Kwame Daniels

Kwame Daniels is a Belfast-based DJ, broadcaster, and creative producer with over two decades at the heart of Northern Ireland's cultural scene. Originally from London, he arrived in Derry in 1997 with just £400 and a bag of CDs, going on to build a hugely popular residency at Sandinos and becoming a defining figure in the city's music community.

He is the founder and CEO of Bounce Culture, established in Derry in 1999, and founder of Solab, a culturally responsive initiative building a digital platform for artists across Africa, the African Diaspora, and their wider creative networks.

Galvanised by racial tensions in the aftermath of Brexit, Kwame set out to create an artistic production that would bring the people of Belfast closer to Black cultures. The result was North Star, a flagship project of Belfast 2024, the city's largest cultural program to date, melding jazz, gospel, classical, hip-hop, and electronic music with spoken word and storytelling for a large-scale, immersive theatrical experience. Inspired by the historic 1845 Belfast visit of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, the production was first staged at the Telegraph Building during Black History Month 2024 as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival.

North Star is now making its US debut at the Irish Arts Center in New York City in June 2026, supported by Belfast City Council and the British Council. In Kwame's own words, the show is "a lifetime's work that brings together all that I am passionate about — connection, creating and collaboration."