SXSW festival from Texas brings ideas, music and tech to London

An event that brings together cutting-edge music and film with tech and talks from business and political figures could become a launchpad for "music's global superstars of the future", its organisers have said.

- Lanre Bakare

The first London edition of South by Southwest, which launched in Austin, Texas, in 1987 and has been billed as the "Olympics of the mind", opens on Monday.

SXSW London's director of programming, Katy Arnander, and its managing director, Randel Bryan, said the event could become a star maker. "We had Amy Winehouse playing in tiny venues back in the day," said Bryan of the Austin event. "We've had Adele and Ed Sheeran, and we're hoping that South by Southwest in London is the same platform to really launch the global superstars of the future."

The original event has grown to a city-wide festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Texan capital in March. Previous guests include Barack and Michelle Obama, Johnny Cash, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg.

Its new offshoot was welcomed by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who said he was "delighted" to have SXSW in the city where it will take over multiple venues in the east.