Every Monday you can take the Overground to Hackney Wick, exit the station and take a brisk walk down a short dark alley to your new favorite event. In the illuminated courtyard, people with various instruments strapped to them queue to join the Orii Community Jam – an evening of intimate live music.
The jam nights, every Monday at the Hackney Color Factory, and every Tuesday at Jumbi in Peckham, start with a house band, then slowly switch in and out with people from the audience, there to play the stage for the first or 10th. for the 100th time.
There is no bureaucracy or complicated system; if you want to jump on an instrument, just talk to one of the band members, who are always happy to let you take over. The night is delightfully unpredictable – from soulful voices to room-jumping rap, from a trumpet solo to the crowd splitting into an aisle for vogueing, your night will be anything but boring.
From the entrance you can feel that if people aren’t already friends, they will be by the end of the night, starting with the relaxed host who makes you feel like you’re walking into a house party, to the organizers mingling around the crowd, hugs the regulars and smiles at all the newcomers.
Charlie Fenemer, executive producer of Orii – which means “soul” in Yoruba – calls it “a development organization where people can come and expand and learn and grow”. It started at the Color Factory, when the Covid pandemic meant that musicians couldn’t play gigs, and Fred N’Thepe, the founder, came up with the idea of a post-lockdown jam session, when the clubs were open, but everyone was still sitting.
It was launched as an event by musicians for musicians, for them to reacquaint themselves with each other. Three years on, Fenemer says it’s here to “satisfy the need for connection in a city that can be quite lonely at times, or the need for performance in the London music scene which can be quite competitive.”
But don’t be fooled, Orii is not just a place for high musicians to pat each other on the back – it’s open to everyone, and on stage the singers tell you: ‘we are one, we are connected to you’. Mrs. Fatima praises the diversity of the scene, saying: “There are incredibly experienced professional session musicians and even people who just played in their bedroom.”
And the community is still growing. In addition to their two weekly jams, they have ad-hoc events and a birthday party coming up in July at the Jazz Café. This summer you can catch them slowly easing into the world of electronic music as well, a big goal for them in 2025.
Even those who may not want to jump on stage now or at all are fine. You are encouraged to dance and clap, talk to the people around you. During one of the nights around Christmas, Orii sprinkled oranges around the paint factory. The rule was simple – you can get an orange, as long as you share it with someone you’ve never met before. Chiara Cappellini is a semi-regular and says she always makes time to attend the events when she visits from the UAE.
Speaking about the last jam night she attended: “It’s something organic, that could only come out of London. The jazz base, infused with the East London sound – the event flows and you can flow with it.”
