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Monday, 20 September 2004 |
 The Urban Music Seminar took place at the weekend at the Royal Festival Hall and UKMusic.com were down there checking things out. One guy who knocked the socks off everyone was Lianhart. This guy ripped up the stage and got the crowd lively with his simultaneous beat-boxing and vocal skills. From Chaka Demus and Pliers to Dizzee Rascal, this man had all the tunes. He was phat. You can check him out for yourself by clicking on the video streams below, but anyone who was there knows exactly what I'm talking about!
Scheduled to appear on the 100% Homegrown panel was Crazy Titch, MC Shystie, Kano, Klashnekoff & Kyza of Terra Firma, Jeymes Samuel, Taz, Skeme, Slimm Dutty and Nathan. Crazy Titch was big on being British and made the crowd laugh as he referred to baked beans, fish fingers and chips! Skeme kicked in with an anti-American vibe that hyped the crowd. He said that UK artists don't need America to make it big:
"This is what you have to do. Properly make it in the UK, then the rest of Europe - Germany, France, Belgium - then you look to Japan, India and Asia, then Africa, then tell me if you need to break America."
Now that set the crowd off! Next up were Lemar, Gemma Fox, Hinda Hicks, Killa Keller, Wiley, Smujji, Estelle, Nina Jayne, Cassius Henry, Black Twang, Shola Ama, Kevin Mark Trail and Rhian Benson.
All offered their advice on making it in the music industry and the floor turned to Shola Ama when she was confronted about her recent drug addiction. She addressed the crowd and advised them on how to avoid similar pitfalls.
However a few rowdy crowds did cast a bit of a shadow over the event. There did seem to be a lot of people there who weren't really that serious about their music. The type of people that when you ask them what they do they say ‘I do music' when in reality all they do is smoke all day and chat rubbish.
Disappointingly Fresh Kicks was cancelled ‘In the interests of public safety' and when I left the building there were armed police outside, which didn't install much confidence in me! It's really sad that such a small number of people behaving badly can spoil such a good vibe and ruin it for everyone else who is serious about breaking into the music industry.
Clearly a lot of hard work had gone into organising this years event - as it does every year. The UMS is an excellent information point for young people who are passionate about the music industry and serious about making their mark. All in all, a worthwhile day.
[url=http://www.soul2streets.com/Video/UMS2004008.mpg]Check out Lianhart's performance here![/url]
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