POST 8 Post Office Closure Awareness Charity Fundraiser [Continued from yesterday]

Oddly enough, Norfolk has always had quite a cutting-edge music scene.

It goes back to the war, you see – the county had – and still has – a large number of air bases. American servicemen would bring records over, and new styles of music, and this would be absorbed locally. From country and western, blues, rock and roll to the present day.

If we are to raise awareness of the Village Post Office possibly having to close at some point in the future, we need to tap into this stream of popular culture whilst it is still new and fresh.

There is a new music emerging from the cities of America at the moment, called Rap. It is generally sung by black people and is exploding in popularity amongst youth culture in the British underground music scene.

Meanwhile, new British groups like the ‘Streets’ are putting our own slant on it, with their lead singer doing proper singing and stuff in the chorus, so it isn’t all just shouting and swearing. He uses words that the kids understand, like ‘wicked’ and ‘respect’.

It’s this that we will take, and release a charity single in aid of POST 8. I will get sympathetic celebrity musicians to do it, and maybe get some villagers to sing on the chorus like in ‘Feed the World’ or at the end bit of ‘Letter from America’.

They will be able to manage it. I tried rapping myself, in the mirror, and I was very good at it. I was even tempted to jump into the audience and shoot people. I know there are some people who say that ‘white men cannot rap’ but that is just as stupidly racist as saying ‘all Asian people own corner shops’ or ‘all French people smell of garlic’ or ‘Israeli policy regarding the Occupied Territories isn’t absolutely perfect in every respect’.

I will write the lyrics, which will be hard-hitting yet poignant for a world lost.

It will be great. Or gr8, as the kids would say in their secret language that they think we do not understand.

[Back on Friday]