Amped Up: AMPLIFI returns to The Queen's Hall

Back in early 2022, word reached Skinny HQ that friend of the mag Arusa Qureshi was working on something new, a series of three gigs at The Queen's Hall. We knew nothing about it other than that it would be exciting – after all, Qureshi was (and still is) an esteemed music journalist whose taste we all trusted. These three gigs, going by the name AMPLIFI, were a partnership between her and Halina Rifai, a prolific Glasgow-based podcast producer and music writer, and all-round good egg. The aim was to showcase the depth and breadth of music by Scottish musicians of colour, with no restrictions placed on genre and experimentation encouraged.

The result was something quite special – both intimate and casual, a gathering of interested and supportive music heads in the long, narrow bar down the side of The Queen's Hall main room. Those three gigs have grown to three years' worth of semi-regular programming, and the acts themselves have grown in stature too: since their initial performances in that intimate Queen's Hall space Bemz has gone on to sell out rooms at SWG3, Brownbear has led a hugely successful and mostly sold-out tour, while Miwa Nagato-Apthorp recently appeared on a lineup with Viggo Mortensen at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Now, following a show back in The Queen's Hall's bar this month, a bigger series of AMPLIFI, running across four nights from October to March, will take over the venue's main auditorium, featuring for the first time headline acts from outside of Scotland, each supported by one AMPLIFI veteran who has previously performed with them in the bar space.

Qureshi tells me this has been an ambition of theirs all along, “partly to be able to give up-and-coming artists the opportunity to play on the immense Queen’s Hall stage, but also to emphasise that they very much belong there. In addition to this, we want to be able to promote these artists beyond Scotland and a great way to do that is by inviting artists on tour to play AMPLIFI, so that we can offer previous AMPLIFI artists the chance to play some really exciting support slots.”

For this reason, the nights have been arranged thematically by genre – the first in the series, for example, is a jazz special, with Tuba extraordinaire Theon Cross (formerly of Sons of Kemet) headlining, supported by two exciting acts from the Glasgow nu-jazz scene, Azamiah and GAÏA.

Brownbear. Image: Gabby Secomb-Flegg.

Rifai points to the symbolic nature of these lineups: “We're showing Scotland that we are united globally, demonstrating what people can learn from each other – the talent, the influences, the possibilities. We've matched these touring artists with local artists based on sonic synergies and shared values around pushing boundaries. It's about cultural exchange – showing that Scotland's music scene exists in conversation with the world, not in isolation.”

GAÏA first graced the AMPLIFI stage in March of this year – she speaks to the excitement of getting to play in spaces specifically reserved for lifting up the voices of artists of colour. “It gave me a very similar feeling to what it was like when I played M4 Festival last year, of how important it is and how refreshing it is to be on an all Black lineup and to be around people that are there to hear your music and that want to encourage growth in that space.”

But of course she also points out how much variety can exist within those lineups: “I think the most exciting thing about music and music culture in general, is cross-pollination, and the fact that it isn't static, and it isn't just this one thing, and Scotland has the opportunity to nurture all of these different genres and all of this talent.”

LAMAYA. Photo: Kim Simpson

This idea of rich musical diversity is key to AMPLIFI's vision and success, so it's no surprise that each of the acts playing in the upcoming series taps into this theme when asked about the night's importance, and the nature of modern Scottish music. Brownbear, who headlined that very first AMPLIFI, points to it as a showcase for excellence: “For Black artists in particular we often face barriers, we often don't see ourselves in major venues like The Queen's Hall or on festival lineups, we have an expectation around sound, genre and look. AMPLIFI is a blank page for us to perform at the highest standard and be who we are as individuals, whether we are rock artists, indie artists, soul artists, hip-hop, it doesn't matter. It is very much a case of get up there and show them why they have been wrong in overlooking us.”

LAMAYA, who came to the AMPLIFI stage at just 19 years old, already equipped with megawatt star power (and who will be bringing that star power back to the main stage later this year), sums up perfectly what it is that AMPLIFI captures: “The sound of modern Scotland is… diversity. Sounds from all over the globe. Squeezed into one city. Basslines that feel otherworldly but are born here in places like East Kilbride. It’s accents clashing and cultures blending. It’s a country remixing itself in real time.”

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The next installment of AMPLIFI runs in the bar at The Queen's Hall on 15 Sep featuring Bell Lungs, Lucian Fletcher and Kevin Leomo on the lineup

The main venue series kicks off with Theon Cross, Azamiah and GAÏA on 15 Oct with future dates on 3 Dec, 4 Feb and 27 Mar

Keep up-to-date at thequeenshall.net and weareherescotland.com/amplifi-newstage