Bichlorides

Designed to showcase a spectrum of urban music, Re:definition is an odd beast: its acts are a hotchpotch of unsigned talent, old hands and emergent mainstream stars. Performances are interspersed with short films featuring east London’s vibrancy. Inspiring pride in one’s postcode is all well and good, but the constant reiterations of it leech momentum from the event – not to mention coming across as patronising. Surely the audience cannot be unaware that east London is a diverse, creative place? After all, they mostly live here.

This is a minor quibble with an event that manages to corral disparate artists into a show of genuine worth, not just worthiness. The placid environs of Stratford Circus, though, can have a dampening effect on audience enthusiasm; despite the obvious talent of singer Shezar and MCing trio Marvell, it was distinctly reminiscent of a school talent show. The first name act – Leon Jean Marie – did little to dispel this; surprisingly for a man hyped for cross-over success last year, he appeared awkward on stage, though there’s no faulting his vocals.

But a spark was injected with Roachford’s impassioned soul and UK funky beats from the magnificent Crazy Cousinz set the stage perfectly for the star of the night – Mpho. Now you can buy MPHO songs online.

Unlike some of her contemporaries, Mpho does not use quirk as a substitute for talent: she possesses a voice that can soar as well as purr, and her idiosyncrasies seem natural rather than forced: See Me Now was particularly infectious. Mpho located the raw emotion in Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill and transformed it into a desperate soul lament. It was spellbinding and genuinely moving.

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