Written by Fadeke Banjo
Hey lovely people, Fadeke here, back at it again with another blog post after my long #hiatus. This blog post will be a little different from my previous blog post. Your girl finally went out, as in outside my house, took a bus, and a train somewhere, yeah, that type of outing, lol!
I had the opportunity to attend a fantastic music event run by a collective known as 'Avibelive' (@avibelive). This group was founded by three young black men based in London who love music, attend festivals, and desire to create a sense of community while providing a platform for upcoming U.K. artists and musicians based in London to showcase their talents.
Co-founders of the Avibelive, Guets, Xion, and Victor.
On October 23rd, Avibelive hosted their first live music event at Arch 1, an independent black-owned music venue based in East London founded by Robert A Clarke (@arch1livemusic ).
Photo credit: @avibelive Instagram account, September 20th.
In addition, I will also be In this blog discussing the opportunity I had to interview one of the co-founders of Avibelive and one of the headline artists. I hope you enjoy reading this!
The Location (Arch1):
Photo credit:@arch1livemusic (Robert A Clarke) Instagram account, September 24th.
Getting to the location was somewhat easy, with nearby train stations, although I did get a little lost at first using my google maps, lol. Still, I ended up getting there pretty early. As a result, I got to have the opportunity to see behind the scenes, e.g., setting up the place before the event, meeting the founder of Arch1, meeting the co-founders of Avibelive, and meeting and hearing some of the artists who were going to perform.
The location was small but big enough for the crowd. Also, it gave that intimate vibe that the co-founders of Avibelive had in mind. I think it was pretty refreshing as often, when you think of music venues and music festivals, you might think of the O2 arena or Coachella. However, sometimes, the problem with such big venues/events is that you might not be able to get up close and personal with the artist or even fully bond with the rest of the crowd. Plus, Avibelive allowed upcoming artists based in London that might not be well-known the opportunity to showcase their talents in an intimate setting, which allowed them to connect more with the crowd, with the crowd being semi-small and being in a small-ish venue. I hope I'm making sense and not rambling lol; let me know in the comments.
Overall, I enjoyed the venue Avibelive selected for their first live event, Arch 1, a black-owned independent music event that positively impacts the community. Plus, it's black history month here in the U.K., so here is to support black-owned businesses, and It's a win-win if you ask me.
The artists/main event:
The headline acts from the event. Photo collage made by me.
The artists who performed included; talented Raya ( @itsrayaofficial) (who I had the opportunity to interview), alternative hip hop artist, supreme saucer, and dance king Deewain ( @d33wain).The soulful and multi-talented singer and poet J.A.E (@soundofjae), first time performing live Trai Global (@traiglobal), and another soulful artist Emiko (@emikomusic_). They all were excellent, and each gave their own flavor when they hit the stage and entertained the audience throughout the evening. The atmosphere, as promised, was a "VIBE" from the entertaining host and co-founder Victor (@v1besldn), the crowd singing along with the artists and the dancers in the crowd catching a vibe from the talented Dj @sarah_ust.
If your Spotify playlist needs updating, make sure to check out all the artists mentioned and give them a follow on their social media accounts and the various music platforms.
Snippets of some of the performances from the event I captured on my phone, you can also see the entire performance from the event on Avibelive's Instagram account: @avibelive
J.A.E, performance at the event (@soundofjae)
Part of Deewain's performance at the event. (@d33wain)
My O.O.T.D. (Outfit of the day)
Here is the outfit I wore for Avibelive's first music event, on the 23rd of October. (@the_flojournalblog)
Before attending this event, I remember checking 'music concert outfit ideas' on YouTube and inspiration from Instagram. Still, in the end, I decided to go for a generic basketball team graphic tee, jeans that had a patch-like design, my mother's African pattern headwrap, and my go too white trains. So the outfit was giving what I would call a mix between Erykah Badu headwrap days and African auntie with a twist, lol! But all in all, I quite liked the outfit I wore to this event. Let me know what you think down in the comments.
Erykah Badu with her iconic headwrap looks :)
Interview with one of the co-founders of Avibelive (Victor )
Photo credit: Taken from Victor's Instagram account (@v1besldn)
Victor is one of the co-founders of Avibelive and was the entertaining host for their first live event on October 23rd. Victor is also a radio presenter for a well-known youth-based radio station Reprezent radio, a content creator, club promoter, and a fellow Nigerian. He's also an all-around cool person. Something that is also quite interesting is Victor, who attended the same primary school my brother and I attended (small world, right? ). Anyway, make sure to give him a follow on his Instagram account @v1besldn.
I had the privilege of interviewing Victor at the event, discussing the story behind starting Avibelive, how he felt about Avibelive's first live event, and his hopes for Avibelive's future. Check out the interview below:
1) How do you feel about your first live event?
''I feel so privileged to be amongst this big project because I can see this growing. I'm actually excited because I love music, I love live music and just to be involved in the way I can be is just a privilege.'' - says, Victor
2) What are your hopes for your future events and your overall goal as an organization?
''My future hopes is that we can be seen as more than just a live gig and more of an community. Whether you are starting your career, begining your career, knowing that you have a home and a place to thrive.'' - says,Victor
''We want to build a network, we want to have bigger artist getting involved as well as smaller artist, you know learning from them.''- says, Victor
''I can see this becoming a platform where we talk about our issuess, we can interview other artist and know a bit more about them and just making more platforms, whether that is podcasting, whether that's radio. I can see this growing in a massive way, but at the moment we are just focusing on bringing upcoming artist to the stage and watching them grow into their indivdual self.'' - says, Victor
Interview with Raya (@itsrayaofficial)
A snippet of Raya's performance at the event.
1) Is this your first live event?
''No I've performed a lot, but it hasn't been for the sake of me, this is the first time performing for me, the rest has always been for charities.'' says Raya (@itsrayaofficial)
Raya's selflessness was shown during our interview, with Raya telling me that she would often perform when raising money for charities or attending events in the past. Of course, one could argue this could be considered other-centered, but Alivevibe's first live event allowed her to perform for herself. It is remarkable to use your voice and talents to be a blessing to others and yourself.
2) When did you start your music journey?
''I guess when I first went into a studio in a youth club, that was by my college, and ... I kinda fell in love. Obvisouly i was singing before, but it was the first time i said i am in control of my own music...'' says, Raya cheerfuly.
3) What do you think about this opportunity to showcase your talent?
'' Honestly this is a perfect event, anyone catching a vibe, it's like a intimate room, .... there is people coming to support, and obiviously you don't know who is going to be in the room, you don't know who's coming, you are just there to be you and people accept you and that's the best part about performing.'' says, Raya.
''I really love how this is set up, I think this is perfect and they are great people, I love these people.'' says Raya.
4) What are your future goals as an artist?
''I've changed my mind daily for three years, but I'm studying music management and business, so it's like I want to go to that side but then ic can't get myself out of the studio making music, so it's like I don't know which one, but I will still continue to perform even if I don't make as an artist ,but I'm not trying too, so if it happens it happens.'' - says, Raya.
Whether or not Raya does music full-term or not it was certain, without a doubt, both during our interview and seeing her perform on stage at the Avibelive event, that music will always have a special place in Raya's life.
''Other than that I believe my main purpose is to be in the music industry probably most likely not as an artist and just someone who could help other artist.'' says, Raya.
5) Who are your top three artists that influence you?
''Tiana Major 9, love her vibe.... if were talking old school people like SWV and like Aalyiah that's defo my type of vibe and new school would probably have to be people like HER, Tiana Major 9 and probably Janae as well, she's got that soft Neo-soul.'' says, Raya.
Raya's music favs.