A YouTube channel focusing on Aberdeen’s vibrant arts and music scene, HOURS ABDN, has been launched.
The channel’s first release is the mini-documentary Aberdeen: City of Culture? which highlights creatives within the Granite City.
HOURS ABDN is another branch of hip-hop platform HOURS which emerged last year to shine a light on rising local talent.
Founder Nick Cronin, aka influential producer Vagrant Real Estate, aims to bring attention to the many talented musicians and artists within the city.
The YouTube channel will focus on emerging musicians, rappers, artists and creatives from many genres in a celebration of Aberdeen’s creativity.
Nick said: “We started this to try to give Aberdeen a bit more of a platform and shine more of a light on creatives.
“That was the initial thought with the video (Aberdeen: City of Culture?) because I think the immediate reaction of people is often that there is nothing going on in Aberdeen compared to the central belt cities.
“The video looks to challenge that view and shows if you look into it there are many communities of creative people working away.
“People can be dismissive that there is not really much happening up here in Aberdeen.
“However if you dig into it there is a whole range of things going on that you can get involved in.”
Aberdeen: City of Culture?
HOURS ABDN is another facet of HOURS, a platform unveiled last year to celebrate and support the talent within the city’s hip-hop scene.
HOURS features club nights and recorded sets whilst also fostering the development of collaborations between hip-hop artists and musicians in other genres.
Nick said: “This is another arm of HOURS and we aim to film more things to put on the YouTube channel.
“The video Aberdeen: City of Culture? was filmed with different creatives within Aberdeen.
“Hopefully it will open up a dialogue around what is happening with the creative scene in Aberdeen.”
Festival success in the Granite City
In recent months the creative vibrancy within Aberdeen has been underlined by a number of festivals in the city.
During Aberdeen’s popular street art festival Nuart, stunning works of art were pained on buildings within the city.
The festival included renowned international street artists such as Spain’s Jofre Oliveras and Portugal’s Nuno Viegas.
Nick said: “Nuart is a fantastic initiative.
“I love being able to see the bigger pieces being put up, where you can see the process.
“With the stereotypical grey buildings Aberdeen has, it is great to find a new piece in Nuart.
“Even now I still stumble across random pieces.
“I can go down a side street for the first time and maybe see a little piece of art on the side of a building for the first time.
“It is exciting and brings vibrancy to the city.”
‘People want to explore different things’
Run in June this year, Light The Blue was an innovative festival for young people that included concerts, theatre, film and workshops. You can find more about the festival here.
The recent True North festival showcased grassroots-level music up to chart-topping acts such as Travis, Emeli Sande and many more.
Nick said: “It is great to see festivals in the city again now we have come out of a period where a lot of things are being closed down due to the pandemic.
“Recently there has been Light The Blue Festival and also True North.
“People are getting back to live music in the city which is fantastic.
“There are a lot of people working to put things on.
“It is just a case of continuing to build into that infrastructure and giving people options of what to do and see.
“It feels like there is an increased appetite because people haven’t had that much to go out and do.
“People want to explore different things.”
HOURS delivering hip-hop platform
As Vagrant Real Estate producer/DJ Nick released the acclaimed album Glass Half Full in collaboration with New York rapper Ynx716.
Last year he teamed up with singer/songwriter Misty Galactic to record a single titled Holy Places.
HOUR was set up to give a platform to the Aberdeen hip-hop and grime scene.
Exciting artists are emerging from the Granite City including Gidd Gamz, Chef, JusHarry, Aiitee, Nafe K, AD, Bernie, Jackill and TruNature.
The next HOURS event is scheduled for next month and will showcase Granite City talent.
Nick said: “HOURS is mainly a focus on hip-hop which is one of the more under-represented and has the least infrastructure in terms of live events and places people can go in the city centre.
“We are broadening it out to other styles of music as well.
“There are a lot of collaborations at the moment.
“Many hip-hop people are jumping onto tracks with indie music, r n’ b and other things.
“Scottish hip-hop is definitely on the rise.
“I recently performed at Pitch (Scotland’s conference of hip-hop and underground culture) at Saint Luke’s in Glasgow.
“It was fantastic to see so many Scottish artists from different cities networking and collaborating together.
“There is a lot of talent coming through.”
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