Ian McQuaid

‘It’s incredible to think that Notting Hill Carnival is about six times bigger than Glastonbury,’ says Blaise Bellville, ‘but is barely covered by the BBC. It’s one of the best festivals of black music on the planet and people here – let alone abroad – aren’t recognising that.’  Bellville is on a mission. He’s the founder of Boiler Room, the very excellent music streaming website that started live broadcasting DJ sets from an east London warehouse five years ago, and has since grown into a global concern. Boiler Room’s format is simple: stick a couple of cameras in front of an exciting DJ, MC or musician, and stream their performance live to the world. It’s caught on in a big way, and now kids anywhere from Moscow to Buenos Aires tune in to Boiler Room broadcasts to catch a glimpse of whatever underground scene they’re currently broadcasting. This August, the Boiler Room team are finally going to fulfil a long-term dream – broadcasting live from the heart of Carnival.  'It’s one of the best festivals of black music on the planet and people here – let alone abroad – aren’t recognising that’ Everyone who works at Boiler Room goes every year and gets really excited,’ Bellville enthuses. ‘Half of our events are trying to emulate the feeling of Carnival, where the DJ is surrounded by thousands of people, records are being rewound, the crowd are singing the chorus when the volume gets pulled down. That chaos and energy is absolutely what Boiler Room searches for.’  As Bellville po