The Bite Magazine Issue 17

The Bite Magazine was invited to attend the Pre-MOBO Awards in London that saw awards being presented to winners of four categories. 2016 bite event F or what started 21 years ago, the MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards has succeeded in ele- vating black music and culture to mainstream popular status in the UK. It is also seen as Europe’s leading urban music brand that supports a huge variety of genres, not just at the annual Awards but all year round through a series of other initiatives. Founded by Kanya King MBE in 1996, the MOBO Organisation was established to recog- nise the outstanding achievements of artists who perform music in genres such as Gospel, Jazz, R&B, Soul, Reggae and Hip Hop. The first show in November 1996 was held at the New Connaught Rooms in London and was presented by former TV presenter and actor Sonya Saul.There were only a handful of awards being presented such as Best Album which went to Goldie for his album Time- less ; Best Single was won by Gabrielle for ‘Give Me A Little More Time’, and Hon- orary awards were awarded to Lionel Richie and Jazzy B. In all the years that the MOBO Awards has been celebrating black origin music, last year was the first time that the organisation established a Pre-MOBO session to celebrate the nominees and subsequently announce the winners for Best R&B/Soul, Jazz, Gospel and African music categories. The first Pre-MOBO Awards was held at ‘Under the Bridge’, an intimate live venue that draws inspiration from classic Blues and Jazz settings and located next to Stamford Bridge, home P re