Week of Monday 15th September: Beyond Nollywood, Nadia Denton’s: The Nigerian Filmmakers Guide to Success, Barnaby Phillips ‘Another Man’s War- The Story of a Burma Boy in Britain’s Forgotten African Army’, London African Music Festival, Property Investor Africa Summit 2014, Macbeth in Congo, Inala with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ghana Youth Day 2014, The Black Market and Film Festival, Caribbean Evening with Positive Network, StartUp Africa 2014, Afro Dance Xplosion 2014

Kedu, Sannu, Eka ro, Jambo,

My people I greet you.

Proud to be African Clothing has a serious problem this week.

Waka too plenty. In essence if you leave your house on Monday there is a risk you might not make it home till next week.

What is there not to do? 

2 book launches; Nadia Denton will be launching ‘The Nigerian Filmmakers Guide to Success’ at the BFI Southbank on Saturday running with Beyond Nollywood with quality Nigerian movies . Al Jazeera journalist Barnaby Phillips will be launching his new book ‘Another Man’s War- The Story of A Burma Boy in Britain’s Forgotten African Army’ at SOAS on Tuesday. The London African Music Festival is just overdosing on sublime African music, with verything from the kora to the afrobeat to the oud to desert rock.

We have investment events, property events, 3 Igbo Cultural events on Saturday (you will eat a lot of kola nut), South African movies, StartUp Africa, Mwalimu Express returns. African ballet and music with Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Sadlers Wells, Congolese Macbeth, Ghana Youth Day, markets

I fact I’m tired just thinking about it, better call the boss, the baby sitter and start planning your week.

Have a groovy week (I know I intend to!!)

Monday 15^th September

At 7.00pm The South African Film Festival screens Beyond the Rainbow at The Vue Cinema Wood Green, 180 High Road, Hollywood Green, N22 6EJ. This documentary explores the transition of thee ANC from a liberation movement into South Africa's ruling party by examining thee evolution off the relationship between its to most prominent leaders Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Followed by a Q&A, admission is £5.00 from here.

 Tuesday 16^th September

At 1.00pm the Black Cultural Archives presents Re-Imagine: Black Women in Britain Exhibition Tours at Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, Brixton, SW2 1EF. This series takes you on a historic journey through the lives of a handful of women through their pioneering narrative. Tickets start from £5.00 (£3.00 concs) from here. 

At 7.00pm The Royal African Society will be launching Barnaby Phillips ‘Another Man’s War- The Story of a Burma Boy in Britain’s Forgotten African Army’ at the Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG. Chaired by Richard Dowden and respondent Dr Ike Anya, author and Senior Al Jazeera English correspondent Barnaby Philips will discuss his new book a true story of Isaac Fadoyebo who at 16 defied his family and went to serve in the Royal West African Frontier Force. Weeks after arriving in Burma, his unit was ambushed and Isaac left for dead, until nursed back to health by a local family. Register for this FREE event here.

At 7.45pm Third World Bunfight presents Macbeth at The Barbican Theatre, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS. This production transposes Verdi’s classic opera to war torn Congo, with refugee performers telling their own story through the composers musical adaptation of Shakespeare, performed in Italian with English subtitles sung by a South Africa ensemble. Running till 20^th September tickets start from £16.00 from here. 

Wednesday 17^th September

From 10.00am to 5.00pm the Nigerian London Business Forum presents The Greater London Business Conference on Nigeria at Royal National Hotel, Bedford Way, Russell Square, WC1H 0DG. Oyo and Niger States are exploring direct links with prospective UK business partners. Speakers at the 2 day conference Sam Ohuabunwa (Nigeria Economic Summit), Professor Pat Utomi, Engineer Emeka Unachukwu (Morflex Energy & Power Ltd), Jennifer Obaseki (Obaseki Solicitors), Ray Ekpu (Newswatch Magazine), John Momoh (Channels Television), Ali Sherwani (ECGD UK) and Simon Brown (UKTI), Tickets start from £15.00 from here. 

Thursday 18^th September

From 10.00am to 5.00pm is Day 2 of The Greater London Business Conference on Nigeria at Royal National Hotel. Tickets start from £15.00 from here.

At 6.00pm the Africa Research Institute presents Aid under the Microscope at The Africa Research Institute, 55 Tufton Street, SW1P 3QL. Graham Ward CBE (Independent Commission for Aid Impact), will present a review of DfiDs aid programmes, evaluating the UKs development assistance and take questions. Register for this FREE event by email or phone 0207 222 4006.

