author and performance poet. He was born to a Welsh mother and a Guyanese father. [2] He is the leader of the band Malik & the O.G's. [3] Spurred by an interest in the early black footballer Andrew Watson, he began to research his family ancestry, claiming he was related to Watson.

Contents

Early life

Al Nasir was born in 1966, one of four siblings to a white Welsh mother and a black Guyanese father. Liverpool, a major port city, was poor and racism was rife; the Toxteth riots shook the city in 1981.[ citation needed ]

His father worked as a merchant seaman and a security guard; his mother worked in a factory. When Mark was nine years old, his father became paralysed from a stroke. When Mark was expelled from school, the local authority took Mark and into care. [4]

Many years later, he successfully sued the local authority for abuse he was subjected to while in care, and received a substantial payout and a public apology from the Lord Mayor of Liverpool. [5] He spent ten years in litigation, during which time he pursued educational qualifications in order to better research his own case. He was represented by Allan Levy QC, [6] a noted children's advocate who co-chaired the 1990 public inquiry into pin-down, a punitive technique used in children's homes.[ citation needed ]

Poetry

At 18, he met poet and activist Gil Scott-Heron, an African-American performing artist, who had a profound effect on his life. [7] Scott-Heron was an part of the Black Arts Movement and was best-known for the song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". (His father, Gil Heron, was, like Andrew Watson, a footballer of Caribbean origin who played in Scotland). Gil Scott-Heron supported Malik over many years, encouraging him to learn to read fluently and to write poetry, and develop his understanding of Black consciousness.

Recordings, publications, and media production

Eventually Watson compiled the writings of his late teens and twenties, both poems and explanatory prose, into a book entitled Ordinary Guy. It was released in 2004 by Fore-Word Press, the publishing house he had founded. [8] The book was written in tribute to Scott-Heron & The Last Poets, and includes a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin.

In 2006, Al Nasir co-founded Dubai-based production company MediaCPR and its record label MCPR Music. Conceptually MediaCPR wanted to develop clean content in mainstream music, that could entertain listeners without being offensive or explicit. Malik and his team of music producers pioneered a new genre of music which they called "Drum Fusion". The idea was to unite traditional rhythms with contemporary song arrangements and apply positive lyrical content to produce a new style of music, which could be applied to any genre. The drum fusion formula involves developing a full organic sound composition derived exclusively from the use of drum, percussion, the human voice and natural sounds such as wind, rain, running water etc.

The first album released using this formula was Drumquestra (2009), by Jamaican master percussionist Larry McDonald (percussionist), who wanted to showcase his 50-year recording career. The concept was developed collaboratively between Al Nasir, as executive producer, Larry McDonald, and producer Sidney Mills from Steel Pulse. One of the tracks, Set the Children Free, was recorded for the album by Toots & the Maytals. A dance remix by Lenny B demonstrated that the "Drum Fusion" formula could cross genres and be relevant to the young, as well as the old traditionalists. Al Nasir co-wrote two tracks on Drumquestra: "Peace of Mind" (which he co-produced with Sidney Mills featuring Shaza) and [9] and "Crime Or Music" [10] (featuring veteran ska musician Stranger Cole and reggae drummer Sly Dunbar). Additional percussion on this track was provided by Sticky Thompson of The Wailers and Bongo Herman.

Al Nasir featured in Word Up – From Ghetto to Mecca (2011), a documentary about performance poetry. It was produced by UKTV's commissioning editor Shirani Sabaratnam and included Scott-Heron, The Last Poets and Benjamin Zephaniah. Fore-Word Press screened the film at the Phoenix Cinema, Leicester, as part of the 2011 Black History Month events, sponsored by Leicester City Council. [11]

Al Nasir wrote and produced two albums of his poetry and songs, Rhythms of the Diaspora Vol. 1 & 2, 2015, featuring Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, LL Cool J, Stanley Clarke, Swiss Chris, Rod Youngs, Larry McDonald, and Ms Marie Labropolus. The albums were recorded at Sarm Studios in Reading, Mercredi 9 Studios in Paris and Wyclef Jean's Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York. Mixed by Serge Tsai and mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound New York.

