Stories Of...Notting Hill

Last night I went to the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town. It’s my favorite place in London. Well I say it’s my favorite place but I think it’s really an idea of my favorite place. Every time I go, I feel a little awkward in the beginning. I’ll tell you why in a second.  

It’s an establishment that feels like where punks would go in the late 70s-early 80s. What’s left of the “underground” scene. Except it’s not underground at all. Everyone knows about it. But it attracts the same scene. Or so I thought. 

I don’t know how punks were in the late 70s but I imagine punk in Britain was born out of rebellion. A “do it yourself” attitude with safety pins and slogans written across your shirt. A fuck the establishment, listen to good music, and dance with oblivion attitude. 

So back to Jazz Cafe. Introducing NIHILOXICA. Two worlds collide: 

1. The Traditional: ancient Bugandan drumming from Uganda 
2. The Contemporary: Techno 

They have one goal: to make people dance. 

And God, when they started drumming, did I want to dance. My veins pulsed. 


There’s a saying in Farsi— too ragesh raft  به رگهایش رفت. Meaning “it went in her veins”. Whenever I hear a dumbak drum I get this compulsive itch to shake my hips. Like when you see a baby and want to squeeze them and you feel the tension in your hands. So I’ll get up and dance in the living room. My grandma laughs and always tell me too raget raft “it went in your veins”. 

But I looked around. People weren’t dancing. They were gently bobbing their head. Perhaps a bit of a knee bend, like a baby who can’t yet walk but dances in place. 
Is this a British thing? Does the stiff upper lip also apply to the dance floor? 
Where were the punks? 
Where were the 80’s? 

I moved from the back of the crowd into a corner on the far right right at the lip of the stage. I set my nonalcoholic beer down,  closed my eyes, dipped my head back, and 
like a Persian—like a punk--


too ragem indeed raft. 
                                        نه رگهام رفت.


                                                                                                                                           Stories of Notting Hill 
                                                                                                                    Wednesday, November 10th, 2021