Learning often comes unexpectedly. Recently I was wandering
through the ‘Welsh Streets’ in Liverpool’s Toxteth district. Because of my interest
in social documentary and heritage I have spent many hours with my camera walking
around the silent streets of ‘tinned up’ houses in Liverpool 8. This is one of
several areas in the city where a whole community has been cleared of
residents, their properties having been compulsory purchased in preparation for
demolition – all part of the council’s grand regeneration plan.
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| Madryn Street as a poetry and songbook! |
One of the ‘Welsh Streets’ is Madryn Street where Ringo
Starr was born. (There is still some debate about whether no.9 should be
preserved as a national treasure!) I noticed that most of the small terraced houses
along Ringo’s side of Madryn Street have had sheets of song lyrics / poetry
pasted onto their sealed up doors and windows. Most of the lyrics are entirely
appropriate (Ghost Town, Anthem for
Doomed Houses, We Shall Not Be Moved etc.) resulting in the whole street becoming
a cultural installation. I photographed several of them before the sun, wind
and rain hides their messages.
One of the poems was called ‘The Day They Came for Our House’. The prose included “Armed with bulldozers / they came to do a
job / nothing more / than hired killers”. The poem was credited to Dan Mattera –
that’s all I knew from the photocopied sheet of lyrics - so I educated myself later
in the day. It was written about the
clearance and obliteration of Sophiatown in the 50s and early 60s in South
Africa. Sophiatown was a vibrant, urban, multi-cultural community – one of the
oldest black suburbs of Johannesburg. Under apartheid, it was
cleared, demolished and rebuilt as a white suburb (renamed as Triomf). The
township had been famed for its culture of writing, art and music – notably
jazz and blues. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu were both Sophiatown
residents.
Don Mattera ('Dan' is a misprint) was an activist in the struggle against
apartheid but he subsequently became a poet, writer and journalist. ‘The Day They Came for Our House’ was
published in Mattera’s book ‘Azanian Love
Song’ in 1983. To my shame I didn’t know the history of Sophiatown and
hadn’t read any of Mattera’s books or poetry until I researched these things
when I returned home. I’m glad I did – the shameful story of racial clearances
in South Africa is something that we should all know about. Sometimes learning
comes from unexpected sources – in this case my walk down Ringo’s old street resulted
in my learning about 50yr old events from 6000 miles away!
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| Wilfred Owen's 1917 poem - 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' reworked for condemned housing |
