Jamal Yussuf-Adelakun

Photographer & Music and Events Manager

I’m a photographer and also work in Music and Events Management. I always wanted to work with artists. I started out getting hired by performers coming from England or outside Scotland looking to capture images for their shows. Then I finally got jobs for a few bands and captured their shows for them. Last year I started working for the Jazz festival as a photographer – I was supposed to be doing more this year but COVID happened. Just as I was getting to work with some big names! You just have to take it on the chin.

What do you enjoy most about working for the festivals?
When I first moved to Edinburgh a friend told me all about the festivals, all about the bars, how they opened later, so we started going out to the clubs, then went to the bars around the festival – I remember sitting outside at the Pleasance, we spent a lot of time there. While we spoke to people in the bars we realised everyone was going to shows, and we went along.

I watched a lot of comedy to begin with, it was my default setting when I started, then on the odd occasion I’d see dance pieces, or a comic from Africa, I’d check their shows out. That was it, I was hooked for the first two or three years. I really enjoyed being a part of it.

What is your favourite festival memory?
Seeing Reginald D Hunter for the first time, at Bristo Square, in the university building. He was one of the first comedians I saw at the festival –

I remember thinking you felt close to the performer, it felt natural, not staged. I like that you’re right amongst it. 

I’ve seen him another three or four times since. I also really enjoy sitting outside the Pleasance, having a drink, just talking to people, getting free tickets – those are the great times I really remember.

What makes you proud to be a Festival City citizen? 
When I first came to Edinburgh, I heard all about these festivals from the people I spoke to. One half of the residents loved it and went often – the other half moaned about it! There was a time I didn’t go as much. I used to not understand why you wouldn’t go when you have all this on your doorstep, but I got a little fatigued and life gets in the way. I started to miss it. In the last three years I started going again and got that feeling of excitement again. I went a lot last year and promised myself to be more active in the festivals. I was sad when 2020 was cancelled - I had just got my mojo back!