The Bop Live 2022 is a community music festival produced by Croydon based company SDS Entertainment and funded by Arts Council England. The Bop live showcases grass root talent from the borough of Croydon and surrounding areas. It was curated to utilise the very few spaces available in the centre of Croydon where musicians could express themselves in the form of live performances. Over the years an array of venues have been closed leaving these artists with limited access to creative spaces. The Bop Live has filled that quota in the form of this festival - the first of its kind in the borough of Croydon. 2020 saw the likes of artists such as Asha Elia, Still Shadey, Mychelle and DXVL headline across stages/venues, Limitless VR, The Venue On Middle St (formerly Project B), Reggae Masters and The Front Room. Supporting artists included Deanna Chase, Le3 bLACK, Emily Mutaako and Boy Nash who has since gone on to work with Dj Semtex and perform on Charlie Sloth’s Beats Radio show.
Originally birthed during the pandemic as virtual only, SDS brings a hybrid version of the festival for 2022 now that the world is back to some kind of normality. The festival consists of 12 part live and part streamed performances across 3 stages/venues, working with PWR Magazine as curators for one of the stages. On February 5th, like an award show, audience members enjoyed viewing pre-recorded performances on a big screen followed by live performances with an in-house band, all taking place within The Front Room venue in Croydon.
PWR: What inspired me to start music ?
ET: Music is definitely a God given talent . I was a quiet kid growing up and at the age of 5 my mum decided to get me into performing arts school to make me more active and vocal and little did she know there was a loud creative kid inside. In the last year of Primary school, I played one of the lead roles in Lion King 'Nala' and saw it in the theatre for the first time and I knew from then I want to sing, dance and perform for the rest of my life! I loved the feeling of entertaining people and adding that extra sprinkle of bliss to someone’s day.
PWR: Who are your main influences and why?
ET: I have many different influences for many different reasons but if I could narrow it down to a few it would be my dad because he doesn't believe in the word ‘no’ or ‘I can't’! He always gets the job done, always speaks life into me and always reminds me through his actions that you can do whatever you want in this life no matter where you've come from.
Creatively, Teyana Taylor is a big influence to me. I love how she puts her live performances together, directs her own videos, choreographs herself and still holds it down as a wife and a mum. She reminds me that you can have it all and sometimes you just have to do it yourself if you want to get the job done because no one understands your vision better than you.
PWR: How was your experience of being part of The Bop live?
ET: I loved every minute of it . It was my first time doing something like this with no audience but the energy in the room was amazing which gave me that extra confidence I needed!
PWR: What does 2022 have in store for you?
ET: I have written myself a 2022 guide so if I stick to the script, then all will be well.
I plan on releasing more singles, doing more shows, more music videos, acting and a bunch of other creative stuff and hopefully a RnB Project… I have no date set for the EP but just know you'll have it on repeat once it drops!
Find Emani Talitha on social media: @emani_talitha
Comments