Education

Al Nasir has studied at three universities in Liverpool. In 2010, he graduated with an MA in New Media Production [12] from Liverpool Screen School, a faculty of Liverpool John Moores University. For his thesis piece he created a web-based multimedia software program for genealogical family tree building, called Ancestory but has no link to the programme of a similar name which was developed in the USA.

In 1996 Al Nasir graduated Liverpool Hope University with a BA Hon.s, [13] and in 2010 he graduated The University of Liverpool with a PgDip.

Research

Football

Malik has researched the life of Andrew Watson (24 May 1856 – 8 March 1921) who was the world’s first Black international footballer and one of the architects of the game of soccer as it is known today. Watson came from British Guiana in 1860, and went on to play for the Scottish national team.

Al Nasir's father was born Reginald Wilcox July and only later adopted his father's surname of Watson. His marriage certificate shows his mother as Olivia July and his father as George Edward Watson. Al Nasir was consulted on the development of (and featured in) the BBC Scotland documentary entitled "Mark Walters in the Footsteps of Andrew Watson". [14] [15] [16]

Mercantile families

In 2020 Al Nasir matriculated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, [17] where he began a PhD in history. As at 2024 Al Nasir is a "4th Yr PhD Candidate" at the University of Cambridge. [18] His thesis is entitled "Kinship Networks and Mercantile Hegemony in the Latter Days of British Slavery – The Case of Sandbach Tinne".

Al Nasir's research into Sandbach, Tinne & Company came to public attention in connection with a BBC article entitled "Searching for my Slave Roots" [15] which went viral and led in 2022 to art works related to the Sandbach family in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, being recontextualized in light of the revelations of the collection's links to slavery. [19] Al Nasir's findings about the kinship links of mercantile families received further attention in 2023 when Antoinette Sandbach sparked a controversy regarding a TedX Talk, "Searching for my slave roots", given back in 2021. [20] In an interview on LBC, Al Nasir stated that Ms Sandbach, a former MP, [21] had complained to the University of Cambridge asking for her name to be removed from the Tedx talk (which the university had embedded in an article about Al Nasir's research). After an investigation, the university rejected her claims on the grounds of academic freedom. [22] Sandbach then made a GDPR complaint citing 'Right to be forgotten'. This claim was also rejected and she was instructed that she had misread the legislation. The matter was raised in Parliament as a point of order where the MP Dawn Butler referred to Al Nasir's mention of the former MP. She asked "Can you please clarify whether it is in order for Members of Parliament to ask for their family history to be forgotten? The family of former MP for Eddisbury Antoinette Sandbach were deeply involved in the slave trade and amassed wealth as a result of this brutality. The former Member has threatened the University of Cambridge with legal action after an historian spoke of her ancestors’ role in the slave trade. While her recent public apology for their role is welcome and necessary, those who sit in this House should not use their position to silence those who shine a light on the horrors of the past." [23]

Sandbach's initial complaint was that Al Nasir had said she lived in Wales in the TedX talk when in fact she did not and she demanded correction on the TedX talk. A correction was added at her request by the publisher which cited the Welsh property that she had left in 2015. Al Nasir was not the publisher but merely the subject of the talk. Sandbach then began citing privacy concerns, the former MP complained to the University of Cambridge, which had embedded the talk on its website and her claims were again dismissed on the grounds of academic freedom. She began to state that she had received death threats which some news outlets interpreted as being as a result of Al Nasir's research. This was debunked upon investigation by The Voice, [24] who determined that the threats she referred to had nothing to do with Al Nasir research and were as a result of her stance on Brexit. This was both prior to the TedX talk and prior to Al Nasr's arrival in Cambridge. The Press Association later published a correction and Sandbach was forced to clarify this in a correction to a Guardian article which added a footnote on 6 September 2023. [25]

In a BBC Newsnight interview, Al Nasir explained that her ancestral links to Samuel Sandbach were a footnote to his research, [26] and that he did not release personal details but simply wanted to demonstrate that the family still enjoyed political influence.

