UK festivals need more black DJs and artists

The founder of a Birmingham music festival celebrating black music and culture is calling for more representation of the community at mainstream UK festivals.

DJ Buxley said black DJs and artists too often appeared on smaller stages and are “a bit of an afterthought”.

He held the first Boxout Fest in 2023 to improve representation and offer new opportunities to musicians – this year more than 80 DJs debuted their sets at the annual festival.

However, Buxley said: “It’s not just music, it’s also the people that are doing the doors, the marketing, the social media, it’s about putting on more people who are pushing black music and culture”.

“Anyone that’s talented and pushing black music and culture, we give them the platform to be great.”

The annual festival features music from genres including Afrobeats and Dancehall, with festival goers attending from as far as Ghana, Nigeria Bermuda, Italy and the United States.

More than 6,000 people attended this year’s two-day event which was held at the end of August.

Boxout Fest also showcases female and non-binary DJs, who Buxley said were also under-represented.

“I feel like festivals are no longer choosing people based on talent, but if you’ve got a hit song or the number of Instagram followers you have,” the founder said.

“Whether it’s Boxout Fest, a day party, a festival, or a live showcase, if you’re talented we’re going to spotlight you.”

He added that representation was also dependent on promoters and called for diversification as well as changes to line-ups each year.

Mel Grace, one of Boxout’s presenters, said she also wished larger UK festivals would highlight the many variations of black music and culture.

“There’s so many people that came from the Windrush generation and second, third generations that are involved in [Birmingham’s] culture, we want to represent ourselves as the Afrobeat’s culture, the dance hall culture and so much more.

Ms Grace added that as the UK’s second city it was important for Birmingham to demonstrate the importance of black music and culture to other parts of the UK.

“We want to show that we’re so proud of it.”

Ms Grace said people did not see a wide enough range of black music genres, such as R&B, Rap and Amapiano, as large festivals did not feature them.

“There are so many different segments of black culture that don’t get shown in the main festivals, so I’m glad we have Boxout as a platform.”

NSG, who headlined this year’s festival, stressed the importance of representing black British music and culture across UK festivals.

“Afrobeats is more than music, it’s a culture and culture never dies,” said Kruddz from the Hackney collective.

“Sometimes it’s not about making money, true legacy is when you have an impact on people and feel like I have been able to do that,” Buxley added.