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I was interviewed on Deutsche Welle - German TV's world service channel which broadcasts to 320 million houses worldwide.  The footage is on youtube in English and German

Ken Livingstone knows a lot about music. As a member of parliament he appeared on a blur record and made cultural events a central tenure to his time as Mayor, catching the wave of cultural innovation that is organic to the vibrant mix of culture and art that makes London a world-class city. Ken organised Rise, (the largest Anti-Racist festival in Europe),a larger than ever before St. Patrick's Day parade, a Free Pride event in central london, and the Asian Mela as part of his legacy, which engaged well established acts and gave platform to upcoming artists such as Estelle. Ken always made the economic arguments and social benefits of such events central to his programme - by putting on world class events, London will attract more investment and tourism - and have a greater quality of social life along the way. It is therefore very telling that one of Boris' first acts as Mayor was to strip the Rise festival of its anti-racist message - a clear pre-cursor to his dismantling it altogether a year later. Of course, in true blue fashion, this was all part of the "necessary cuts" agenda, which did not have the political expendiency to prize investment in culture as a way of stimulating the economy. A motif which now resonates further and much wider as the ConDem Government wields its brutal axe. Ken's policy document looks to protect music venues, create an expo event similar to the US' SXSW event and create a forum for better joint work between local authorities, the Mayor and the Music industry. It is this kind of strategic thinking that puts Ken ahead of the curve and leaves Boris exposed as culturally relevant as the Henley Regatta (if you dont know what that is - thats the point...). Ken also supports Uprise - the event that is aiming to reinstate the Rise festival with, or (sadly) without the current Mayor. As I was involved in the organising of the Rise festival I saw at first hand the impact it had on promoting the benefits of diversity in London at time when racist attacks soared nationally, it is welcome that the Rise festival is not being forgotten.

One of my friends was walking past Harold Moores Record Store in central London which has a lovely antiquated shop front which makes it look like something from a bygone era - in the shop window he spotted my record / cd on sale and took this picture -its amazing to see your first release on sale like this : )

I took part in "The Calling" as part of the Spitalfields music festival - this was a wonderful event at the Shoreditch Church which expressed the migrant experience of the local area very effectively - it included perspectives of each of the three Abrahamic faiths. Representing the Muslim commmunity, Sonia Mehta and the Nasha Crew, for the Christian community, Sukhdev Sandhu and Scanner and for the Jewish community, Max Reinhardt with guest artists Kuljit Bhamra (tabla), Sonia Slany (violin), Arun Ghosh (clarinet), The Mint Juleps (who did an excellent acappella number which called out the oppressions of anti-semetism, homophobia, Islamophobia and refrained paranoia) and members from the London Bulgarian Choir led by Dessislava Stefanova, whom I performed the final part with on a prepared piano with stones placed in it which was a reference to the Jewish custom of placing stones on a Tombstone. The event was supported by the Jewish Community Centre

The video to my single Prelude to the Nocturne is now on daily rotation on Open Access Tv - it was on around 7.30pm and 10.45pm when it was first shown but I dont know if this will be the continued times.  Its great to see it in HD on the big screen, and next to the pyrotechnics and lavish sets that grace the other videos from the likes of G4 and Vanessa Mae.  Hopefully it will stand out as I dont think there is another video on the current rotation that starts and ends on an estate in East London!

My music and a short interview was featured on German World TV which did a feature on the street pianos in London during July. You can view the link which starts 10 mins into the item here or in German here The links expire wednesday 14 July