Waltham Forest London Borough Of Culture 2019 Announces Chingfest Line-up

Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture 2019 today unveils its line-up for Chingfest, a free celebration of music held at Ridgeway Park, Chingford on Saturday 31 August. Chingfest's diverse and contemporary programme supports Waltham Forest's year-long ambition of encouraging young people to engage with culture in the borough.

Following a sold-out performance at Somerset House in July 2019 and Glastonbury performances in 2015 and 2016, BBC Sounds of 2016 nominee NAO will headline Chingfest, marking her return to Waltham Forest where she grew up. The soul-pop singer-songwriter released her debut EP So Good in 2014 with her own label called Little Tokyo, and released her debut album For All We Know in 2016. Her latest album Saturn (2018) is an experimental exploration of genres. She mixes dancehall, R&B and jazz sounds on songs like 'Drive and Disconnect' and 'Make It Out Alive'.

NAO said: "As a former pupil of Leyton Sixth Form College, it's great to be headlining the nearby festival of Chingfest as my final UK gig of the year. Returning home to East London, an area of the UK that massively encouraged my love of music, is really exciting. The Chingfest 2019 line-up will hopefully encourage young people to engage with the underground music scene London has to offer, something I'm a great believer in."

Alongside NAO, British acid jazz band, Incognito joins the line-up, known for their early 90s covers of 'Always There' and 'Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing'. A session with grime collective Lord of the Mics will headline the DJ Dome. Lord of the Mics is an established platform for new underground talent, with previous contributions from Skepta, Wiley, Kano and Tinchy Stryder.

The Chingfest line-up will celebrate home-grown talent including Lemzi, Kitch and Luke November who recently performed as part of Damon Albarn's Africa Express. Additional London Borough of Culture events will also be represented at the festival showcasing the breadth of creativity and talent in Waltham Forest. Other projects appearing at the festival include Human Library and EastSide Story, an original theatre production devised and performed by young people from Waltham Forest created through transformational youth work in partnership with Raw Academy and Catalyst in Communities.

The main stage will feature performances from NAO, Incognito, Afrikan Simba, Drey Cheekz, L.E.A.D.E.R.S., DJ Luck & MC Neat, Bonez and Rose Gray. The festival will also host the DJ Dome and the Eastside Tent, with performances and talks from Krassus, Lillie P, Niro Tha DJ, Iamin, Reeps One, Lords of the Mics, Human Library, Krxze, LUVLY, Miss Dionne, Hayreezy, Jerome Harvey, Break Tha Cycle, Kitch, Rory Sky, Amelia Poamz and the #ChooseMeChingfest competition winners.

Urbaser will sponsor Chingfest 2019.

For programme updates visit: wfculture19.co.uk/Chingfest

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