Akua Naru
@ The Jazz Café
Recipes Used:
One of the shows I've been waiting for since 2019 has finally come.
That year, I saw Akua Naru @ Moth Club in the heart of Hackney. It was a great show with great instrumentation.
Since then, I have been waiting for Akua Naru to return and WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, she only goes and comes to one of my favourite places on Earth: The Jazz Café.
Great timing as well since she dropped a slight reimagining of her works from over the years, re-recording them with German-based Ensemble Resonanz and putting it all under the banner of "Love".
Returning to the UK after five years – now a mother – and her stage presence as powerful as ever, this was a show I wanted to succeed in getting great pictures. I got two guaranteed End Of Year entries amongst an amazing set to portray one of my favourite artists.
To kick it off – however – was a great support act in Breis (Like "Breeze") & DJ Croc.
It is always good to have UK representation for a show in the UK.
ONTO AKUA!
As you can see, the fit went crazy. Take it from me, the power she wields on mic is so rare.
But with love in mind, she also had many moments of softness. Capped off by a monologue nearer to the end of the show about her wanting to rap since she was a little girl. I recorded the audio of the majority of it and boy is it moving.
Speaking of moving:
She had a lot of moments to dance as the band played, so I wanted to see how it would go if I slowed the shutter speed right down.
Them blue shots are another End Of Year book contender.
And since I mentioned the band, let’s give them some love: Rick Van Wort, (Drums) Edson Sean, (Keys/Vocals) Stephan Kondert, (Bass) & Lorijn Von Piekartz. (Guitar)
That last one of Lorijn is a contender too. The lighting was really good for the show. Which brings me to one of my two bangers:
Shine Down
I had to brush up on the Curves Tool in order to get the result I wanted from this photo, but I think I achieved the essence I was looking for!
“Poetry” In The Crowd
There’s many photos that I was expecting to take, but I wasn’t expecting Akua to come off the stage and perform her most popular song “Poetry: How Does It Feel” in the middle of the crowd.
I took a few shots but once I got this one and saying “Holy shit what a catch!” under my breath, I left it as is and enjoyed the moment.
Couple more with the help of my lens filter:
The ‘light leak’ effect only comes in specific situations but when its time, its time.
And that was the show! But during the night, I wanted to try something new and get some shots of the people around me. It’s hard because I don’t want to be obvious about it, but I got a couple and I wanted to leave you with those few…
Blue light on Black skin, man. Something about it…
Charlie Taylor
chillicharlie.taylor@gmail.com
Born in Camden, North London.
Bred in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex.
Screenwriter/Podcaster/Photographer/
Hip-Hop Student.