London African Music Festival, Inua Ellams, Native Sun and more

Inua Ellams

Proud to be African Clothing says hello! And welcome to this weeks blogpost, dominated by the London African Music Festival, other notable events are Inua Ellams one man show at Deptford and the Peckham and Nunhead Film Festival. Pick a day and see whats up!

Monday 17^th September

At 7.30pm the London African Music Festival keeps on keeping on with Lucky Ranku, Gary Crosby and Omar Puente at the Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillet Square, N16 8AZ.

If there is a better way to start the week I really don’t know, South African guitarist Lucky Ranku, with bassist Gary Crosby and Cuban violinist Omar Puente join forces for an eclectic musical journey from Africa to the Caribean.  For the first time I think we can say Thank god its Monday!

Tickets are £12.50 (£10.00 concessions) from here. 

The Rain that Washes is a play about a young man’s story of growing up in Zimbabwe, escaping and coming home to betrayal, this is based on the true story of Christopher Maphosa. Showing at 7.00pm the Leicester Square Theatre, 6 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BX, the run is from 17^th September to 3^rd October. Tickets are £12.00 (£10.00 concessions) from here. 

Tuesday 18^th September

From 6.00pm to 9.00pm we have the 2012 Stephen Lawrence Memorial Lecture at Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA), 66 Portland Place, Paddington, W1B 1AD delivered by Gold Medal winning engineer and academic Professor Chris Wise. The lecture will be chaired by John Thompson chairman of John Thompson and Partners, with the welcome address by RIBA’s CEO Harry Rich.

Professor Wise’s lecture will delve into the ‘Ripple Effect’ which focuses on supporting fledgling architects and future pioneers in engineering and design. The Stephen Lawrence Trust’s bursary programme aims to help young people in the UK and internationally to achieve their ambitions of working in construction, design and architecture. Other professions such as medicine, law, financial services, media and housing are also covered.

There are limited tickets for this VERY important lecture, its only £5.00 for students and £15.00 for others from here. Not to be missed  

At 7.30pm we have another gem of gems, with distinguished Senegalese kora player Diabel Cissokho at Vortex Jazz Club. Having played with such luminaries as Baaba Maal, Kandia Kouyate, Pee Wee Ellis, Nuru Kane and many more as well as his sublime collaboration with Ramon Goose. He will be playing with his band tracks from his new CD ‘Kanabory Siyama’, the sound of the kora is the sound of heaven, so for an angelic experience get yourself down there, tickets are £12.50 (£10.00 concessions) from here, box office on 0207 254 4097

Wednesday 19^th September 

At 7.30pm at the Vortex Jazz Club we have Nigerian vocalist Ayinke Martins of The Yoruba Womens Choir and British pianist Sara McGuiness of Congolese/ Cuban ensemble Grupo Lokito creating a unique sound from their varied experiences with a genre ranging series of compositions. They’ll be backed by Congolese guitarist Limozine Kabange, Nigerian bassist Femi Sofela, Cuban drummer Michael Castellanos, Colombian percussionist Emeris Solis and Nigeria percussionist Taiye Ajiboye. Tickets are £12.50 (£10.00 concessions).

At 7.30pm at Stratford Circus, Theatre Square, Stratford, E15 1BX we have the Master Drummers of Africa one of the most awesome displays of drumming and percussion going. 10 drummers from 10 African countries drawing on 3000 years of tribal rhythms. This is the first performance in London for 2 years fro this drum orchestra drawing on their new suite ‘Thunder and Lightning’. Not to be missed! Tickets are £15.00 (£12.50 concessions). Box office 0844 357 2625 or website. 

Thursday 20^th September

At 7.00pm LERECA will be holding their Apero at GILT Bar, 14 New London Street, EC3R 7NA, this event is dedicated to the elevator pitch and marketing tools for your company and business. In the elevator pitch session attendees will have 1 minute to introduce your project. In the Networking Session you do what it says on the tin, network! This is a FREE event, RSVP by calling Samantha on 0787 989 2536

Between 7.30pm and 9.00pm there is Dancing with Frititi, at the Interchange Studios Hampstead Town Hall Centre, 321 Haverstock, NW3 4QP, this workshop combines live music and dance. Here will be drums and percussionists covering the history and meaning of dance. Tickets are £10.00 in advance and £15.00 24 hours in advance from here.

At 7.30pm Ska Cubano will be bringing their mix of Jamaican rhythm and Cuban bass to Stratford Circus, Theatre Square, Stratford, E15 1BX, with DJ sets by DJ Chris Tofu, this is another danceable evening, tickets are £15.00 (£12.50 concessions) , box office 0844 357 2625 or online.

