Notting Hill Carnival is proudly a community-led event, its ever-increasing popularity over the last 5 decades has seen it become the wonderfully diverse and vibrant event it is today.
With over a million visitors expected over the August Bank Holiday, London’s NHC is second only to Brazil’s Rio Carnival in size, and is now one of the globe’s largest annual arts events. NHC is considered to be the largest street event in Europe.
Whilst Notting Hill Carnival is rooted in Caribbean culture, with its Windrush-generation influence remaining strongly evident, it is at the same time characteristically ‘London’ – today’s modern London.
Uniquely NHC is the only full-scale carnival in the world to feature multiple static sound systems – a feature introduced in 1973 by the then NHC organiser Leslie Palmer MBE
There are live performances too. the first stages were organised by Wilf Walker in 1979, chiefly featuring reggae and punk bands. Wilf’s early live stages featured performances from emerging talents Aswad and Eddie Grant, who both went on to become two of the UK’s biggest musical exports.
In the 90s, hip hop legends like Jay Z, Lil’ Kim and Busta Rhymes all performed on an NHC live stage, more recently the likes of Stormzy, Wiley, Craig David, Giggs, Major Lazer, Mr Eazi and Stefflon Don.
2018 saw the launch of ‘the Wilf Walker Community Stage’ in Hormiman’s pleasant park. a stage dedicated to giving a platform to emerging talent predominantly from the local community.
NHC live stages and ‘trucks’ (floats) also host performances from British-based calypso artists like Alexander D Great and De Admiral, as well as internationally known soca artists like Bunji Garlin and Machel Montano.
