An exciting new music project in Islington run by young people is raising awareness of the consequences of youth violence and showing that young people can, and do, make positive choices.
The Rose Bowl Youth Club has a recording studio and offers weekly sessions supported by music producer MK. It is also home to a project led by six young people who are creating a record label called 2PT Records, named after the Rose Bowl’s post code.
The label, which is still in its early stages, is being developed for young people, by young people with support from Semothy Jones.
Sem is the driving force behind Gain Ctrl, the successful music project that started at Platform youth hub and extended to the Rose Bowl in January 2017. Getting practical, the first thing the young people did was to decorate the studio space to improve their working environment and give it a fresh look and feel.
Throughout May, four young artists wrote and recorded songs based on the theme of ‘positivity among youth‘ and ’anti-knife crime.’ They used backing tracks produced by six young music producers. With the support of MK and Sem, they worked together on a series of tracks.
Young artist Jesiah M, aged 20, said;
“We made these tracks not only to raise awareness of the issues that are going on in our everyday lives, but to also show that positive things and positive people can come out of the areas which often gain negative press coverage.”
Hearing about the music projects, Trustees of the Friends of the Rose Bowl used our contacts to organise a trip for the young people to a world famous recording studio on Sunday 11th June. The studio is used by artists such as Adele, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
Fourteen young people from the Rose Bowl attended, along with members of staff from the Rose Bowl; the in-house music producer MK and Friends of the Rose Bowl Trustee, Sylvana Caloni and Friends of the Rose Bowl Treasurer, Paul O’Donnell.
The young people recorded their live vocals and had their track produced in a state of the art recording studio. They also had the opportunity to take part in a question and answer session with a world-famous producer and song writer. At the end of the session the enthusiastic young people provided glowing feedback;
“Today’s visit was an amazing opportunity and gave us the chance to work with professionals who wanted to help us and give back to the community.” Rocky N, aged 16.
“Wow, what an insight. As we are in the process of starting a record label, I found the Q and A, really useful. It showed me that although we are young, we can set ourselves clear goals and strategies that we can work towards and fulfil!” Kyra L, aged 16.
Names of participants on the music project:
Artists
Gracia L, aged 20; Rocky N, aged 16; Lamar M, aged 14 and Jesiah M, aged 20.
Producers
Abu M, aged 19; Akeem M, aged 19; Josh T, age d 19; Tunji A, aged 19; Siyar A, aged 16 and Tyresse C, aged 13.
Record Label
Abu M, aged 19; Akeem M, aged 19; Kyra L, aged 16 ; Awis I, aged 19; Georgia I, aged 17; Henry B, aged 19 and Syrus W, aged 20.
Names of Facilitators
Semothy Jones, Music Producer, Gain Ctrl, 2PT Records
Mkulu Lee, Music Producer, Rose Bowl
Clive Tachie, Senior Youth Worker, Rose Bowl
For further information see:
http://www.rosebowlislington.org.uk/
http://gainctrl.co.uk/
Twitter: @rosebowlhub @gainctrl
Instagram: @rosebowl_hub @gainctrl @2ptrecords