At 7.00pm Magenta Dating presents the Black Singles Social Event at All Bar One Houndsditch, 106-107 Houndsditch, EC3A 7BD. This event is fully hosted for the first 2 hours to encourage people to mix and mingle. Tickets are £10.00 from here. 

At 7.30pm is Nollywood Babylon at Hotel Elephant, Unit A, behind 40-42 Newington Causeway, Elephant and Castle, SE1 6DR This documentary drops viewers into the bustling Idumota market where Nollywood films are sold and stars are born. Tickets are £5.00 from here.

Friday 19^th September

From 8.30am to 5.30pm is the Property Investor Africa Summit 2014 at Grange Tower Bridge

Hotel, 45 Prescott Street, E1 8GP. Themed Investing in Africa Property, this conference will highlight the opportunities an challenges of property investment on the continent. Keynote speakers include Yweri Museveni (President of Uganda), Tutu Agyare (Tullow Oil), Tidjane Thiam (Prudential plc), Bob Diamond (former CEO Barclays), Lord Sheikh, Lord Boateng, Samuel Esson Jonah (Jonah Capital) and more. Tickets start from £15.00 from here.  

At 1.00pm the Black Cultural Archives presents Re-Imagine: Black Women in Britain Lunchtime Talks at Black Cultural Archives. This is series of lunchtime talks by and about inspirational women. Tickets start from £5.00 (£3.00 concs) from here. 

At 6.30pm BBM/BMC presents Black British Writers in Conversation at George Woods Theatre, Goldsmiths University of London, New Cross, SE14 6NW. Dr Deirdre Osborne and Professor Joan Anim-Addo host this programme of special events in the run up to the launch of the MA in Black British Writing with authors such as Bernadine Evaristo and Andrea Stuart, both of whom will read from their works and take part in a Q&A. RSVP this FREE event here.

At 7.00pm Zoes Ghana Kitchen presents Totally Ghanalicious London at Zoë’s Ghana Kitchen, 56 Dace Road, E3 2NQ. Bring your own bottle to this 4 course meal, with two sittings one at 7.00pm and one at 9.00pm, admission is £25.00 from here. 

At 7.30pm is Inala featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Sadlers Wells Theatre, Roseberry

Avenue, EC1R 4TN. Celebrating 20 years of democracy in South Africa, musical legends Ladysmith Black Mambazo blends Zulu traditions with pianos, live percussion and stings with award winning choreographer Mark Baldwin and world class dancers in this fusion of South African and Western cultures. Running till 20^th September tickets start from £12.00 from here. 

At 7.30pm Feel the Rhythm Productions presents Afro Dance Xplosion 2014 at Hampstead Town Hall Centre, 213 Haverstock Hill, NW3 4QP. Themed ‘Moving with the Rhythms’ this weekend of dance classes and workshops will feature Chantal Loial, Allison Ray Dance Company, GOP, Akosua Boakye, Syxx Issac, Sheila Attah, Bafana Soloman Matea Running till 21^st September, tickets start from £5.00 from here. 

London African Music Festival

Running from Friday 19^th to Sunday 28^th September across 12 venues, full line up here

At 7.00pm is Bombino and Jally Kebba Susso at Union Chapel, Compton Avenue, N1 2XD, Taureg guitarist and singer Omara Bombino Moctar plays from his new album Nomad , Gambian kora master Jally Kebba Susso will play a solo set Tickets are £20.00 (£17.50 concs) from here.

At 7.00pm Afri- Kokoa presents Direction Africa with DJ Voodoo Funk at The Forge Camden, 3-7 Delancey Street, NW1 7NL, featuring DJ Frank Gossner playing Arobeat and Highlife, with a film and visuals followed by a discussion on Frank Gossners travels to unearth post independence African music and Q&A led by Peter Adjaye. Tickets are £8.00 in advance from here and £10.00 on the door. 

At 7.00pm is Yaaba Funk at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, E1 6LA, Yaaba Funk mixes horns, bass and guitars to produce a unique Ghanaian sound, playing from their new album My vote dey count supported by DJs Chief Commander Yaaba, Mr Brett and The Outlaw Clive Wales. Tickets are £12.50 (£10.00 concs) from here. 

At 7.00pm is The Rhythms and Afunja at Charlton House Charlton Road, Charlton, SE7 8RE. The Rhythms are a 7 piece Nigerian Afrobeat band from Lagos, while Afunja is a 10 piece Afrobeat band led by bassist Afolabi Lipede. Tickets are £10.00 from here. 

