Love Music Love Slough festival gives platform to talented artists

Talented musicians in Slough were given a platform to showcase their talents during an indoor music festival at the Queensmere Shopping Centre.

Love Music Love Slough took place in the former B&M store on Saturday and saw a diverse line-up of rappers, DJs, poets and musicians take to the stage.

HOME Slough and Langley-based music producer Stevoss (real name Stephen Ambrose) organised the event as part of the Love Slough initiative which is running throughout March.

The festival featured anti-knife crime and anti-racism messages and aimed to harness the power of music to change people’s lives in Slough.

Stephen told the Express: “I’m an artist and I like to see other artists getting involved. If there’s more of us we can create a scene and talk about building a network in the area.

“We have got lots of talent in the area but it just doesn’t get seen because we don’t have the creative spaces to give it the exposure that it needs.”

He added: “Slough’s got no youth centres and those are the hubs that champion the whole creative arts.

“What’s then happening is you’re now not seeing so many young people engage in creative arts.

“But things are about to change, hopefully.”

Langley-based broadcast journalist Sabrina and Britwell teenager Poppy-Joe joined Mike the Hyppe, famous for his catchy recycling rap song while doing bin collections in Slough, to present the festival.

Soul singer Rahki, the Love Music Hate Violence collective and DJ Gidz were among those to show off their talents throughout the day.

Stephen added: “It’s all about inclusion. If people want to get involved, this is a platform.

“As long as you represent the ethos of positivity, good vibes and a good message then get involved. We stand against violence and knife crime and bullying.

“We want to build people up, we don’t want to destroy people’s lives and music is massive in the power that it has in shaping people’s characters.”