I No Send - Pablo G (2024)
An ice cold, addictive Afrobeats anthem from one of Burna Boy's drummers — who I first connected with back in 2019
At the start of 2019, I launched my digital column for British GQ and called it All City. I started writing monthly articles about city life, social justice and youth culture, drawing from my community work and research across London.
One of the first pieces was about a Brixton-based music charity called School Ground Sounds. I interviewed their team and profiled young artists who’d passed through their programmes to receive support with their music careers. The organisation has since rebranded to Grounded Sounds under the leadership of DJ Tony Supreme who I interviewed about his epic journey last year in these pages.
One programme participant I spoke to was rapper Liam Henry aka Lil Trubz, founder of a local open mic night Tracks On Tap, which has since grown into a platform for up-and-coming musicians. They recently released their debut EP.
Another was a 17-year-old aspiring drummer, Paul Goumou, who had been referred by the local Youth Offending Service. School Ground Sounds supported him to organise his life and secure performance opportunities. When I attended the charity’s showcase at Pop Brixton that spring, Paul played so intensely that one of his drumsticks snapped in two. A few weeks later he performed as a support act for Chaka Khan at Cross The Tracks festival in Brockwell Park.
“It was a different level of musicianship. There were people there who have played for legends, for years, on the same stage as me,” he told me over the phone. “It felt real. It felt like...like this is the kind of thing that I want to do more of.”
Within a few years, to my amazement, I found out that Paul had started touring with Burna Boy. Then, earlier this year, he started releasing his own music as a vocalist under the moniker Pablo G, listing some of his influences as ‘the original afrobeat sound, gospel, jazz and Afro fusion’.
I No Send in particular has stayed in my rotation. Its characterfully sung and rhythmically spoken words switch between English and Yoruba smoothly over clean, addictive production. Paul’s first headline show is at Notting Hill Arts Club, West London, on Friday 27th September.
See you there.
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