In an interview with Tom Swarbrick on LBC radio on 1 September 2023 the Al Nasir confirmed University of Cambridge had been compelled to disclose legal correspondence to him, as Ms Sandbach had threatened legal action against him as well as the university. He did not release the address of Sandbach as such, however her allegation against him included a complaint that he mentioned in his TedxTalk that she "still lived on land passed down from Samuel Sandbach", referring to the family's Hafodunos estate in Denbighshire. She claimed this was untrue, because she'd moved from Wales to Cheshire in 2015 (and thus could not have been put at risk in 2022 as she had also claimed). Al Nasir rejected claims made by Sandbach against him regarding her personal safety, as they were unrelated, having occurred before Al Nasir recorded the TedX talk.

Public funding has been received from the ESRC to digitise records collected by Al Nasir which are under development and will soon be made available to the public via Cambridge Digital Library. Cambridge University confirmed in 2022 that the records had been digitised but they remain inaccessible to the public. [27] whilst under development.

In 2023 a conference at the University of Bristol [28] explored the extent of the Sandbach family's involvement in transatlantic slavery and the sources of their wealth and power. The Sandbach Tinne Conference brought together researchers from the UK and the USA to explore the vast wealth accumulated by the Sandbach Tinne dynasty, and how best to bring the related archival collections into the public domain in a way that was accessible through 'The Sandbach Tinne Project'. [29] Attendees were able to use VR headsets to experience a demonstration, developed by University of Cambridge Library Services and University of Bristol Library, of a virtual museum of Sandbach Tinne artefacts.

Recognition

In 2022 Malik was awarded a Sydney Smith Memorial Prize by St Catharine's College, Cambridge [30] "In recognition of his outstanding achievement and contribution to the artistic and literary life of the College".

On 4 May 2023 Malik was presented with the University of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor’s Global Social Impact Award [31] [32] [33]

He also won the 2023 Cambridge Student Award [34] with Rhiannon Llystyn Jones from St John’s College Cambridge for their contributions to access and widening participation.

2024

In 2024 University of Glasgow awarded Al Nasir a Library Fellowship. [18]

On 19 June 2024 Al Nasir received the Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (CSAR) Award [35] "In recognition of outstanding research and potential". The ceremony was held at Churchill College Cambridge on the 60th anniversary of the organisation that was founded by Sir John Cockcroft (the Nobel Prize winning physicist who first split the atom and who was the first Master of Churchill College Cambridge). [36] [37]

In July 2024, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Liverpool Hope University in recognition of his literary work, including his contribution to the study of Liverpool's links with slavery and his memoir, Letters to Gil. [38]

Literary works

Co Authored Works

Co Edited Works

Media work

Al-Nasir wrote The Guardian obituary for Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, entitled "The grandfather of rap". [43]

Event producer and performer

Al Nasir formed a band named Malik & the O.G's, standing for "Ordinary Guys". The band included Malik Al Nasir, Orphy Robinson, Rod Youngs, Mohammed Nazam, Paislie Reid, Shaza Tiago Coimbra and engineer Tom Parker.

In 2013, Al Nasir and his publishing house were asked to produce a live show of the world's first rap album Hustlers Convention . The event, at the Jazz Cafe in Camden, North London, was filmed for the making of a documentary of the same name. The film was directed by Mike Todd of Riverhorse TV and executive produced by Public Enemy's Chuck D. The live event was sponsored by Charly Records, who re-issuesd the album to commemorate both 40 years of "The Hustlers Convention" and 40 years of the company. Malik was the associate producer of the film, as well as an interviewee, presenting a segment to camera. Malik & the O.G's (Cleveland Watkiss, Orphy Robinson, Rod Youngs & Hawi Gondwe) supported Jalal and The Jazz Warriors International Collective [44] at the event.

