Starting with a reworking of a famous nursery rhyme, Giles Terera takes us on a journey of London in 2020, one day after another, during the lockdown in Soho. Usually a bustling part of the city, Terera demonstrates how the world stopped turning for a while, the effect on everything around him and how the area went from thriving to silence, from the sound of people walking, talking and enjoying life, to hearing the church bells ring and the birds sing, in a matter of hours.
One of the 12 songs featured, Pasedena, early on in the one-man-and-his-multi-instrument-concert hit every spot, with every song. He manages to educate you (did you know that Buddha means Enlightenment), reworking the famous ‘you have the right to….’ speech whilst reflecting on experiences and allowing us to see through his eyes for a minute or two.
Including home videos from the Black Lives Matter Peaceful Protests, this performance was filmed at Crazy Coqs maintaining social distancing guidelines and with a plethora of cameras enabling us to view Terera in all his glory, singing his song from the roof of the empty theatre. The only shame in this recital is that it wasn’t to a sold-out, at capacity, full-house. I look forward to being able to see this performance ‘live’, should the opportunity to see Terera singing the blues, amongst other genres, arise.
You can book a stream here
Review: Kay Johal Photo: Dan Poole