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A BRAND NEW MUSIC SHOW To mark this year’s #WorldMentalHealthDay, three of Britain’s most celebrated Black artists, @che_lingo, @arlo.parks and @kojeyradical, are performing one of their tracks and sharing personal stories that have inspired them to speak their mind through music with our #IAMWHOLE Founder, @jordanfstephens. Watch the full show on @channel4 or All 4 this Friday at 11:05pm. You don’t want to miss it. . . . #WMHD2020 #IAMWHOLE #TWT #TheWholeTruth #WholeTruth

A post shared by #IAMWHOLE (@iamwholeuk) on Oct 7, 2020 at 8:15am PDT

The artists will perform their own songs and then join together to have an open and honest conversation about their mental health experiences. They will share personal stories that have inspired them to express themselves through their art. They will also talk about the impact of the pandemic on their mental health as well as the pain they have faced this year because of the protests and every day racial injustices.

In a statement about the show, Jordan Stephens’ said: “Our intention is to shed light on mental health from the perspective of cultures not often centred in the conversation. This is not about shoving a load of Black faces into a TV spot during the one gracious month of blackness that our calendar so kindly offers, just to tick a diversity box. This is about providing space for silenced communities.”

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TOMORROW. To mark #WorldMentalHealthDay, three of Britain’s most celebrated Black artists @che_lingo, @arlo.parks and @kojeyradical perform one of their tracks and share personal stories that have inspired them to speak their mind through music. #TheWholeTruth tomorrow 11:05pm. #WMHD2020 In partnership with @iamwholeuk

A post shared by Channel 4 (@channel4) on Oct 8, 2020 at 4:01am PDT

#IAMWHOLE is an anti-stigma mental health campaign developed in partnership with the NHS and YMCA, the world’s largest youth charity, and was launched in 2016 by Jordan Stephens. #IAMWHOLE recently launched Digital Detox Day, which encouraged people to stay off social media for one whole day, on the 5th of September. The project collaborated with Lush, Social Media star Zoe Sugg and The Royal Society of Public Health.

The Whole Truth will air on Channel 4, tomorrow, October 9th at 11.05pm and will also be broadcast across 4Music and Channel 4’s online platforms later this month.

The event was the brainchild of former Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas and was conceived in partnership with several academics and industry figures in the hope of recognising the genre as a culturally relevant art form. Says Milas: “This is a world-first. In these troubling times the fact that this music resonates with people of every colour and culture and creed is an incredibly special thing, and we want to shout that from the rooftops. With the w\m/c we’re creating a unique forum to help bring that truly global community together, and we’ve already had a phenomenal response.”

Tony Iommi, guitarist of genre creators Black Sabbath has given  his blessing to the event stating: “I’m really pleased to hear that the World Metal Congress will be taking place in the UK. The Metal community is huge but rarely gets the recognition it deserves. My best wishes for a successful event.”

The funding for the event came from an Arts Council Grant and the first day’s talks will be dealing with different aspects of metal as an industry featuring executives from such things as BBC Radio 1, the genres biggest festival, The Wacken Open Air in Germany as well as one of the genre’s most politically outspoken figures, Napalm Death frontman Barney Greenway who states:”Human rights and universal artistic licence are tightly intertwined. Breaking tired old stereotypes, celebrating free creative expression without borders and confronting and debating challenging ethical band decisions continues to be an absolute must.”

The second day will be a whole day of premiere’s of documentaries looking at how the genre has broken cultural barriers and a live set from Singapore grindcore band Wormrot. Perhaps what will truly make this event historical however  will be a talk from a musician from one of the  worlds most currently war-torn places: Syria. Jake Shuker from Syrian band Mayalsaloon will be coming all the way from Damascus to speak at the event, marking the first time a native Syrian has been allowed to do such a thing since the beginning of the war. Shuker will be joined by Monzer Darwish  who is also a Syrian musician who is the director of “Syrian Metal is War” which is one of the films being shown.