On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Welcome to Wonderland Festival run and curated by the 24 year old rapper, singer, musician and entrepreneur Little Simz.

In Welcome to Wonderland Little Simz takes the entire festival audience into her own world, inspired by the Alice in Wonderland tale and named after her album ‘Stillness in Wonderland’.

I spent 7 hours visiting acts across the three stages in the Roundhouse venue and was blown away by the sheer talent both from the performers and the eclectic audience.

Particularly in light of the Wireless line-up, (where only two women can be seen on their first release flyer) Little Simz packs this festival with a lineup of majority women of colour. Wonderful.

The Transmission Stage

The transmission stage had the freshest emerging UK talent. Most have already been received well by Urban outlets such as rapper ROXXXVN, but all left with a host of new fans. Providing a space for such up coming talent is increasingly important in our new streaming world where playlists are increasingly populated by artists on major labels.

The Rabbit Hole Stage

Lioness and Tawiah headed up the Rabbit Hole Stage preceded by songstresses like Cleo Sol and Tiana Major. Every time I walked to this stage it was packed with people leading out the door. All the artists on the Rabbit Hole stage were  innovative and captivating, please take the time to check them all out!

The Wonderland Stage

Graced by the likes of Kojey Radical, Rapsody and others the wonderland stage was a movie. Little Simz’s brought out Ghetts, Mahalia and Lianne La Havas and put on a brilliant show.

Here are some acts that are my ones to watch:

Tiana Major9

Tawiah

Lioness

ROXXXVN

Kojey Radical

DJ MILLER

https://soundcloud.com/djmiller3000/tracks

Liked this piece?

Let me know your thoughts @amahlamusic