There were several childhood artifacts kept by Amy Winehouse (school ties, old records, essays written, family photographs) as well as set-lists, early tour posters, dresses she wore, stage passes and her first guitar.
What was very clear from this exhibition is how her roots shaped her music and how despite all that happened to her with the life choices she made, she was essentially the same girl she always was. The strength of her desire to perform, to be heard right from her early years to her late years was consistent. These were displayed in many of her quotes. The most telling of which was an essay she wrote when young writing about how she wanted to remembered and what she wanted to do when she was older.
As I've written many times in this blog, Amy Winehouse is a massive hero of mine. She wrote and performed incredible music.By all accounts she was an incredible young girl and incredible person - reminds of a young version of my sister somewhat. Both her albums, as well as her posthumous album "Lioness - Hidden Treasures" are incredibly true to her roots. The nine-year-old Amy would approve, I'm sure.
Studying your musical heroes was one of many stellar pieces of advice given to me by Professor Livingston Taylor. It gives a special insight the journey of how their music came about. This I find fascinating.
This experience has heightened my awareness of the impact of my own childhood, family, religion and hometown has had on my musical output.
In a very reflective way, I dug-out my own memories, memorabilia and the music I listened to when young. It made for a very interesting, very personal realization. Maybe one day I'll have my own exhibition, hopefully that is a long way off, but I'm excited to share bits of it in time with the people closest to me.
For those interested, I've posted a link to the exhibition site. It runs until September 2013.
http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/Amy
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