The death of his mentor, Gil Scott-Heron, led Al Nasir to perform acts of tribute, such as at Liverpool International Music Festival 2013. Two years later, the Festival commissioned him to produce a range of events, including its opening night. [45] On UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition he produced "Poets Against Apartheid" [46] at the International Slavery Museum, featuring readings from Tayo Aluko, Jean Binta Breeze MBE, and the Incognito Gospel Choir. [47] A few days later at St George's Hall, Liverpool, he produced, in partnership with nightclub entrepreneur and promoter Richard McGinnis, "The Revolution Will Be Live – A Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron". [48] The MC was BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Ngunan Adamu, and the show featured Al Nasir's own band, Malik & the O.G's, as well as Talib Kweli, Aswad, The Christians, Craig Charles, DJ 2Kind, Sophia Ben-Yousef, and Cleveland Watkiss.

Al Nasir was invited to tour Canada with Last Poets founder member Jalal Mansur Nuriddin for Black History Month (February 2016). Events at Harbourfront in Toronto reached the national press [49] The pair screened two films,Hustlers Convention and Word-Up, and participated in workshops, seminars, school visits and performances in Toronto [50] Ottawa and Mississauga. [51]

Al Nasir was invited back in March 2016 [52] further promoting his film Word-Up and performing with his band Malik & the O.G's featuring Ottawa R & B artists Rita Carter. 'The Revolution Will Be Live' again toured the UK in Nov 2017 with Scott-Heron's former musical director Kim Jordan joining Malik & the O.G's and featured Canadian singer Rita Carter.

Radio appearances

Filmography

Discography

Collaboration albums

YearAlbumLabelArtist
2008Urban GriotMCPR Music UnreleasedRaw UnLtd
2009Drumquestra (Cat No. CPLM301)MCPR MusicLarry McDonald

Discography

YearAlbumLabelArtist
2015Rhythms of the Diaspora Vol 1. (2 disc Cat No. Mentis001)MentiS RecordsMalik & the O.G's Ft. Gil Scott-Heron
Rhythms of the Diaspora Vol 2. (2 disc Cat No. Mentis001)Malik & the O.G's Ft. The Last Poets
2017Africa EP (CD Cat No. Mentis002)Malik & the O.G's

Related Research Articles

The Last Poets is a poetry collective and musical group that arose in the late 1960s as part of the African-American civil rights movement and black nationalism. The name was inspired by revolutionary South African poet Keorapetse Kgositsile who believed he was in the last era of poetry before guns took over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gil Scott-Heron</span> American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author (1949–2011)

Gilbert Scott-Heron was an American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author known for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson fused jazz, blues, and soul with lyrics relative to social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles. He referred to himself as a "bluesologist", his own term for "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues". His poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", delivered over a jazz-soul beat, is considered a major influence on hip hop music.

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a satirical poem and Black Liberation song by Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums. A re-recorded version, with a full band, was the B-side to Scott-Heron's first single, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is", from his album Pieces of a Man (1971), featuring a distinctive bass-line by jazz bassist Ron Carter. It was also included on his compilation album, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974). All these releases were issued on the Flying Dutchman Productions record label.

Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin was an American poet and musician. He was one of the founding members of The Last Poets, a group of poets and musicians that evolved in the 1960s out of the Harlem Writers Workshop in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856)</span> Scottish footballer (1856–1921)

Andrew Watson was a Scottish footballer who is widely considered to be the first black person to play association football at international level. He played three matches for Scotland between 1881 and 1882. Arthur Wharton was previously commonly thought to be the first black player, as he was the first black professional footballer to play in the Football League, but Watson's career predated him by over a decade. There is evidence that Watson was paid professionally when at Bootle in 1887, two years prior to Wharton becoming a professional with Rotherham Town; however, the Merseyside club did not play in the Football League at the time Watson played there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iltutmish</span> 13th century ruler of the Delhi Sultinate

