Restless beings event @Dgaf Stratford

Last night I had the immense pleasure of photographing a Hip Hop fundraiser for the Charity Restless Beings. http://www.restlessbeings.org/

Restless Beings is an amazing charity that works within the realms of Human rights. The thing that makes Restless Beings really stand out to me as a charity is the fact that everyone involved is a volunteer. No one at restless beings earns a wage and they work tirelessly to raise money for worthy causes from Street children in Bangladesh to raising awareness of the plight of Romany Gipsies. The Restless Beings team hold fundraiser dinners, music nights and even have a stall in Brick Lane. They manage to achieve all this while still being the warmest and smiliest collective of people that i've seen. The dedication and sheer perseverance of the team at Restless Beings has always left me with admiration and with the urge to do something to help. So when the opportunity arose to photograph one of their events held at Dgaf in Stratford I literally jumped at the chance.

The night was also the launch of a weekly conscious hip hop night at Dgaf. Hosted by Bigcakes of peoples Army, one of the funniest dudes I have ever come across...
Dgaf is a new and vibrant restaurant and sheesha establishment in Stratford set in a refurbished old school east end pub, ironic considering Dgaf is a alcohol free zone. Dgaf I have to admit since discovering it recently has become one of my guilty pleasures, the sheesha is made perfectly and to be honest the roof garden is the ultimate in urban chic with graffitied walls and hugh tv screens, the food is absolutely delicious, I do not think there's one thing I haven't tried that hasn't made my taste buds tingle...and believe me I have tried a lot. But the greatest thing is the floors at Dgaf, they have glass panels in the floor which means I can spy on my chef, maybe this way I can get some of those secret recipies. On top of the amazing food and sheesha, the thing that really makes Dgaf for me are the people and what they stand for. The staff are amongst the friendliest I've ever encountered and genuinely seem to love their jobs. The owner Saddiq treats you as if you are entering his personal home and offers his hospitality unflinchingly. On our first meeting I asked him about his vision, it was to create a space for the community a place where positivity and understanding could nurture and grow. A safe haven for all members of the community to come together to learn and enrich each other. For me I believe that Dgaf is living up to that vision.

So really it was a match made in heaven to have such a positive charity hosting an event there. But for me the real icing on the cake was the fact that some of my favourite UK hip hop DJs and acts were performing live.
Djing on the night were the one and only DJ Snuff, a personal favourite of mine, any one that knows DJ Snuff will note that he is one of the most hard working Hip hop DJs in the UK. Alongside DJ Snuff on the deaks was DJ Steaz, not only a gifted hip hop/dubstep DJ but one of the most humble but generous people you could meet.

Performing on the night were such classic acts as my beautiful sisters Poetic Pilgrimage. Any of you that have had the pleasure of seeing these sisters live will know that they ooze culture, knowledge and spirituality. I've never had the chance to photograph them on stage before and I really enjoyed it. I found Poetic pilgrimage to be very expressive on stage so the resulting photographs are to me like crystallised moments in time.

Alongside these ladies on stage was one of the UKs strongest underground rappers Logic. Now I've seen Logic on stage numerous time as well as photographing him and he always manages to get the crowd in an uproar, last night was no different. Photographing Logic is always a hard one as he's extremely energetic and trying to keep up was tiring me out. However I got some shots that I absolutely love.

Now a treat for me was the fact that CaxtonPress were also performing. I had previously heard a buzz about this old school hip hop group and was quiet intrigued to see them perform. And to be honest I wasn't left feeling disappointed at all...CaxtonPress were on point with their performance and I absolutely love their female member Amy True. The passion with which she performs I feel has transcended into the images I took of her. I'm sure you will feel the energy when you have a look.

Also I was in for a little surprise treat that night as I got to learn of a new artist Femi Santiago. Femi sings, plays the guitar and piano. During his rendition of "Giving my rose to you" I found it so difficult to take picture as all I wanted to do was give that music my complete undivided attention. I definitely think this is an artist to watch in the future.

There were many more performance on the night and all of them were amazing I can not fault the standard of any of these artists, everyone of them gave their all.

So really I cannot fault the night in any way, I got to sample the food that I love, listen to amazing music, mingle with conscious people in my safe haven hidden in the heart of east London while taking pictures for Restless beings.

Its times like this I love what I do, to be a part of something so creative, positive and unified. So maybe for me it was more than a nights work or a night out it was a holistic experience, a feeding of the soul.

I highly recommend keeping an eye out for restless beings. Have a look through their sight and please give generously or attend an event.

http://www.restlessbeings.org/

And if you fancy invading my safe haven heres the website for Dgaf

http://www.d-gaf.co.uk/

Now that you have read about my night here's a few sample pictures to share my experience with you, enjoy and feel free to comment xx