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 There was a sunny disposition in my heart despite the teeming rain at the Outburst festival on Saturday. To start with, the venue, the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, was more than welcoming. Beautifully new with clean toilets, soft tissue paper and an onsite coffee bar with real tea, coffee and cakes. Definitely a joy for us girls who do festivals but not the wellie or porta-loo variety.
There was a definite theme of health and well-being promotion amongst the stall holders with usual freebies, goodies and competition give-aways. It was also especially good to have the MET police at hand to discuss hate crime issues. A wonderful array of acts and talent were on display for all to revel in. As promised, we were spoilt with ’10 hours of entertainment and Fun’ including listening to our fav tunes as played by our fav DJs - Majestic Lady, Nimz, Sensi, Biggy C and others.
Top presenter, Trevor Blackman along with debuting co-host, Little Miss Tipsy, took us through the carefully planned program with a laugh-a-minute and a cheeky smile.
We were the first in the UK to witness the smooth wares of Michael Ashanti, US RnB recording artist, and did he dazzle us.
In fact before you could say Tetley tea or dash out of the shelter of the marquee for a sneaky dinner from the man with the jerk pan, you were hit with the treats of another fantastic artist.
Mz Fontaine is now three and together the trio performed new tracks in perfect harmony, receiving whoops of appreciation from the crowd.
Belly dancer, Cassia was a wonder to behold. We were all mesmerised as she did the belly thing with a, er, sword.
We embraced 4Flava, as our very own Destiny’s Child. I don’t think I’ve seen so many crooned necks gawping at one particular act. The singing was good too!
The Mayor welcomed us to Haringey. He showed empathy regarding the struggles we may face from racist and homophobic groups and he offered his full support.
Well, it didn’t take much more sanctioning for the party to continue in earnest.
The evening fireworks display was awesome and set the scene just right for the grand finale, featuring American diva songstress Kym Mazelle, who performed new material and classic club tracks. By the time she’d finished with us we were really ready to par-tay! But alas, we had to go…
Andrew Prince and the Outbust team did a wonderful job of brightening up what threatened to be a very grey day. Hip-hip….hooray! Pictorial at Outburstfestival.org 
By: Jai Henrietta - Empress Magazine
http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=11245119995
Photos: AjamuX
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