My Week In Media: Soweto Kinch

Last week I read...

An article on the current state of jazz and the opportunities that are opening up with download culture, in the latest edition of Jazzwise. It was a round-table discussion with Zoe Rahman, Pete Wareham and a couple of others from the British jazz scene. They were considering download culture and new performance opportunities, and whether they were a hindrance or a fad. Ultimately, the human quality in jazz - if you have humour, a personality and a vision - will override fashions and trends.

The Independent's education and careers supplements are always interesting and provocative. Also in The Independent, I read about a new E4 drama called Skins. It's supposed to take a more gritty, real-life angle on teenage issues; all the screenwriters are young, with an average age of 23. I do lots of workshops with teenagers and I think it's worrying that we take such an interest in them as angst-ridden and troubled. I'm sure that most teenagers don't have personality problems and drug problems and volatile tempers. It looks rather like Skins might deal with all the salacious aspects of being a teenager, with none of the good bits.

Last week I listened to...

John Humphrys' Looking for God, on BBC Radio 4. He was talking to the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, asking direct questions and getting insightful answers. The description of people's relationship with God as like that of a father and child was very thought-provoking. If people share similar perceptions of God, why is there dissension between religions?

Last week I watched...

A reconstruction of Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress on Channel 4. It was a dramatic development of Hogarth's idea of death based on his series of morality engravings and paintings. It was interesting because I'm considering a reconstructive history project myself. I did have some criticisms of the way they handled the historical matter and sensationalised some of it.

Last week I surfed...

Jonzi D's website (www.jonzi-d.co.uk). A lyrical theatre innovator, he's given a series of performances recently. Otherwise, it's the hip-hop-heads and jazz-heads on MySpace.

Soweto Kinch is a jazz saxophonist and rapper. His latest album, A Life in the Day of B19: Tales of the Tower Block, is out on Dune Records (www.dune-music.com)