At 7.00pm is Karama and M.O.O.K Ensemble at The Flyover Portobello, 3-5 Thorpe Close, W10 5XL, led by Moroccan oud master Soufan Saihi with Japanese, Venezuelan, Moroccan, British and Spanish members this is a Moroccan themed global sound. M.O.O.K Ensemble led by guitarist Giovanni Cacioppo features an Ethiopian singer Haymanot Tesfa, Dutch oboist, Spanish violist, English double bassist and Danish percussionist. Tickets are £12.50 (£10.00 conc) from here. 

At 8.00pm is Kad Achouri at The Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, N1 8AZ. Algerian Pianist and vocalist Kad Achouri plays music that is a fusion of French chanson, Basque pop and world jazz over seductive and poetic vocals. Tickets are £12.50 (£10.00 conc) from here. 

At 8.00pm is Harare, London Zulu and DJ Jamie Renton at the Hackney Attic, Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 1HE. The South African singer Ingrid Webster fronts London Zulu and will be followed by Zimbabwean quartet Harare fronted by Kuda Matimba. Tickets are £6.00 in advance from here, £8.00 on the door.  

Saturday 20^th September

From 9.00am to 4.00pm Africa 2.0 hosts StartUp Africa: London at Level 39, One Canada

Square, Canary Wharf, E14 5AB. This interactive day will be split into 4 parts, Demo, Showcase, Panel of Experts and Networking and is for dynamic entrepreneurs to pitch and demo their business to a panel of influential judges such as Arnold Ekpe (Forer CEO Ecobank) Geetha Tharmaratnam (Abraaj Performance Acceleration Group), Gail Mwamba (Private Equity Africa), Jean-Paul Melaga (Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFG) and Daniel Makoua (Bwamanga Sustainable Investments Advisers) concluding with a cocktail reception. Tickets are £30.00 from here.

At 10.30am is Day 2 of Afro Dance Xplosion 2014 at Hampstead Town Hall Centre. Themed ‘Moving with the Rhythms’ this weekend of dance classes and workshops will feature, Contemporary Dance with Akosua Boakye, Street Dance with Brandan Syxx Issac, Sheila Attah, Acogny Technique with Alessandra Seutin and Congolese Chantal Loial Bafana Soloman Matea Running till 21^st September, tickets start from £5.00 from here.

From 10.00am to 7.00pm is Ghana Youth Day 2014 at The Berne Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall, Approach Road, Tottenham, N15 4RX. Held in conjunction with the Ghana High Commission and Tullow Oil the day will consist of a series of workshops for young people, careers advice and workshops, cultural displays and performances by Fuse ODG and Simply Andy. This is a FREE event, register here. 

At 11.00am Nadia Denton launches her second book The Nigerian Filmmakers Guide to Success: Beyond Nollywood in The Blue Room, BFI Southbank, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XT. This book charts the new emergence of a new wave of Nigeria audio visual content spanning indie films, documentary, animation, experimental, music videos and diaspora films and acts as a film reference manual to film making from a Nigerian cultural perspective offering important advice. The author will be joined by the father of Nollywood Chris Obi-Rapu, director of Living in Bondage, Dr Ladi Sandra Adamu (Ahmadu Bello University). Tickets are £6.50 from here and include the screening of B is Boy at 2.00pm

At 11.00am is CATIL’s Guided Tour off Pangaea: New Art from Africa and Latin America at the Saatchi Gallery, Kings Road, SW3 4RY, in which Victoria Mendryzk will guide visitors through the exhibition and explain contemporary artworks from Latin America and Africa. Admission is £16.00 from here. 

From 12.00pm to 9.00pm is The Black Market and Film Festival at Platanos College, Clapham Road, Stockwell, SW9 0AL. Showcasing and exposing black cultural and creative entrepreneurs to sell their products and skills. There will be films, economic presentations and workshops. Admission is £9.00 from here. 

At 2.00pm is B for Boy at the NFT3, BFI Southbank, part of the Beyond Nollywood season, is about a Nigerian woman who at almost 40 is expecting her second child and resorts to extreme measures to guarantee a male successor. Tickets are £6.50 from here

At 3.00pm is Gallery Talk: Owusu-Ankomah at October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street,

Bloomsbury, WC1N 3AL, accompanying his new solo exhibition Microcron Begins Owusu-Ankromah speaks to Gerard Houghton about his creative process and his interest in adinkra symbols. RSVP this FREE event here. 

At 3.00pm is Caribbean Evening with Positive Network at St Boniface Church, 185 Mitcham Road, Tooting, SW17 9PG. Featuring world class comedy, live music including steel bands, singers, fashion show and delicious Caribbean cuisine. Tickets are £15.00 from here.

