A new community portal called the Black Junglist Alliance (BJA) has been launched with the aim of uniting black artists, professionals and creatives from the world of jungle / drum & bass.
Founded by Inperspective Records label-head Chris Inperspective, BJA will provide a media platform - BJATV - for talent to shine, offer guidance where needed, and act as a catalyst for learning and collaboration.
The portal recently received
coverage in DJ Mag, with Chris Inperspective penning an op-ed article that set out the main aims and objectives, as well as the reasons why he believes it ought to exist in the first place.
With BJATV set to officially launch on Saturday 1st August, some of its founding members describe why they think that it's needed:
Chris Walton: "Because the picture out there isn't correct and isn't inline with what music is being made in regards to the YouTube channels that are currently presenting Jungle Drum and bass. That picture needs to be changed and the Black Junglist Alliance TV can help change that."
Caldey Muffett: "Many other genres of music have a online platform that solely reflects their community through culture, experience and knowledge e.g. SBTV or UKG. It's about time we had a channel that reflects & connects our history in Jungle with the next generations to keep telling *our own* story."
Neil Stevens: "I'm looking forward to curating a platform that seeks to confirm the contribution of Black people to this music and the scene we all love. We're here to highlight the legacy, the heroes and heroines, and the future contributors to this music from an unashamedly Afrocentric perspective."
Charlotte Toney: "There's this rhetoric that new up and coming black and cultural talent, is some sort of mythical creature, a Pegasus not based in reality. A legend 'nowhere to be found!' There is plenty of black and cultural talent across all of the industry out there. Be it DJs, producers, vocalists, lyricists, sound engineers and much more besides that. So we're building a platform where there will be plenty of black and cultural artists present, for all to witness. We need to see and be seen within Jungle Drum n Bass now, as I saw myself when I looked to it 22 years ago."
With Covid-19 already reshaping dance music as we know it, initiatives like the Black Junglist Alliance are determined to usher in an exciting new future for the scene, where fairness and equality take centre stage.
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