London African Music Festival in September

[Alan]

THE LONDON AFRICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL

“The London African Music Festival is an impressively eclectic affair”
Robin Denselow, the Guardian

The 12th London African Music Festival will take place from Friday 19th to Sunday 28th September 2014 across 12 venues.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR YOUTUBE PLAYLIST
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... rdW97iOakK

Click here for links to each artist
http://www.joyfulnoise.co.uk/london-afr ... -festival/

DAY 1 Friday 19th Sept

1. Union Chapel – BOMBINO (Niger)
2. The RichMix –YAABA FUNK (UK/Ghana)
3. The Flyover – KARAMA (Morocco) + M.O.O.K ENSEMBLE
4. Vortex – KAD ACHOURI (Algeria)
5. Charlton House – THE RHYTHMS (Nigeria) + AFUNJA (Nigeria)
6. Hackney Attic – HARARE (Zimbabwe) + LONDON ZULU
7.The Forge – DIRECTION AFRICA with DJ Afri Kokoa

DAY 2 Saturday 20th September

8. Vortex Jazz Club – SAMY BISHAI (Egypt)
9. Upstairs At The Ritzy – SEEDS OF CREATION (Algeria) + SABBEY DRUMMERS (Ghana)
10. Green Note Club – ABDUL TEE-JAY (1.0pm session)
11. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – IROKO THEATRE COMPANY
12. DIABEL CISSOKHO(Senegal)

DAY 3 Sunday 21st September

13. The Flyover – SOUSOU & MAHER CISSOKO (Sweden and Senegal)
14. Hootenanny – BEN AUDU

DAY 4 Monday 22nd September

15. Charlton House – APELLES OGAGA (Kenya)
16. Green Note Club – ALIM KAMARA (Sierra Leone)
17. Canada Water Culture Space – JOYCE MOHOLOAGAE (South Africa)
18. Upstairs At The Ritzy – KYAZI BLUES (Tanzania) + MUDIBU (Burundi)

DAY 5 Tuesday 23rd September

19. The Tabernacle – GHALIA BENALI (Tunisia)
20. Green Note Club – LORRAINE LIONHEART (Botswana)
21. Canada Water Culture Space – SONA JOBARTEH (Gambia)

DAY 6 Wednesday 24th September

22.Cargo – DEBRA DEBS
23. Canada Water Culture Space – MAMANI KEITA (Mali)
24. Hackney Attic – Screening/Premiere: Cos Ov Moni 2

DAY 7 Thursday 25th September

25. The Flyover – KOKO KANYINDA (Congo)
26. Charlton House – AUBREI WOKI AND THE KALAHARI (Botswana)
27. The Forge – YOMI BASHIRU AND NAIJA GROOVES (Nigeria)
28.Hackney Attic – UNITED VIBRATIONS

DAY 8 Friday 26th September

29. Vortex Jazz Club – NIRAN OBASA (Nigeria)
30. Passing Clouds – NATIVE SUN (UK/Mozambique)
31. Café Oto – KING AYISOBA (Ghana)
32. Charlton House – SEPREWA (Ghana) + MOSI CONDE (Guinea)
33. hackney Attic – CASBAH BLUES (Algeria) + SIMO LAGNAWI (Morocco)

DAY 9 Saturday 27th September

34. Vortex Jazz Club – RISE KAGONA (Malawi)
35. RichMix – VAUDOU GAME (Togo)
36. Upstairs At The Ritzy – WITH STICKS & THINGS
37. Green Note Club – JUWON OGUNGBE 1.0pm session)
38.MULELE MATONDO AFRICA(Congo)

DAY 10 Sunday 28th Sept

39. Vortex Jazz Club – COCO MBASSI (Cameroon)
40. Islington Assembly Hall – SEKOUBA BAMBINO (Guinea)
41. The Forge: KANDA BONGO MAN (Congo)

[EleanorT]

Well I'm on a real high having just come back from hearing Joyce Moholoagae at Canada Water Library. It was a good-for-the-soul evening that had me wanting to fly straight out to Africa. Loved it. Visually it was one of the best gigs I've been to as all the singers, Joyce included, had such wonderful dresses. A lullaby, some quite jazz-like bits, one a bit extra as encore of Miriam Makeba's Pata Pata, a great song she composed - something of an anthem to Zimbabwe and more. Initially I was thinking that the none-too-brilliant acoustics of the room were going to spoil the night but then her singers walked on and those niggles were forgotten. In the most affectionate way possible Joyce herself reminded me of a wibbly wobbly lady, and she was just great. There was love in the air and she whipped it up!

So what other lovely gigs have I missed?

[EleanorT]

Sona Jobarteh was great last night too again at the library. Playing without her own kora which had got lost in Kenya apparently. She spoke passionately about the music school for children that she has set up. There's a paragraph about that at the end of her biography here: http://www.sonajobarteh.com/biography.html She was really great at working the audience - a real natural, embracing her heritage and taking it places.

[Jamie Renton]

Sona D really is great isn't she. That rare combination of dazzling musicianship and natural stage presence.

The festival line-up looks particularly good this year and I'm sorry I can't make any of it. So thanks Eleanor, your mini reviews are the next best thing. Are you planning to attend any more festival events?

[EleanorT]

Yes I rushed off again to the library tonight, this time with babe in arms, to see Mamani Keita (actually I didn't even know her name until the end of the gig - I just knew I was in for something Malian!). I do love music from the desert... It was a treat again. Very danceable. She was graced with Tony Allen's presence in the audience. Everyone on their feet at the end - great fun - and now it's more than time for bed so this is particularly short!

Can anyone report on Kad Achouri? I do have a weakness for Algerian music...

[EleanorT]

Just came across quite a nice little piece on last night's Mamani Keita gig by a TV channel I didn't know. Shame most of the editing is showing the before-the-concert rather than everyone on their feet dancing in the second half... http://bit.ly/1v5jB1x