At 3.00pm Anioma UK celebrates Anioma Day at Cambridge House, 1 Addington Square, Camberwell, SE5 0HF, this dinner and dance celebrates the culture and traditions of the Anioma peoples. Tickets are £30.00 from here.

At 6.00pm is The Onitsha Ado Family and Friends at The African Community Centre, Unit 2, Lyndean Industrial Estate, Felixstowe Road, Abbey Wood, SE2 9SG. Tickets for this celebration of Onitsha culture and traditions with dinner and dancing are £20.00 in advance and £30.00 on the door.

At 8.00pm Otu Obi Nde Owerre UK presents Owerri Day 2014 at Broadwater Farm Community Centre, Adams Road, Tottenham, N17 6HE. With food, dancing, culture and fine fine Owerri boys and girls. For more details call 0787 776 6907 or 0795 635 1912

London African Music Festival

Running from Friday 19^th to Sunday 28^th September across 12 venues, full line up here

From 12.00pm to 4.00pm is the Iroko Family Fun Day at Timber Lodge, North Park, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Honour Lea Avenue, E20 1DY. This is a fun, creative workshop exploring an African inspired music piece with drumming, chanting, songs and movement, led by Iroko Theatre Company and Juwon Ogungbe will end in an interactive performance for the wider public. This is a FREE event.

At 1.00pm Abdul Tee-Jay at The Green Note Club, 106 Parkway, Camden, NW1 7AN. The veteran Sierra Leonean guitarist and singer/ songwriter plays solo and looks back over his recordings featuring new versions and arrangements of his palm wine classics. Tickets are £7.00 from here. 

At 7.30pm is Seeds of Creation and Sabbey Drummers, Upstairs at the Ritzy, The Ritzy Picturehuse, Brixton Oval, SW2 1JG. Featuring legendary Algerian Mandolin player Seddik Zebiri and his group Seeds of Creation and Ghanaian Sabbey Drummers led by percussionist and vocalist Alfa Sackey. Tickets are £10.00 from here.

 At 7.30pm is Diabel Cissokho at The Forge the kora maesto will play rich mandinka melodies on the kora and nggoni with an upbeat groove followed by DJ Freestyle playing African grooves til late. Tickets are £6.00 in advance and £8.00 on the door. 

At 8.00pm is Samy Bishai at The Vortex Jazz Club, the Egyptian violinist and composer and his quartet fuse his Egyptian ancestry with western music to produce a unique sound, tickets are £12.50 from here. 

Sunday 21st September

At 10.30am is Day 3 of Afro Dance Xplosion 2014 at Hampstead Town Hall Centre. Themed ^st September, tickets start from £5.00 from here.

‘Moving with the Rhythms’ this weekend of dance classes and workshops will feature; Horton  with David Blake of Lion King, Afro House with  Sheila Attah, Afro Zulu with Bafana Soloman Matea and Congolese Chantal Loial Running till 21

From 2.00pm to 6.00pm Mwalimu Express returns to Rich Mix, with live sets from Simo Lagnawi, African films from Screen Station, stalls, Owari games, kids Yoga with Lucy Angell Johnson and DJ sets from DJs Rita Ray and Max Reinhardt, tis is FREE family friendly fun.

At 3.10pm is Nigeria Through a Lens at BFI Southbank, part of the Beyond Nollywood season this is a selection of documentaries about extraordinary Nigerian artistes, including George Osodi: Kings of Nigeria, Emeka Okereke: Invisible Borders and JD Okhai Ojeikere: Master Photographer, with guest directors at the event tickets are £6.50 from here.

At 6.20pm is Mother of George, in NFT3, BFI Southbank, this movie directed by Andrew Dosunmu is an enlightened look at immigrant life amongst the New York, Yoruba immigrant community where a young woman is driven to great lengths to have a baby. Tickets are £6.50 from here.

London African Music Festival

Running from Friday 19^th to Sunday 28^th September across 12 venues, full line up here

At 7.30pm is Sousou and Maher Cissoko and Ebenezer Oke at The Flyover Portobello. Swedish/ Senegalese couple Sousou and Maher Cissoko combine a variety of styles and influences as they perform from their new album Stockholm-Dakar. The show will be opened by guitarist Ebenezer Oke and his 6 piece band. Tickets are £12.50 from here.  

At 8.00pm is Ben Audu at Hootananny Brixton, 95 Effra Road, Brixton, SW2 1DF. The Nigerian jazz funk alto saxophonist makes his debut with his unique African swing. This is a FREE event.