Also at 7.30pm we have Ethiopian group Krar Collective at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, E1 6LA. They take their name from the 6 stringed harp played by Zeleke with which they give traditional Ethiopian music a modern funk alongside vocalist Genet Assefa, vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke, drummer Amare and they are led by Temesegen Tareken accompanied by a troupe of Ethiopian dancers this is not to be missed, tickets are £15.00 (concessions £12.50)

Between 8.00pm and 1.00am the Focus Organisation presents London hip hop, afrobeat duo Native Sun will be performing live at the Bedroom Bar, 62 Rivington Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3AY. The duo of Mozambican rapper Mohammed Yahya and singer/ songwriter Sarina Leah will feature songs from their debut album Indigenous Sounds and will be joined by Focus DJ’s and KMT Freedom Teacher. As well as all of this there is an awesome line up of creatives supporting, spoken word artist Amen Noir, Nigerian jazz/folk/soul/ acoustic singer/ songwriter Bumi Thomas (yes I know thats alot of slashes!!), digital media production crew Global Faction, performance poet Kat Francois and dancer Sir Loui. All this for £5.00 from here!! 

Friday 21^st September  

At 7.30pm our good friend Inua Ellams performs his one man show Knights Watch on the rooftop of Deptford Lounge, 9 Giffin Street, Deptford, SE8 4RJ. This spoken word theatre accompanied by drummer Aki Fujimoto and flautist Mikey Kirkpatrick tells the story of Michael trapped in his stone mountain tower blocks inhabited by warring gangs that he tries to steer clear of but keeps getting inexorably drawn into. This is a fascinating show, tickets are only (only!) £10.00 from here. Live music follows the close. 

Another 7.30pm performances, at Stratford Circus we have Mad Professor and Dub Me Crazy Africa Band consisting of Nigerian talking drummer Wale Ogungbe, Senegalese kora master Djabel Cissoko to name a few. Catch the Mad Professors show for £15.00 (£12.50 concessions), box office 0844 357 2625 or check online. 

The Jazz Cafe, 5 Parkway, Camden Town, London, NW1 7PG hosts Carmen Souza at 7.00pm as part of the London African Music Festival. The Lisbon born Cape Verdean singer will be singing traditional Cape Verdean moma and batuco songs in Creole as well as Portuguese. Tickets are £17.50 (£15.00 concessions), from here 

At 7.30pm, Upstairs at the Ritzy, Brixton Oval, Brixton, SW2 1JG, we have Amira Kheir and Minn Diarabi. The Sudanese-Italian vocalist combines traditional Sudanese vocals and instrumentation with jazz, soul, African and Middle Eastern music. Senegalese blues outfit Minn Diarabi is led by Abdoulaye Samb and draws from the Fula musical tradition combined with rumba, Afro Latin, Mbalax and deep blues. All this for just £10.00 from here! 

Finally we have Sensual Ecstatic Conscious Clubbing Chocolate Experience at the Africa Centre at 7.30pm, the evening consists of a chill out area, chocolate food treats, as well as ecstatic radiant DJ’s. Tickets are £12.00 in advance from here and £15.00 on the door

Saturday 22^nd September

Born in the UK Made in Jamaica

From 12.00pm to 4.00am there is Welcome to Busseywood, a FREE marathon film and music festival. As part of the Peckham and Nunhead Film Festival this will be held over the 3 floors of the CLF Art Cafe, 133 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4ST. Floor 1 runs from 12.30pm to 9.30pm and is themed Cafe Cinema and is dedicated to Cafes and bars on screen. Floor 2 is the Peckham Film Open, dedicated to short films from Peckham and around the globe and Floor 3 is Jamaica 50, with Jamaican music, poetry, documentaries and films with dub records played by DJ’s after 12.00am. again all FREE, take a look at the schedule for more detail and see you there!

Seminar in London: African Diaspora in development of their home countries, seeks to introduce African diaspora organisations and individuals to the pathways, methods and opportunities they can use to contribute to Africas development. The seminar will take place at London Centre For Social Impact, 18 Victoria Park Square, E2 9PB from 1.30pm to 5.30pm and costs £60.00 from here

At 6.45pm at the Africa Centre there is the United Somali Students Fundraiser, aiming to raise money to sponsor students across Somalia. This is an open mic event for the United Somali Students charity Teach Somalia. Tickets are £8.00, they can be reserved by emailing 

The Congo All Stars grace the Jazz Cafe with their presence at 7.00pm. This band will be distilling Congolese rumba with leader and vocalist Koko Kanyinda accompanied by rappers, singers and rhythm section. Tickets are £17.50 (£15.00 concessions) from here. 

Electric Jalaba features at Hackney Attic, 270 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 1HE at 7.30pm. The band is steeped in Moroccan Gnawa musical tradition. Vocallist Simo Lagnawi will take you on a voyage through psychedelic Gnawa funk. Ticket are £10.00 from here. 

Sunday 23^rd September

7.30pm sees Funmi Olawumi at Ronnie Scott’s Club, 47 Erith Street, London, W1V 4HT, with her Faaji Music combining traditional and contemporary Yoruba music traditions from fuji, highlife to afrobeat. She performs with her 12 piece band including The Naija Soul Sisters. Tickets are £25.00 to £40.00 from here.