With an illustrious lineup of artists representing the vibrant spectrum of Caribbean and African musical genres, the festival promises to deliver an unforgettable experience to attendees. Headlining the event are acclaimed performers such as Capleton, Busy Signal, Shy FX, and Iration Steppas. Joining them are talents like Cameroonian-American singer Libianca and the innovative dub sound system crew Channel One, enriching the festival’s offerings with depth and diversity.

In addition to these headliners, the festival further boasts a diverse array of performers, including the likes of Anthony B, Black Sherif, Ding Dong, Lojay, Queen Omega, WSTRN, Rage MC, Dubwise Jamaica, Ayanna Heaven, Kalia Goddess, and many more. This year’s festival showcases a full lineup of exceptional talent from various corners of the world, with esteemed acts like Jamaica’s Beenie Man, Shenseea, and Busy Signal also gracing the stage. Attendees can anticipate a dynamic display of musical talent, honouring the rich and vibrant heritage of Caribbean and African music.

City Splash Festival stands as a testament to the profound impact of Caribbean and African culture in the UK and beyond, showcasing the abundant legacy of genres like Roots, Dub, and Dancehall while embracing the evolution of Jungle and Garage music.

Featuring seven unique stages offering “diverse sounds and vibes,” attendees can immerse themselves in a medley of musical experiences. Additionally, with over 45 Black-owned food traders tantalising taste buds (delivered in partnership with Black Eats LDN), authentic rum stalls, and engaging panel talks, the festival promises an immersive cultural experience.

Located in the heart of Brixton, Brockwell Park serves as the perfect backdrop for this celebration of Afro-Caribbean heritage, underscoring the area’s rich history and cultural significance. More than just a music event, City Splash Festival is a vital cultural melting pot that celebrates, amplifies, and uplifts Black music, food, dance, and style.

As anticipation builds for this year’s festivities, City Splash Festival promises to be a highlight of the summer calendar, offering an opportunity to celebrate and embrace the diversity and richness of Caribbean and African culture in the UK and beyond. Tickets are available for purchase for the bank holiday celebration here.

During a three-show run at 02 Brixton Academy last December, two people, gig-attendee Rebecca Ikumelo, 33 and security guard Gaby Hutchinson, 23, lost their lives as a result of a crowd crush outside of the venue as a result of many fans trying to get into the show without a ticket.

Just before Asake hit the 02 Arena stage last Sunday a tribute towards the two who lost their life was carried out as their picture was shown across the stage’s big screen. This was accompanied by a spoken word poem alongside backing performers dressed in all-white surrounded in full view by flowers.

The poet went on to say: “I know some feel loss and some regret. We need to hold this moment. I need to hold this moment. They need to hold this moment.”

Throughout the poem, the big screen cycled through photos of the two victims as well as news footage from the scene and pictures of the tributes that were left outside the venue.

This was all then rounded out with a message that read “Rest well” immediately prior to the start of the concert.

The tribute was commended and praised across social media from those who attended the show and those that chose to watch the live stream.

I love Asake’s tribute to the Brixton Victims

— AJ (@liliestbaby) August 20, 2023

Respect to Asake and his team for the tribute to the victims at o2 Brixton

— ApEx (@apex_ams) August 21, 2023

However, the tribute was met with criticism from the sister of victim, Rebecca Ikumelo, as she stated on social media: “My sister lost her life at your show and you haven’t spoken to a single member of my family since. But you can hold another concert in London less than nine months later and play her videos as a ‘tribute’?”

What a sorry excuse of a “tribute” from @asakemusik. My sister lost her life at your show and you haven’t spoken to a single member of my family since. But you can hold another concert in London less than 9 months later and play her videos as a “tribute”? RIP Rebecca Ikumelo — R (@rachaeliku_) August 20, 2023

The show itself was still mired in speculation. Asake showed up on stage 90 minutes late with there being rumours of issues with crowd control. However, it is possible extra precaution was taken as Asake went on the state “Safety is my main priority tonight”.

Investigations are still ongoing regarding what happened during that fatal crush outside the 02 Brixton Academy last December, with the venue remaining closed as Lambeth Council reviews it’s live music license. The future of the venue is currently up in the air at the moment; the Met Police have claimed to have “lost confidence” in the venue’s safety whilst online petitions have pushed for the venue to remain open.

It was earlier this week that Juls took to twitter with a previously teased announcement about new music. It reads “And the announcement is …. My first album is done. No EP or mixtape! My first album ever ….. The challenges have been real but God has been realer. It’s above my hands now, I give my all to you the listeners. Thank you. It’s time. New Music this week”. Juls later solidified this news with the Thursday release of his new single titled ‘Chance’. He links up with Projexx and Tay Iwar for the summer ready tune. The track follows the 2020 single featuring p-rallel and the returning Tay Iwar titled ‘1985’.

With no release date confirmed for the album, but with a hinted summer release date, we can only await what Juls has in store for his fans next. The currently East London residing producer and musician has been putting the work in during lockdown, producing additional hits for afrobeats titan WizKid and DC rapper GoldLink. Stream the new single from the highly anticipated album ‘Chance’ on all major streaming services.

The African-pop singer broke onto the music scene recently with his first hit single Baby only released in 2019. Baby received over 20 million streams in the UK and 30 million views on YouTube, as well as receiving vast critical acclaim. That year Joeboy released his first EP Love and Light which earned him awards from Soundcity MVP Awards Festival and Best Artiste at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards.

Joeboy released a statement about the coming album today, saying that “working on this project was life changing — I met a version of myself I never knew before. The plan was to come up with a title that best describes love, without actually using the word love. Hence Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic. Because love is a perfect blend of beauty and magic.”

