A day rave featuring Bachata, Bollywood, Bhangra, Francophone, Arab funk and Pinoy was hosted all under one roof in Stratford.
SamaSpeaks, a journalist/content creator, hosted her third day rave featuring five DJs from five continents at the Orange Room in Stratford.
SamaSpeaks, 26, began her content last summer on Instagram, curating a profile that takes the viewer on a journey across all areas of London to ethnic cultural hotspots to enjoy food and drinks, and even dance lessons from those cultures.
Now Sama is taking her content from the culinary world to the rave scene.
The Londoner spoke to Sama about her inspiration behind the event and the impact it can have on wider society.
Sama said: “Ever since I was 20, I had always yearned for community, for friends, and struggled to find anything. I tried bumble bff, getting a master’s degree, dance classes and failed. I always think of what impact I have on the world, and particularly as a London content creator, there are issues in this city, with loneliness and nonchalance being some of them.”
She added: “If I can have any impact on relieving these symptoms, I’m happy with it. I’ve sold out three times in a row and I think that shows how much people are yearning for IRL and not just a doom scroll.”
Sama’s Manager, Electra Epaminondas, 28, Founder, Melia Media, also spoke on the success of the event and meaningful connections found on social media.
Electra said: “The success of these events shows how online spaces can transform into vibrant, real-life experiences. It’s amazing to see the depth of the community Sama has created and how meaningful connections can develop from social media.”
Following the success of the Instagram page, Samas’ profile changed, taking her loyal audience on another trip, not for food this time, but to a rave to celebrate the music of a plethora of genres worldwide.
What does a multi-cultural rave hosted by a content creator look like? Click here to see more:
The event kicked off with Ndnacho, who cooked up a set from Latin America, featuring Reggaeton hits such as la mama de la mama, classic bands like Aventura, and closing with a melodic Bachata-style atmosphere for the audience to get into their feelings.
Moving from Romeo Santos and Aventura to the second DJ Jadjade, who brought the Pan-African and Francophone feel, playing hits such as Pile to move the crowd to Paris as if they were at Fête de la Musique, leading to many dance-offs and cheers.
DJ Sondrgeist took the audience from moving their hips to West African Francophone to Egypt, North Africa, and the Middle East, where the crowd sang their hearts out to Arab pop,
The Queen of Arab pop, Nancy Ajram, of course, was played with tracks such as Ya Tabtab Wa Dalla and Ah W Noss.
Naturally, to include the Queen of Arab pop, you have to include the king himself, Amr Diab, and you would have to tie in Nour El Ein to which the entire audience in unison sang along.
Finally, Sondrgeist ended with the classic Damni Falasteeni, to which many Keffiyehs were twirled and danced with as circles and dance-offs commenced.
Moving further east from Palestine to Asia, Dj Shinzee brought a flavour of music, including iconic desi tracks such as Jalebi Baby, Bollywood classics like Maahi Ve, Chaiyya Chaiyya and Sheila Ki Jawani, leading to circles upon circles of people with the audience flying about with dance moves from across South Asia.
Multi-cultural events such as Dance Around The World without leaving London only further highlight the beauty of London’s diversity, its melting pot characteristic, bringing people from all different ethnicities and areas of London all under one roof, blaring music from every continent.
Join the discussion