Unity101 Conversations

A Conversation with SAI (Part One). New, young, talented soul singer.

London based talented singer SAI (say it just like that) in conversation with Jim Baker (Unity 101 This Is Soul) . Sai has released a brand new song entitled, ‘Million Bucks’. Debuting her career by writing a song on Ariana Grande’s 1st album, SAI is a soulful singer-songwriter and classically trained piano player with Algerian, Persian, French and Manchester roots.   Her latest track, ‘Million Bucks’, is clever, intricate and totally danceable RnB, British soul at its best.

SAI in conversation with Jim Baker (This Is Soul) Part Two

London based talented singer SAI (say it just like that) in conversation with Jim Baker (Unity 101 This Is Soul) . Sai has released a brand new song entitled, ‘Million Bucks’. Debuting her career by writing a song on Ariana Grande’s 1st album, SAI is a soulful singer-songwriter and classically trained piano player with Algerian, Persian, French and Manchester roots.   Her latest track, ‘Million Bucks’, is clever, intricate and totally danceable RnB, British soul at its best.

Conversation with Ankit Tawari

Ankit Tiwari in conversation on Unity 101 with Touqueer Butt,  Ankit is an Indian playback singer, music director, composer. His career began upon meeting Pradeep Sarkar where he got a chance to work on jingles and started composing background music for television programmes. Subsequently, he was offered to compose music for Do Dooni Chaar (2010) and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), where he started his singing career with the song he composed for the later. In 2014, he collaborated with Mo...

Conversation with Diljit Dosanjh

Diljit Dosanjh in conversation on Unity 101 with Nikki Kaur. Diljit Dosanjh (born 6 January 1984) is an Indian singer-songwriter, actor and television presenter who works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. He is recognised as one of the leading artists in the Indian music industry. He also acts in Punjabi movies, with many of them being commercially successful, including Jatt & Juliet, Jatt & Juliet 2, Punjab 1984, Sardaar Ji, Ambarsariya, Sardaar Ji 2, Super Singh, Sajjan Singh Rangroot and Shada...

Conversation with Diljit Dosanjh

Diljit Dosanjh in conversation on Unity 101 with Nikki Kaur. Diljit Dosanjh (born 6 January 1984) is an Indian singer-songwriter, actor and television presenter who works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. He is recognised as one of the leading artists in the Indian music industry. He also acts in Punjabi movies, with many of them being commercially successful, including Jatt & Juliet, Jatt & Juliet 2, Punjab 1984, Sardaar Ji, Ambarsariya, Sardaar Ji 2, Super Singh, Sajjan Singh Rangroot and Shada...

Conversation with Ankit Tawari

Ankit Tiwari in conversation on Unity 101 with Touqueer Butt,  Ankit is an Indian playback singer, music director, composer. His career began upon meeting Pradeep Sarkar where he got a chance to work on jingles and started composing background music for television programmes. Subsequently, he was offered to compose music for Do Dooni Chaar (2010) and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011), where he started his singing career with the song he composed for the later. In 2014, he collaborated with Mo...

Conversation with Gurdas Mann

This is Gurdas Mann in conversation n Unity 101 with Joshi & Javed.  Gurdas Maan (born 4 January 1957) is an Indian singer, songwriter, choreographer and actor mainly associated with Punjabi language music and films. He gained national attention in 1980 with the song "Dil Da Mamla Hai". Since then, he has gone on to record over 34 albums and has written over 305 songs. In 2013 he announced the launch of his YouTube channel to stay connected with his fans via video blogs and old as well as ne...

Conversation with Leee John

This is another in a series of conversations with musical and arts icons. This conversation is Leee John chatting to Jim Baker, after the release of the British Collective album. Celebrating over 30 years in the entertainment industry, Leee John has been an all round artist, singer, writer, record producer, actor and recently a film producer. Leee came to the world’s attention with his group Imagination which he founded in the early 80s. Imagination was signed by Morgan Khan of Street Sound...

Junior Giscombe in Conversation (Unity101)

This is a conversation between Soul/RnB singer Junior Giscombe and Jim Baker (Unity101), drawn from our archive and linked to the release of the British soul superstars collaboration album released under the heading The British Collective. Norman Washington "Junior" Giscombe (born 6 June 1957) was born in London and is one the finest soul singer-songwriters Britain has produced. He has been successful in the United States and was the first Black British artist to appear on the legendary Soul...