African fusion music is currently in the middle of a takeover on UK spotify and apple music, the genre of West African pop and R&B is being referred to as afrobeats. Including Joeboy, artists such as Burna Boy and Amaarae have skyrocketed in streams in the UK and have even inspired stars like Drake, Beyonce and Diplo to integrate the genre into some of their new music.

An expert in the genre Mankaprr Conteh described the influence of African music in the UK right now,  saying that the “lore of the term Afrobeats is that around 2010 there are African immigrant communities in the UK that are just turning up to a lot of music from Nigeria and Ghana and other parts of West Africa in the clubs and at parties. DJs and promoters then need a way to package and sell these events that are going to feature this popular West African music. And so the term Afrobeats is coined as a catchall for the sound.”

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A post shared by JOEBOY (@joeboyofficial)

Temptation is taken from the tracklist of Celia, Tiwa Savages’ swiftly approaching new record. Celia will be the fourth studio album from Savage and is set for release on Friday the 28th of August. This month Savage shared two tracks from the upcoming Celia, entitled Koroba and Dangerous Love. 

Sultry and smooth, Temptation encapsulates why Tiwa Savage is widely known as the ‘Queen of Afrobeats’. With sunshine bright instrumentation, powerhouse vocals and Afrobeats-infused percussion, Temptation explores an unrelenting desire between two people. 

Savage leads the first verse and chorus of Temptation, her mighty vocals belt the lyrics: “If you do me nice/If you do me right/I’ma give you everything you like.”, which immediately set the song’s flirtatious tone.

Sam Smith’s work on the second verse and chorus takes Temptation up a notch. Smith’s angelic voice sings “The shape of your body, replays in my mind/The sound of your promises, echo in me deep inside/Crave your attention, it compliments my pride”, amping up the track’s sensuality. 

 Savage and Smith continue with an amorous back and forth for the remainder of the track, singing “Temptation, temptation/That’s all I see when I look at you.” When speaking on the single, Tiwa Savage sang Smith’s praises. In a recent statement on Genius, Savage relayed that “we don’t know how amazing Sam is…it just changed the face of the project.”

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‘Temptation’ with @samsmith is #1 on @Applemusic New Music Daily GLOBAL playlist. Go stream it!Cc @motownrecords

A post shared by Tiwa Savage ⚔️ (@tiwasavage) on Aug 24, 2020 at 11:39am PDT

An accompanying lyric video of Temptation dropped concurrently with the track’s release yesterday. A smoke show of pink and purple hues, Savage premiered the lyric video to her official YouTube channel, which has received a whopping 65,000 views.   

Along with fan’s joyous reaction to Temptation, Savage and Smith’s creative collaboration has been warmly received by Apple Music, as the new single is currently sitting at #1 on the streaming giant’s coveted playlist, New Music Daily. Savage took pride in the well-deserved recognition with a post on Instagram, which has already gathered over 42,000 likes from Savage’s extensive following.

Sam Smith also took to social media to ring in the release of Temptation. Featuring a snippet of the sultry song to their Instagram platform, the Only One singer added the sweet caption: “I had so much fun working on this one with the unstoppable and beautiful talent that is @tiwasavage – thank you for the opportunity.” Garnering over 189,000 views, fans were clearly ecstatic at the news of the talented artist’s creative union. 

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I had so much fun working on this one with the unstoppable and beautiful talent that is @tiwasavage – thank you for the opportunity. Hopefully one day we will be dancing and singing this together, cocktail in hand x

A post shared by Sam Smith (@samsmith) on Aug 24, 2020 at 9:45am PDT

Celia Tracklist:

1. Save My Life
2. Temptation
3. Pakalamisi
4. Koroba
5. Bombay
6. Dangerous Love
12. Park Well
13. Interlude (US)
14. FWMM
15. Ole
16. Attention
17.Glory
18. Celia’s Song

Speaking to NME about the news Kofi ‘Funkz’ Kyei of MOVES Recordings, who is part of the team that created the new chart has said; “It has been amazing to witness over the past decade the sheer growth in African music being welcomed by the UK and the international market. A scene that defines a culture, a people and countless generations, its music has soundtracked underground culture for years, being the go-to sound in clubs, parties and communities in a way that’s shaped our very culture. For too long, Afrobeats artists have had to work tirelessly to get their voices heard and now African music/Afrobeats is finally being seen as a leading sound that global superstars turn to on a regular basis.”

Speaking about the official chart itself, Kyei said; “The Official UK Afrobeats Chart will help open up the culture to new audiences, giving emerging artists the opportunity to be heard whilst celebrating the sound of a continent that has gone global. Its importance can’t be measured and I look forward to celebrating the biggest and best tracks each and every week!”

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This is it, the Official UK Afrobeats Chart is here! Who do you think will get the first ever No.1? ⁣ ⁣ This week sees the launch of the first Official UK Afrobeats Chart – a new Top 20 weekly rundown spotlighting the fast rising Afrobeats scene in the UK, initiated by celebrated festival @afronation and compiled by the @officialcharts Company.⁣ ⁣ We will be be unveiling the first chart in a special ‘The Official UK Afrobeats Chart Show’ on Sunday 26th July from 1pm-3pm. Join Eddie Kadi, Shopsy, Danai and P Montana as we celebrate the launch with music, discussions, artist interviews and more.⁣ ⁣ #AfrobeatsChart #WeHaveArrived ⁣

A post shared by BBC Radio 1Xtra (@bbc1xtra) on Jul 21, 2020 at 1:42am PDT

The chart will decide the artists each week be measuring UK sales and streaming data from over 9,000 outlets, incorporating audio and video streams. They will also measure downloads and physical sales. The playlist will be released every Sunday on a weekly Spotify Official UK Afrobeats Chart playlist.