Defected recently announced the end of its Virtual Festival series, with a closing party to be held this Friday 22 May with DJ sets from Carl Cox, Idris Elba, MK, Boys Noize, Sam Divine and Nic Fanciulli. This will be the ninth and final event in the live stream series, which apparently ‘has been viewed by a total of 14 million people from an average of 91 countries per week’, since it began just before coronavirus-induced lockdown in the UK.
Google has pledged to double the amount donated to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund during the streams, bringing the total raised to $1,200,000.
For this Friday’s closing party, Carl Cox will make his Defected Virtual Festival debut, bringing his dance music legacy to ravers around the world, along with plenty of Ibiza nostalgia. An A-lister with strong musical roots and DJ sets for Radio 1, Coachella and a royal wedding under his belt, Idris Elba will be streaming from his studio in London. They will be joined by Grammy nominated producer and DJ Boys Noize ahead of the release of his Defected single ‘Mvinline’, as well as Defected favourites MK, Nic Fanciulli and Sam Divine.
Alongside Defected’s DJs in this week’s closing party, two DJs from its global community will perform, courtesy of Defected’s DJ For The World competition. The first pair of winners, Selena Faider from France and Soulmajestik from South Africa, each played a half hour set during the festival on Friday 8 May. This week, it’s the turn of competition winners Aline Rocha from Brazil and TQ Grant from the US.
Since Friday 20 March each week (with the exception of a one-week hiatus on 3 April), the Virtual Festivals, including three courtesy of Defected’s sister label Glitterbox, have broadcast 71 international DJs’ and artists’ performances from their own homes and studios. Lasting between 8-10 hours the festivals have seen an average watch time of 33 minutes.
Defected and Glitterbox are planning various upcoming digital projects and future live streams and video content will reveal behind the scenes footage and exclusive new sets.
© justaweemusicblog.com