Conversation With Bups Saggu

This is another Unity 101 Conversation from our archive of great material. Bups Saggu chats with Nikki Kaur abour his career and how he sees his future. Bups is   a world renowned, award-winning Asian music producer and DJ who had countless chart topping hits and performed on numerous platforms across the globe.  He has had a number of hit tracks and as well as being a very successful producer his roadshow is a full fledged event with light shows and great AV. 

Conversation With Zamad Baig

This conversation is in Urdu and is between Faisal (Unity101) and Zamad Baig, the first Pakistan Idol. Is is from Mandi Bahauddin. Encouraged by colleagues, he began participating in music competitions at school and later in college. Over time, having gained confidence, he formed a multitude of bands and performed Sufi songs at prestigious venues. His career then change in April 2014 when he became first winner of Pakistan Idol. He auditioned in Lahore and performed "Ye Jo halka Halka Suroor...

Conversation with Yuvraj Hans

Our colleague Mandeep Singh is in conversation with Yuvraj Hans who is a Punjabi actor and singer. He is the son of Hans Raj Hans, a Punjabi singer (who is the subject of another conversation to be aired soon as a Podcast). This conversation is in Punjabi and is a few years old, since when he has married Mansi Sharma in February 2019 and they now have a baby boy Hredaan Yuvraj Hans in May 2020. Yuvraj was educated at the  Laxman Public School Hauz Khas New Delhi and from Apeejay College of ...

Conversation With Apache Indian

This is a conversation between Missri (Unity101) and Apache Indian a few years ago. Born into a family of Indian origins, Steven Kapur (real name) was raised in Handsworth, Birmingham, UK, a racially mixed area with large Black and Asian communities, home of reggae bands such as Steel Pulse, and by the early 1980s he was working with local sound systems and grew dreadlocks. Lyrically, Apache Indian usually sings in Jamaican Patois. He has written songs about serious topics, such as "Arranged...

Conversation with Tony O'Malley

Tony O'Malley (born 15 July 1948 in Bushey, Hertfordshire) is a British composer, singer, arranger, and keyboard player. He was the keyboardist for Arrival who had a No. 8 UK hit with "Friends" (written by Terry Reid) in 1970, and the hit "I Will Survive", written and arranged by fellow Arrival member Frank Collins. Following this he became one of the founder members of the british soul band Kokomo. He joined 10cc in 1977, after the departures of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, and played on the...

Conversation with Tony O'Malley

Tony O'Malley (born 15 July 1948 in Bushey, Hertfordshire) is a British composer, singer, arranger, and keyboard player. He was the keyboardist for Arrival who had a No. 8 UK hit with "Friends" (written by Terry Reid) in 1970, and the hit "I Will Survive", written and arranged by fellow Arrival member Frank Collins. Following this he became one of the founder members of the british soul band Kokomo. He joined 10cc in 1977, after the departures of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, and played on the...

Black LIves Matter American Government, Racism & Bolshevism

There are similarities between 1919 and 2020. An economy in collapse, major unemployment, a pandemic (Spanish flu in WW1 and Covid now) and civil unrest. The president, the attorney general, theFBI, j edgar hoover (in 1919) a network of presidential appointments all locating blame for riots, lynchings and racist attacks on black people. 100 years later so little has changed and old tactics seem to continually resurface.

Chapter 25 Ivor Gabriel Landsman: A Black Welshman The Victim of the 1919 Race Riots

Ivor Gabriel Landsman was sent to prison for fighting to defend Butetown in Cardiff against the white mob. He was unusual, he was a Black man born in Butetown in 1899, a forerunner of the many who were to follow.  He fought in World War 1. being invalided out in December 1917 at the age of 19. He came home to Wales and after losing his mother in 1918, in 1919 at the age of 20 he stood his ground and defended his Butetown against the white mob who attacked it, shooting at three white members ...

Chapter 24 The Wales Race Riots In 1919 and the Institutionlisation of racism

It was argued in the 1970s that Racism had been instutionalised because of the introduction of the Immigration Act in 1971. The argument presented here is that in reality this had already happened in 1919. The way that the 1919 race riots was dealt with by government, the trade unions and the media provideing a blueprint for generations to follow. The events of 1971 were actually in response to the Windrush generation, which of course includes Ugandan Asians.  In a way that is the problem,...

Chapter 23 Bolshevism The Thing the British Government Feared

The British Government looked around in 1919 and saw a growing menace in the Soviet Union, a land led by Lenin, a land of Bolsheviks intent on spreading the fire of revolution across the world. More importantly they believed that the most powerful unions in Britain had been infected by this new disease. Prime Minister David Lloyd George called the bluff of the `Triple Alliance' of Coal, Transport and Rail. Making it clear to them that if there was a general strike the Government would collap...

