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First acts announced for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards

  • Text by Alex King
The underground comes out to play at KOKO — Little Simz, 79rs Gang and Henry Wu presents Yussef Kamaal get the ball rolling for the annual celebration of the finest alternative music.

After the christmas and new year blow-out, January’s Worldwide Awards at KOKO always provide a dependable musical palate-cleanser to get you ready for the year to come.

Like Peterson himself, the event effortlessly looks forwards and backwards – celebrating the (late) greats and scouting out the most cutting-edge emerging at the same time.

The first acts announced are North London’s young hip hop wordsmith Little Simz, New Orleans’ bassy Mardi Gras outfit 79rs Gang and Henry Wu’s high-energy live trio “Yussef Kamaal”.

But stay tuned because there’ll be more solid headliners announced and likely a few surprises on the night.

Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards 2016 hits KOKO, London on Saturday January 16.


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