Year 11 girls to open Proms at Royal Albert Hall with original rap

A trio of Year 11 students will open the Music For Youth Proms at the Royal Albert Hall this month with a rap after they were selected by a committee.

In January this year, the talented students from Sedgehill Academy in Lewisham came together to create Girls’ Rap Collective, mentored by the school’s musician in residence, Andy Gilbert.

After successfully performing for the Music For Youth judging committee, the collective, made up of Ivie Agharia, Isabelle Traore and Charlotte Davies, were selected to perform at its Proms.

The girls will be performing an afro-drill track they wrote themselves called Rax.

Ivie said: “On the night we’re performing a track that we wrote ourselves when we first came together as a collective and started working out how our individual styles complement each other. 

“I’m so excited about being able to perform in front of so many fellow young musicians and to show them what we can do.” 

Sedgehill Academy’s school choir, Vocalize, has performed at the Music For Youth Prom every year for almost 10 years and was the only community school choir chosen to perform. 

Isabelle said: “I’m really excited but also quite nervous about performing in front of 5,000 people at the Proms.

“Last year we were on stage with the rest of Vocalize, but this year it’s just the three of us. Performing our own track on stage is a brilliant opportunity for us to really express ourselves.”

Last year Charlotte Davies opened the show with a spoken word piece performed with backing singers, before also co-presenting. 

She said: “The lyrics in Rax talk about the struggles that black people facein everyday society, issues of hatred and our lived experience of being black, which I feel is a really strong message. 

“I’m looking forward to being able to perform it in front of so many other young people.”

Pictured top: Charlotte Davies, Ivie Agharia and Isabelle Traore (Picture: Andy Gilbert)