CHAPTER 22 INDIA : THE BEGINNING OF THE COLLAPSE OF EMPIRE

India suffered a significant cost during world war one. Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded.   In total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire in German East Africa and on the Western Front.  Indian men were also a significant part of Mercantile marine (later to be called the merchant navy). Unfortunately we cannot say how many died because the British...

Chapter 21 Black Americans After World War One

For African Americans, World War I highlighted the widening gap between U.S. rhetoric regarding "the war to make the world safe for democracy" and the reality of disenfranchised and exploited black farmers in the South or the poor and alienated residents of the Northern slums.  Despite the bravery and sacrifice of soldiers like the Harlem Hellfighters the belief of intellectuals like W E B DuBois that participating in the war would lead to equality at home was soon shown to be flawed. As Afr...

Chapter 20 The Red Summer of 1919 Race Riots & Brutality Across America

 Chapter 20:  The Red Summer of 1919.  Race Riots, Brutality and the deaths of Black People under attack by white mobs.  Across the United States in 1919 there was a brutal swathe of racial violence leading to hundreds of Black people being shot, lynched and burnt to death.  The story is told by the The History Guy a superb American Youtube site that you should subscribe to. 

Chapter 19 The Omaha Race Riots The Lynching of Will Brown

The credit for this work is with Waymark Productions. The Omaha race riot occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, September 28–29, 1919. The Race Riot resulted in the brutal lynching of Will Brown, a black worker; the death of two white rioters; the attempted hanging of Mayor Edward Parson Smith; the injuries of many Omaha Police Department officers as well as white and black civilians; and a public rampage by thousands of white rioters who set fire to the Douglas County Courthouse in downtown Omaha

Chapter 18 The Elaine Massacre Part Two (Credit Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation)

Although our work relates directly to the Race Riots in Wales, these events had a world context. The Race related murder and brutality occurred across the United States and there the level of brutality was staggering to those of us in Britain. Nowhere suffered like Elaine County, the level of brutality was sanctioned, accepted even expected, hunting season was literally declared by white people and the prey was any black person they saw. This story is told by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundat...

Chapter 17 The Massacre in Elaine, Arkansas in October 1919 (Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation)

Although our work relates directly to the Race Riots in Wales, these events had a world context. The Race related murder and brutality occurred across the United States and there the level of brutality was staggering to those of us in Britain. Nowhere suffered like Elaine County, the level of brutality was sanctioned, accepted even expected, hunting season was literally declared by white people and the prey was any black person they saw. This story is told by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundat...

Chapter 13 Great War To Race Riots in Liverpool 1919

This short story addresses the nature of the Race Riots in Liverpool in 1919. Created by Hatch TV in collaboration with Writing on the Wall and the Geography Department of Liverpool University the Narration is by Janiya Pickett.  The accompanying video can be seen on our You Tube site 1919 The Year of Revolt and Race Riot or on WOW's own site. It uses the streets and the identities of the actual victims of the riot to walk us along the path of tragedy and destruction in June 1919 Liverpool. ...

Cardiff Race Riots. Part Two. Chapter 16 Black Men in Court

This short story outlines, and names, what happened to the 15 Black men arrested by the Police during the race riots in Cardiff. It explains how they were treated by the Court, the fact that some of them actually received compensation, even one of the men sent to prison, and shows that despite the lies and deceits in the Press the men received reasonable fair treatment in the Court. 

The Cardiff Race Riots Chapter 15 - Part One - The Perpetrators

This short story tells us who the perpetrators were that instigated and encouraged the riots in Cardiff. It identifies the 10 men arrested by the Police and found guilty in Swansea Court.  It shows us that these men were career criminals, not men who had lost their jobs because of Black men. A mob is an explosion but to continue that over a number of days requires the flames to be constantly fanned and these men were the constant spark.

Chapter 14: A Taste of things to come for Black People. Death by firing squad

The Black British Empire contributed significantly to World War 1, financially giving millions of pounds and also sending millions of soldiers. Soldiers from the West Indies and Africa being used as servant and menial labour. The British Army treated these soldiers in a directly racist manner, denying most of them the opportunity to fight because they did not want the Germans to despise them for needing savages to help them win the war; making the black soldiers dig toilets for white soldier...

Chapter 2: Race Riots in the UK a timeline of revolt

This is a timeline of the events in the UK in 1919 that were precursors to a potential revolution. Striking soldiers, strikes, the creation of an independent Ireland, mutinies and white mobs attacking black and minority people across the UK.  The British Government were afraid of a Bolshevik uprising in 1919 in the UK and it very nearly happened.

