Samsung brings Notting Hill Carnival to The Piccadilly Lights
Notting Hill Carnival has partnered with Samsung to broadcast a trailer on The Piccadilly Lights ahead of the event, which has moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The carnival will be streamed on four online channels over three days from 29 August and features interviews, cooking, performances and music.
The digital event is being powered by cultural experiences platform Let’s GoDo, which has worked alongside Notting Hill Carnival to produce the show’s content and create the platform to host the various streams of the event. The online channels will be hosted by broadcast partner YouTube.
Juliana Chies, founder and chief executive of Let’s GoDo, said: “We were about to launch Let’s GoDo with in-person experiences, and then came Covid-19, and so we started to explore the opportunity of hosting online experinces.
“I live in Notting Hill and thought this would be a great opportunity for us to be able to help to deliver the best carnival online experience that could be imagined. We are using the best technology, and producing a whole host of content to create an engaging experience online. We hope to bring something entertaining into people’s lives during this unusual time.”
A selection of the musical content has been filmed at the Royal Albert Hall and Abbey Road Studios. International artists from Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Lagos and Nigeria have been filmed on location.
Channel 1 will broadcast carnival culture from 9am to noon on 29 August, before switching to become carnival warm-up from 6pm to midnight.
The other three channels will stream on 30 and 31 August, the main two days of the event. Channel 2 will show the parade. Shayna Marie and Yinka from Capital Xtra and musician Ras Kwame will present on Channel 3, the sound system channel. DJ Ace from BBC Radio 1xtra and Remel London from Capital Xtra will be presenting on Channel 4, the main stage channel.
Grace Foods will hosts a live chill and grill on 30 August at 10am. Chef Hasan De Four will encourage guests to cook along so they can create the smells of carnival in their own home.
Samsung has also worked with the street party to create a series of mini-films shot in 8K on a Samsung Galaxy S20. The films, which feature chef and entrepreneur Levi Roots, Samba drumming troupe Batala and dancer Elisangela Mahogany, will be available to view at Samsung KX in Coal Drop Yard, King’s Cross, over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Google Arts & Culture has been helping Notting Hill Carnival develop a page as part of a longer-term project that will live as a resource for information on the history and heritiage of carnival.
Spotify is dedicating a microsite to the carnival with playlists from dozens of sound systems that would usually be heard on the streets of Notting Hill. There will be also be images and videos with the people behind the sound systems shot on vintage cameras.
Matthew Phillip, executive director of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, said: “Carnival is always a collaborative efforts and this is the same way. The partners have each played key roles in how this online event has developed and every one has been important in the event coming together in a symbiotic way.
“We are really confident that these relationships are not just about this coming bank holiday weekend, but that they can continue into the future. Everybody has embraced more digital technology in the past few months, and for us, we see what we have developed this year as being able to sit alongside the in-person event when it comes back to the streets.”
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have been working with Notting Hill Carnival to support its social media amplification over the weekend.
Red Bull is also a sponsor of the digital event.
Credit: campaignlive.co.uk