Document Your Ting: Emma Warren B2B Elijah

Author/broadcaster Emma Warren and DJ/lecturer Elijah have been documenting the ephemeral and often hidden cultures of UK Black music for decades, and encouraging and mentoring others to do the same.

Now for the first time we bring them together to discuss their practice, the importance of documenting music cultures and why often overlooked activities like dance can be thought of as culturally significant. Marking the publication of Emma's latest book on UK dance music cultures, Dance Your Way Home (Faber), and Elijah's return from a 3-month world tour where he continued his ground-breaking Yellow Squares project, you won't want to miss this unique evening with two of the UK's most inspiring cultural thinkers.

Stories about basements, youth clubs, co-ops, squatters or roller skate spots can create an evolving blueprint. We can use that blueprint to open up possibility: to hang out together and dance, protest, make music, or just spend time in the resurfacing art of dossing

Emma Warren Document Your Culture

About the speakers

Emma Warren

Throughout her career as a music journalist, author, broadcaster and mentor Emma Warren has been advocating for and practicing the art of cultural documentation. In her books Make Some Space, Steam Down or How Things Begin and Document Your Culture, A Manual Warren speaks up for self-made cultural spaces, records the history and vitality of grassroots cultural work and provides inspiration and guidance to anyone who wants to tell their own story.

This event marks the publication of her latest book, Dance Your Way Home, a personal and social history of UK dance culture, described by DJ Gilles Peterson as "a fast track in understanding the secret formula that brings on collective euphoria through music and dance. It's brilliant.'

Elijah

Cutting his teeth as a grime DJ on Rinse FM and head of the Butterz label and club nights (both in collaboration with DJ Skilliam), over the past few years Elijah has added more strings to his bow as a pubic speaker and mentor to the next generation. He has been doling out wisdom, advice and an insider perspective one yellow square at a time on Insta and Twitter.

Since 2022 Elijah has been a SOAS Community Fellow, visiting classrooms to talk to students and presenting an end of year lecture which packed out our largest lecture theatre. Fresh back from a 3-month tour as a DJ, lecturer and manager (of Flava D) Elijah has built a truly outer-national reputation, and will be sharing insights from his travels in Japan, Brazil, the US, Bali, and many other places.