Show celebrates Belfast’s anti-slavery heritage

A unique live show commemorating Belfast’s opposition to the slave trade has opened in the city centre.

North Star is a musical celebration of Belfast’s black community and the city’s links to the 19th Century anti-slavery campaigner, Frederick Douglass.

The African-American statesman was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818.

He later escaped from his slave-owner and became a renowned US politician, author, speaker and publisher.

Douglass was given a warm welcome by the citizens of Belfast during his two-year speaking tour of the UK and Ireland which began in 1845.

During one of his speeches, he declared: “Wherever else I feel myself to be a stranger, I will remember I have a home in Belfast.”

It was this phrase which inspired the show’s creative director, Kwame Daniels, to explore what the concept of “home” means to the youth of Belfast who are growing up in an increasingly diverse city.

“We’ve asked the question of what was it about Belfast that would enable essentially an enslaved man – on the run – to feel so welcome and so at home?” he told BBC News NI.

The team behind North Star worked on the project with more than 100 children from four schools across Belfast.

The pupils attended creative writing workshops, resulting in a raft of original poems and speeches which will be read out during the show.

Mr Daniels, a London-born DJ who moved to Northern Ireland 27 years ago, now also calls Belfast home.

He married a “Derry girl” and the couple are raising their two children in the south of the city.

But following the racist rioting which broke out in parts of his adopted home city August, he believes it is a pertinent time to stage North Star.

“It was always an important show but it took on extra significance in light of what we witnessed, in terms of the attacks, the racist, Islamophobic attacks in the summer.

“It was not just Belfast, it was UK-wide and Ireland”, he added.

Several people, homes and businesses were attacked in Belfast after anti-immigration protests turned violent in the wake of a stabbing in Southport.

Mr Daniels said the riots “drove home” the need to promote integration by introducing more people to black music and black culture in Belfast.

“We’ve seen what can happen if we don’t nip this in the bud,” he said.

“Let’s take North Star and this as a jumping off point and an opportunity to address issues that are clearly prevalent here.”

The Londoner acknowledged in the aftermath of the Troubles, Northern Ireland is seen “as a leader in peace and reconciliation”.

He now wants to see peacemakers “apply those same energies that we’ve been applying for the last 30 years to issues around race”.

The show features award-winning musicians and performers including Grammy winner Kaidi Tatham and Ivor Novello winner Hannah Peel.

Also on the bill is Belfast singer-songwriter Winnie Ama whose career took off “totally by accident” when she took singing lessons at the relatively late age of 29.

Up until that point she was working in an office for a data publishing firm.

“There was like zero creativity – super normal, average,” she recalled.

Fast-forward a few years, and Ama’s brand of “soulful pop” has secured support act slots for legendary 1970s soul group Sister Sledge and R&B singer Macy Gray.

“That was crazy. They were doing the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and I actually emailed and said – and it was one line – ‘Can I open for Sister Sledge?’

“And then two weeks before the gig, they were like: ‘Yeah.’

“The very same with Macy Gray. A single email, one line. I need to actually do that more, because that’s the only two I’ve sent!” she laughed.

Those emails also included a link to Ama’s YouTube channel, which was enough to get her name on the bill.

The songstress is very excited to be part of the North Star event, describing it as an “ode to Belfast”.

“It’s songs written for Belfast in a way which highlights Belfast’s commitment to inclusion which is a very import thing to recognise,” she said.

“I don’t think people know that Belfast resisted slavery for example, I don’t think that’s common knowledge.”

As well as commemorating Douglass’ visits to the city, the show celebrates Belfast’s rejection of an attempt to launch a slave-shipping venture from its port in 1786.

At a time when the British economy was reaping much of its wealth from the Atlantic slave trade, slave ships were a common feature of several port cities.

Although some Belfast-based merchants owned slaves and plantations in the West Indies, leading members of Belfast Charitable Society and United Irishmen petitioned against the use of enforced labour and slave trade products.

Belfast woman Mary Ann McCracken relentlessly campaigned against slavery at the city’s docks until she was almost 90 years-old.

Belfast City Council has honoured both Douglass and McCracken with bronze statues in the city centre in recent months.

The council has also co-funded the North Star project as part of it Belfast 2024 programme of cultural celebration.

The last word of the performance staged over two nights goes to 11-year-old Belfast schoolboy and budding actor, Elliot, who described himself as “half Congolese-Belgian”.

He said he was “quite excited” after being chosen to read out the poem which will close the show, added it was a great idea to use contributions from children.

“It’s a brilliant place, I love living in Belfast,” he said.