You couldn’t describe me as a great fan of Adele but I surely qualify as a casual fan with four of her songs on my Spotify favourites list. I had heard about her weight loss and attendant criticism and thought, go for it girl, never mind the be-grudgers. I see that she has attracted even more be-grudgery by posting a picture of herself wearing carnival costume featuring the Jamaican flag. I have to say that she looks fantastic although not sure about the hair do. The problem was that she was dressed, carnival style whilst lamenting the cancellation of the Notting Hill Carnival this year and this woke up the woke police who accused her of cultural appropriation.
Now there are a couple of issues I have with Adele, the first is her politics which is left of mine but she will see the error of her ways as she gets older and wiser. The second is not so easy to fix as she comes from Tottenham and as we all know Tottenham Hotspur is the poorer side of the London derby with Arsenal. I am not calling for her cancellation for supporting the wrong team as the statistics are enough to make the point i.e. Arsenal won 77 league matches against 59 by Tottenham to date. Apart from that, I don’t see any cause for the sensitive and idle to go into frenzy mode and talk of cultural appropriate as though Adele was proposing a pogrom against the Caribbean community in London. The local MP, David Lammy, put it in context,” This humbug totally misses the spirit of Notting Hill Carnival and the tradition of ‘dress up’ or ‘masquerade’ .Adele was born and raised in Tottenham, she gets it more than most. Thank you Adele. Forget the Haters.”
On a historical note, the Carnival grew out of the Notting Hill riots in the 1950’s and was an attempt to ease racial tensions. So, much like the St Patricks Day Parades around the world it is intended to celebrate ethnic pride but also to welcome and share with other cultures a wonderful and joyous occasion.
Carnival is rooted in Caribbean culture, with its Windrush-generation influence remaining strongly evident, it is at the same time characteristically ‘London’ – today’s modern London. CVT
If you have read the home page of this Blog you might be under the impression that the writer would never attend such a noisy and crowded event. But I was there and have the T Shirt to prove it. You can imagine this rather subdued person entering the world of sheer exuberance, ground shaking music and firework coloured characters as they danced and sang in pure joy. The Notting Hill Carnival is part of all London and all of London is part of it, no one has cultural ownership here.
Just as a matter of interest, a round of applause to anyone who can calculate the highest number of PC sins committed in the essay so far. I have come up with four but think that we could increase this score with a bit of effort. Go for it Girl in the first paragraph must score at least two strikes. In the meantime, in the real world, thank you Adele for bringing some joy, fun and colour in an increasingly puritanical grey world. I am sure that your beloved London returns your salutations and wishes you, in turn, a Happy Notting Hill Carnival Day.
References
Carnival Village Trust, https://nhcarnival.org/nhcs-story