Shams ud-Din Iltutmish (Persian: شمس الدین ایلتتمش; was the third of the Mamluk kings who ruled the former Ghurid territories in northern India. He was the first Muslim sovereign to rule from Delhi, and is thus considered the effective founder of the Delhi Sultanate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexine Tinne</span> Dutch explorer, photographer (1835–1869)

Alexandrine "Alexine" Pieternella Françoise Tinne was a Dutch explorer in Africa who was the first European woman to attempt to cross the Sahara. She was an early photographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abiodun Oyewole</span> American writer

Abiodun Oyewole, is a poet, teacher and member of the African-American music and spoken-word group The Last Poets, which developed into what is considered to be the first hip hop group. Critic Jason Ankeny wrote, "With their politically charged raps, taut rhythms, and dedication to raising African-American consciousness, the Last Poets almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip-hop."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khalji dynasty</span> 1290–1320 Turco-Afghan dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate

The Khalji or Khilji dynasty was a Turco-Afghan dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate for three decades between 1290 and 1320. It was the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate which covered large swaths of the Indian subcontinent. It was founded by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orphy Robinson</span> British jazz musician and composer

Orphy Robinson MBE is a British jazz multi-instrumentalist who plays vibraphone, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet, piano, marimba, steelpans and drums. He has written music for television, film and theatre.

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a song by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was written and composed by Scott-Heron and Jackson for their first collaborative album, Winter in America (1974). The song was recorded on October 15, 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and produced by Scott-Heron and Jackson with assistance from engineer Jose Williams.

John Abraham Tinne (1877–1933) was a British politician. He was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament at the 1924 general election, representing Liverpool Wavertree. He resigned in 1931 through appointment as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoinette Sandbach</span> British Liberal Democrat politician (born 1969)

Antoinette Geraldine Mackeson-Sandbach, known as Antoinette Sandbach, is a barrister, farm manager and politician who was elected as a North Wales region Member of the Welsh Assembly at the May 2011 election, and subsequently elected Member of Parliament for Eddisbury in Cheshire at the 2015 general election.

Laurence Westgaph, is a political activist and television presenter, specialising in Black British history and slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malik & the O.G's</span> British spoken-word performance band

Malik & the O.G's is a spoken-word performance band based in Liverpool. Its founder Malik Al Nasir put the band together in 2006, when he first recorded his poetry to music for his debut album Rhythms of the Diaspora Vol 1 & 2, which was released in on Mentis Records featuring Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets′ Jalal Mansur Nuriddin. Malik produced the album in 2006 and Malik & the O.G's produced a video with Emmy Award-winning director Mitchell Stuart for the song from the album Africa, an adaptation of one of the poems of the same name in Malik's book Ordinary Guy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry McDonald (percussionist)</span> Musical artist

Larry McDonald is a Jamaican percussionist. He was born in Port Maria, Jamaica in 1937. McDonald played congas with Carlos Malcolm's band, Toots and the Maytals and the Count Ossie Band. He plays a wide variety of traditional percussion instruments.

Samuel Sandbach was successively bailiff, coroner and Mayor of Liverpool, as well as High Sheriff of Denbighshire and a Justice of the Peace for Lancashire. He made his fortune as a merchant in a partnership that traded with the West Indies and owned slaves.

Sandbach, Tinne & Company, together with its associate firms McInroy, Parker & Company and McInroy, Sandbach & Company, was a business whose roots can be traced back to 1782. Having begun business in the cotton trade, the firms moved into sugar products and exported coffee, molasses, rum and sugar from the West Indies. They owned ships and plantations, and engaged in both slavery and transport of indentured labour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Sandbach</span> English poet and novelist

Margaret Sandbach was an English poet and novelist.

George Rainy was a Scottish merchant, slave owner and land owner.

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Further reading