BRAFA Pillar

BRAFA Square is named in recognition of The British Reggae Artists Famine Appeal Team (BRAFA); an inspirational partof Hackney’s rich African and Caribbean history. During the mid-1980s BRAFA raised thousands of pounds for Ethiopian famine relief by recording a charity song Let’s Make Africa Green Again, and holding a benefit concert in Shoreditch Park. Hackney reggae artists Leon Leiffer and Gene Rondo came together in January 1985 to form The British Reggae Artists Famine Appeal Team (BRAFA) with fellow musicians including Courtney Carr, Raymond Dangarembizi, Ras Elroy Bailey, Jah Bunny, Tony Douglas, Ken Kendricks and Fay Addison. This pillar celebrates and tells the story of BRAFA, located on the community-named BRAFA Square at the newly developed Britannia Leisure Centre by Shoreditch Park. The structure was determined by the actual size of the 12" record sleeve and where front and back of the original sleeve appear on the pillar – along with ten other record sleeve size panels telling the story. Main panels fabricated in vitrous enamel with construction, build and installation by Standard 8. Photographs by Wayne Crichlow.