The Southbank Centre today announces that pioneering DJ and producer Honey Dijon is taking over its venues for two exceptional evenings of live music and club nights on Saturday 9 September and Saturday 16 September. Taking inspiration from Honey Dijon’s own roots in the Black and Queer community, Honeyverse will feature handpicked talent by Honey.
Commenting on Honeyverse, Honey Dijon said: ‘Discovery, Love, Joy. These are the tools of my creative practice and it gives me great pleasure to share with all of you the music and artists that inspired me in the curation of Honeyverse. So please join me for two exciting weekends full of cutting edge fun and an incredible and varied array of talent at the Southbank Centre.’
Adem Holness, Head of Contemporary Music at the Southbank Centre, added: “Honey is a complete force of nature, with an encyclopaedic passion for music like I’ve never known. As an expert in getting bodies moving I am so thrilled to have Honey shake up our entire site. Honeyverse is a peak into Honey’s creative genius & a celebration of Black Queer dance music. We can’t wait to dance with everyone.”
Opening Honeyverse in the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 9 September, Honey Dijon will give the world premiere ‘The Honey Dijon Experience’. Featuring the Radiant Baby Orchestra, the show will feature Honey Dijon performing a live DJ set of her own songs and classics remixed with the live orchestra and performances. Later that evening, in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, Honey Dijon will headline a club night featuring South London producer and DJ Aqwea. Journeying back to her native Ghanaian roots, audiences can expect a soulful blend of garage, jazz, afro beats and electrifying house. Also on the bill, Ugandan DJ and member of the Nyege Nyege collective, Kampire, will share her unique, genre-bending sounds that blend vibrant bass-heavy beats with intricate techno rhythms.
The following weekend, Saturday 16 September, the exceptional multi-disciplinary singer Alewya performs a live set in the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of a double bill. Taking inspiration from her Ethiopian and Egyptian heritage, Alewya’s unique lyrics are filled with vibrancy, often layered with mystical imagery and spiritual references. She returns to the Southbank Centre after appearing in Grace Jones’ Meltdown last summer where she captured audiences with her sultry vocals and cosmic beats. Also performing will be the Cakes da killa, one of New York’s most trailblazing rappers, whose 2022 release, Svengali, earned him rave reviews.
In the Purcell Room, Honey Dijon will be joined by guests for a special panel conversation on music, fashion and culture. As one of today’s most influential voices, this is a unique chance to hear Honey’s perspective of the current state of creativity, how hailing from the home of house music shaped her journey and the future of dance and design. Going late into the night in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer for the second club night of Honeyverse, Honey Dijon will be joined in the booth by Red Pig Flower and Gayance. A key figure in Berlin’s underground electronic music scene, Red Pig Flower has gained international recognition across the globe with gigs at Womb Club in Tokyo, Guest House in Bucharest and the legendary Berlin nightclub Tresor. Gayance, meanwhile, will live up to her name – the Haitian Creole word for joyfulness – following the recent release of her debut album, Mascarade, on lauded label Rhythm Section.
Tickets for Honey Dijon’s Honeyverse here: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/honey-dijon-presents-honeyverse
Written by:
Nura Arooj