Chapter 12: The Newport Race Riots in Wales 1919

The Race Riots in Wales in June 1919 started in Newport on the 6th June and despite crowds involving over a thousand white men and women, no-one was killed. Mary Ellen Sheedy (a white woman charged with riotous assembly) tried to set fire to a Boarding house and became the only woman in the mob to be charged during the riots in Wales. The events in Newport have received little publicity in the last Century but the mob wreaked havoc in a very small part of Newport. 8 white men and 1 white wom...

Chapter 11: The Race Riots in Barry,

The Race Riots in Wales in June 1919 started in Newport on the 6th June but on the 11th June they started in Barry, Wales. This Docks town was the scene of the first death in the Riots when a seaman from the Caribbean stabbed a white local man during a fight. The fact that the white man (Frederick Longman) did nothing to stop the crowd violence that was to follow but there were no further deaths. Charles Emmanuel went to prison for the killing of Longman. This chapter of `secret' history is ...

Chapter 11: The Race Riots in Barry,

The Race Riots in Wales in June 1919 started in Newport on the 6th June but on the 11th June they started in Barry, Wales. This Docks town was the scene of the first death in the Riots when a seaman from the Caribbean stabbed a white local man during a fight. The fact that the white man (Frederick Longman) did nothing to stop the crowd violence that was to follow but there were no further deaths. Charles Emmanuel went to prison for the killing of Longman. This chapter of `secret' history is ...

1919 Chapter Ten: Canadian Soldiers in Riots and Deaths

The British Soldiers were angry at not being demobilised but they were not the only ones. Canadian soldiers were also very angry at not being sent home and this anger led to at least 2 major riots. The first in Kinmel Bay in Wales and then in Epsom, Surrey where a police officer was killed.

1919 Chapter Eight, Belfast & Defence of The Realm Act

When workers went on strike Belfast in 1919 it was within days of the declaration of an Irish Republic and 2 police constables being shot in an ambush. The workers brought Belfast to a complete halt cutting off electricity (although the kept hospitals supplied). The Government reacted by bringing in the army, placing machine guns at the electricity station and other vital infrastructure locations, breaking the strike.

Chapter Seven:Glasgow General Strike, Tank & Soldiers on the streets

In 1919 Glasgow workers called a General Strike, brought transport and commerce to a halt. The police attacked them but were repulsed in George Square and the Government reacted by bringing in the army. The streets being filled by soldiers and tanks, strikers leaders being arrested until the strike was broken.

1919 Chapter Nine:Demobbed, disillusioned and dangerous ex-soldiers

Finally the soldiers were demobbed but they had little money, minimum job prospects, very bad housing conditions and wives who had changed because of war work. In the 1918 election these soldiers were promised new job, new housing and a bright new future. None of these things were available when they returned home and that made them angry as events proved.

Chapter Six: Mutiny & Strikes in the Armed Forces

An issue that caused significant worries for the British Government in 1918 and 1919. After they realised that the promise made by Prime Minister David Lloyd George that they would be demobilised extremely quickly after the war. This was one of the critical promises made in the 1918 General Election.  In 1919 there were over 50 soldiers mutinies and 100,000 soldiers refused to obey orders.

Chapter Five 1919:An Empire in Revolt an end to the old order

In 1919 Prime Minister David Lloyd George had a wealth of bad news crossing his desk about the state of Britain. The public knew very little about this, especially in relation to the British Empire, with the newspapers feeding them watered down and `spin' stories to cover events. One major concern for Government in London was the state of the British Empire post World War One. 

1919: Episode 3: Race Riots In USA & the Red Summer

Across America in 1919 there was a bloodbath of events that terrorised and victimised Black communities across the U.S.A. We list a timeline of 37 brutal riots and attacks from Louisiana to Chicago.  President Woodrow Wilson and the FBI blamed Black people for the actions of the white mobs, accusing NAACP and others of agitating and even of being Bolsheviks, but it would be very wrong to see all of those Black people as passive, in fact those in some of the major Northern cities fought back ...

1919: Turmoil and Revolt in the British Empire

1919. The war years were a time of harsh laws against sedition and freedom of speech and action across the British Empire. Resources needed by Britiain and their allies were taken from those countries that lived under the Britian's flag and rule. By 1919 those future nations had become further politicised and wanted independence or a better relationship with the British Government.  However, the reaction of the British Government and their representatives in those countries was either to ign...

Episode 1: 1919 Race Riots & the Purpose of the Project