Yesterday saw another ILUVLIVE show at Proud Camden, which, might I add, was looking very suave. This wasn't any ordinary ILUVLIVE show though; the winners of the BBC Performing Arts Fund were up in the building to wow us with their talents. One of the winners of the £10 000 BBC grant, Illum Sphere, spun us some exclusive tunes on the decks to begin the event and get the crowd warmed up. Another winner of the Urban Music Talent Scheme, DJ NSway, then took over for the rest of the night mixing and spinning like a true pro, whilst getting our heads bobbing during the intervals.

Our usual host Ras Kwame was replaced by resident ILUVLIVE DJ, Twin B, who stepped up on the stage to introduce us to the evening, crack some (really bad) Ghanian football jokes and dance... call him a man of many talents. Thankfully though, he didn't sing. With the audience and the live band more than warmed up, it was time for last week's open mic winner, Greg Dwight, to step on stage. With an amazing, soulful voice he performed 'Holding On' and then went on to perform a more up-tempo tune 'Find What I'm Looking For'. He had great stage presence and the crowd really warmed to him.

Next up was The Spectre, another open mic winner who 'rapped' the audience up... literally. He was a good performer, not your typical rapper, and was well received by the ILUVLIVE crowd, as the band worked amazing wonders with his tunes. Gotta love the band!

Singing her lil lungs out next was Ianna Love, (yes that is her real name). She had strong melodies, stylish attire, pinkish lipstick, the whole shebang! She performed a tune written and produced by Crimson and had a little dance along. The crowd liked her, despite the fact that she was evidently nervous at the beginning. As the set progressed her confidence grew. Finally she performed a cover of Music Soul Child's 'Merry Go Round', which went down well with the audience and she left the stage on a high!

In true rapping style Bundi hit the stage next. He performed 'Girl' and then drew the audience in to get them involved with his second and third song. His confidence was appreciated and the crowd interacted with him. The girls seemed to love it, dancing along and he got a whooping round of applause at the end of his performance.

Then came the interval, the usual bar, toilet and cigarette breaks. Host Twin B came back on stage with more jokes and charm and put the band on the spot, asking them to freestyle garage, R&B, hip hop, and funky house beats on the spot. They reacted perfectly to all genres, I loved it, Twin loved it, the crowd loved it, it was all very lovely.

Next up was another BBC winner Jai Amore. After walking around and talking to the crowd, it was clear to see that singer Jai Amore had pulled in a large majority of this week's audience. He performed his first tune with no backing singers, no band just his sweet, sweet melody, adding some comical touches to his lyrics and really acting out his song.

The crowd were stunned, I was in love. It was a beautiful performance. The band joined him as he performed 'She Wanna Fly', which was up-beat and racy. He danced and swaggered it up and had the whole place loving him. He then sang to us, his website url. (www.jaiamoreworld.co.uk) and then performed his last tune 'Bachelors Girl' before literally dancing off of the stage to a standing ovation.

Now I thought on sight, that the next artist, BBC winner KOF, was an emcee, but you know what they say, 'never judge a book by it's cover’. He is an emcee but also a singer, and a very charming singer at that. He sang his first tune without missing a note, the melody was lovely, he was confident and shone on the stage. Next he performed a rap tune, where he successfully switched up his flow about 100 times during the track (from fast to very fast to slow then back to fast again). It was hard trying to keep up with him, but his amazingly talent shone through.

The 60 second open mic began with Kelly Lee and Jessie (both singers) winning a place at the opening of next week's ILUVLIVE show. Next week we'll see singer Obenwa Obah and Lowkey (also winners of the BBC Performing Arts Fund) hit the stage. Make sure you're there cause it's going to be a show no to be missed!

For more information on the BBC Performing Arts Fund which was designed to specifically support the urban genre in the form of emcee's, DJ's, rappers, beat boxers, producers, promoters, label bosses agents, journalists, managers and writers visit their website.

WORDS: SIAN ANDERSON