The Africa Centre Summer Festival – sponsored by Ecobank and supported by Colourful Radio and the Greater London Authority – returns on Saturday 18 August to take over London’s Great Suffolk Street and beyond with a full day of free music, dance, street food and family activities in a vibrant celebration of Africa and its diaspora.
The 2018 edition of the festival embraces the Motherland and diaspora with music from the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and more. Featuring iconic African instruments including koras, balafons and drums, performances will spread across the festival’s three stages to represent the best in traditional folk, new urban music and dance coming from and inspired by the diverse spectrum of Africa.
The music programme at this year’s festival is programmed by curator and Black Music specialist Elliott Jack; DJ, and presenter of BBC 4 series Africa: A Journey Into Music, Rita Ray; and founding member of the youth initiative, The Young Africa Centre (YAC), Efosa Omorogbe. The vibrant dance programme has been curated by choreographer and UK Dance Ambassador Hakeem “Mr Impact” Onibudo.
The Africa Centre Festival – Music
On the African music stage, host actor, songwriter and sound designer Lulu Mebrathu presents an electric line up that includes DRC’s legendary king of Kwasa Kwasa, Kanda Bongo Man; Nigerian singer-songwriter Dotman; Afri pop singer-songwriter Wiyaala with kologo master Atongo Zimba from Northern Ghana; avant-garde South African electronica from Okzharp & Manthe Ribane; talented teenage Black and Minority Ethnic classical musicians from Chineke! Junior Quartet; West African groove-based ensemble Kadialy Kouyate’s Sound Archive; youth performance group Kinetika Bloco; Tanzanian 21st century neo-roots musician Saidi Kanda and Mvula Mandondo band; and a celebration of the Babatone, Malawi’s traditional folk instrument.
On the British Black music stage, hosted by Woolwich-born grime MC Afrikan Boy, performers will include singer and live vocalist for Rudimental and Damian Lazarus Afronaut Zuu; South London lyricist Che Lingo; and DJ’s on the day DJ Swoosh and Futures Yesterday. The Africa Centre is also excited to present Birmingham duo Lotto Boyzz; East London taste maker and radio DJ P Montana’s Live Band; neo soul spoken word group The Dylema Collective; international spoken word artists Nego True and activist poet Suli Breaks; plus artist collective and jazz crusaders Steam Down.
The Africa Centre Festival – Dance
A vibrant programme of dance, across all three stages, has been curated by Hakeem “Mr Impact” Onibudo with a special youth dance platform featuring 12 exciting youth companies from London, Reading and Wales. Performances by South African-born choreographers, Dane Hurst-Moving Assembly Project and Mbulelo Ndabeni-Nd’a Dance; along with George Duker and Curtis Agyekum of HomeBros and all-female hip-hop crew Myself UK Dance Company led by Kloe Dean, will feature on the main stages covering contemporary African Dance, Afrobeats, Hip-Hop and Street Dance.
The Africa Centre Festival – Family Activities, Food and African Inspired Stalls
Bringing traffic to a halt for the day’s festivities, the festival will line Great Suffolk Street with 125 stalls boasting an array of delicious food and world cuisine, as well as African-inspired goods including handmade jewellery, clothing, art, prints, hair and skincare products, literature, toys and homeware. A programme of family activities will also take place throughout the day with free activities including headwrapping, faceprinting, mosaic-making, African pattern screen printing and jewellery making.
Led by its newly appointed Director, Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE, The Africa Centre is regarded as a dynamic intellectual powerhouse and cultural space for the African Diaspora in the UK. Now an established date in the centre’s calendar, the Summer Festival celebrates and remembers its instrumental position in the development of Black British music since 1964.
What – Celebration of contemporary Africa Culture
When – Saturday 18 August 2018
1pm-10pm
Where – 66 Great Suffolk Street, London, SE1 0BL
How much – FREE ADMISSION
Information here – https://africacentrefestival.com/
