On Tuesday 6 June we hosted a fundraising gig that brought together AYM supporters and friends for a great evening of live music. Hosted in the colourful surroundings of Third Man Records in Soho, the gig featured performances from some very talented singers and instrumentalists whom we’re currently supporting through our Awards programme.
After exploring Third Man Records’ unique shopfloor (it’s their only record store outside the US) and enjoying a few refreshments, guests went downstairs to the venue’s intimate performance space – The Blue Basement – for the live music.
Our first performer, 18 year old Elziana, travelled down from Birmingham for the event. This was her first London gig (though you wouldn’t have known it!) and it’s the first year she’s been supported by AYM. Elziana has been writing her own music since she was a child and wowed our audience with her performance.
Next up was 13 year old singer and guitarist Jarlaith – who flew over from Belfast with his mum to join us. Jarlaith’s been playing the guitar since he was four years old and regularly gigs back in Belfast. The audience were blown away by his covers. We’re also thrilled that Jarlaith got to feature on this year’s The Voice Kids!
18 year old singer/rapper Joel (Grimm Dreamurr) gave a fantastic performance of some of his original music. Joel’s currently finishing his Music Technology and Music Production course at college and he’ll be studying Music Technology at the University of Westminster from September. Before each song he shared some of the inspiration, ideas and samples behind each track.
Our final performer was 18 year old Pheobe Austin, who also performed her own music. Mostly self-taught, Pheobe has been writing songs and gigging from an early age. As well as a wonderful performance, she gave the audience an insight into her songwriting process. Pheobe’s mum, Claire, shared what the evening meant to them:
“The gig has greatly increased Pheobe’s confidence in pursuing her musical goals, the attentive audience and feedback she got was really humbling. She enjoyed the whole experience but her favourite part was meeting and connecting with the other performers. The whole evening went really smoothly and we both felt welcomed and looked after. It was great to meet and chat with guests in such a casual way with no pressure.”
After the gig, guests and performers gathered upstairs. We loved seeing them having great conversations around music!
We’re really grateful to Matt Griffiths, CEO of Youth Music, who shared a few words during the event on the impact of our work:
“Making music is personal – it’s personal to us and it’s personal to young people. Young people’s lives in music across the UK are diverse and multi-faceted. What we need to do as an industry is respond with a tailored approach – understanding young people’s position, their expertise and their ambitions. Awards for Young Musicians does this beautifully and always has done. This is something we should continue to support, particularly in these challenging times where the gap between those who get the opportunity to take part and those who don’t is getting wider. It’s our job to address that.”
We’d also like to thank the wonderful performers, guests and supporters who joined us for the evening. We’re also very grateful to Third Man Records who generously hosted our event.
You can check out our performers’ music on Spotify!
Are you interested in attending future events? Sign up to our mailing list or feel free to contact our Development Administrator if you have any questions.
