Africa Utopia

Africa Utopia is a month-long festival of music, theatre, film, literature, dance, fashion, talks and debates programmed by Southbank Centre in conjunction with renowned Senegalese singer and human-rights campaigner Baaba Maal, as part of Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World with MasterCard. An invited group of young delegates – guided by ‘elders’ including Baaba Maal, Ben Okri, Lemn Sissay and Wole Soyinka – engage with African arts organizations and cultural leaders to explore how art projects can be mobilized to bring about social change.   

Festival highlights

• Word Sound Power – world-class writers and poets, led by Lemn Sissay, read to live music performed by Baaba Maal and his band
• Headline concerts by Angelique Kidjo, Oumou Sangaré & Bela Fleck and Taj Mahal
• Robben Island Bible – drama based on the true story of how The Complete Works of Shakespeare infiltrated South Africa’s Robben Island prison
• The very best African literature from Somalia, Nigeria, Angola, Ethiopia and beyond
• Sci-Fi Africa – future visions of Africa in literature, visual art and film
• Inua Ellams’ theatrical adventure through an urban landscape with poetry and live music
• Gregory Maqoma – award-winning South African choreographer channels his Xhosa heritage in an explosive night of music and dance
• Rwanda Catalyst – a celebration of the transformative power of hip-hop on Rwandan street children through film and dance
• A delegates programme for talented young artists/activists with a passion for Africa
• All-star festival finale with Baaba Maal and friends

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director at Southbank Centre, said: “Africa’s cultural contribution to the world is incalculable. Throughout July we hear the music of inspirational musicians, see the work of rising star choreographers and gain fresh perspectives on contemporary Africa through the writings of some of the continent’s most talented writers and poets. And, guided and mentored by an illustrious gathering of ‘elders’, an invited group of young delegates explore the transformative potential of culture as an agent of social change through talks and debates.”

Baaba Maal, singer and human rights campaigner, said: “Africa is all too often written off as an intractable ‘problem’ for the world to solve, I hope this festival will reveal just some of what Africa has to offer the rest of the world: The energy of our youth and their desire to engage with the world; The transformative potential of culture and, perhaps most potently, the power of community to bind people together.”

Music

Throughout the festival there will be performances by iconic musicians who share Baaba Maal’s belief in the power of music for social change.  Whether as ambassadors for UNESCO, UNICEF, the United Nations or instigators of their own social projects, they have all have used their position to effect change in Africa. Famous for exploring the links between American blues and the music of West Africa, Taj Mahal (performing on 4 July) has brought the musical cultures of Africa and North America together over half a century of travel, landmark recordings and collaborations with everyone from Tinariwen and Toumani Diabaté to Angelique Kidjo. On 18 and 19 July continents are bridged once again as American musician Bela Fleck, considered the world’s premiere banjo player, reprises his inspired collaboration with the great Malian singer Oumou Sangare in a concert that draws the banjo back to its ancestral West African roots.   

On 26 July the Royal Festival Hall plays host to Benin-born Angelique Kidjo, who is regarded as one of Africa’s most potent musical forces. UNICEF ambassador and founder of The Batonga Foundation, which gives girls secondary school and higher education opportunities, Kidjo was recently voted by The Guardian newspaper as one of the world’s top 100 most inspiring women. Africa Utopia also features performances from The Vocal Ensemble of Africa (23 July), made up of singers from six different African countries, violinist Max Baillie who performs with Gambian kora player Sura Susso (27 July), and a special free gig by Gregg Kofi Brown (20 July).  In what will be a fitting finale to the festival on 28 July, Baaba Maal himself returns to the Royal Festival Hall – the venue of legendary concerts in 1999 and in 2009 as part of Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown – in the company of a star-studded array of guests and friends.

Dance and Performance

On 17 July the award-winning South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma channels his Xhosa ancestry in Exit/Exist, a piece inspired by the 19^th century leader Chief Maqoma who struggled to maintain Xhosa traditions in the face of colonial dispossession. The piece combines traditional movements with contemporary insights and is powerfully enhanced by live music, including four exceptional South African singers who have toured with Hugh Masekela.  In 2011 world-renowned B Boy dancer Pervez visited a pioneering centre for former street children in Kigali, Rwanda. Yes Man! is an inspiring film of the work that Pervez did with these children, all of whom were passionate about hip-hop. The film will be screened as part of Rwanda Catalyst on 19 July, and the evening will feature performances from three boys who have travelled from Rwanda, and a conversation with the centre’s leader Rafiki Callixte.

On 22 July, Inua Ellams’ Knight Watch will take audiences down to the stark, urban environs of Southbank Centre’s Production Arch for a thrilling mix of live poetry, percussion and music that conjures the violence of a city not unlike London and imagines a more beautiful world. We follow ‘Michael’ as he passes through a landscape where tower blocks are mountains and the walls become urban tapestries telling of epic fights between warring tribes that he tries in vain to avoid.

Literature and Spoken Word

African literature has been a particular success story over the past twenty years and has been crucial in countering preconceptions and polarized impressions of the continent, providing insight into the reality of contemporary African culture. On 3 July, poet and Southbank Centre Artist in Residence Lemn Sissay teams up with Baaba Maal to present a unique evening called Word Sound Power, which sees world-class writers read their work over the music of Baaba and his band. Also on 3 July is Robben Island Bible, a play based on the true story of how a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare was smuggled into the prison made famous by Nelson Mandela’s incarceration. The book became an inspiration to the inmates, including Mandela himself, who endlessly passed around, copied and recited the treasured text. Elsewhere in the festival Nuruddin Farah (4 July) gives a fascinating account of contemporary Somalia and Mogadishu and discusses his new novel Crossbones, and in Sci-Fi Africa (4 July) the relationship between science fiction and narratives situated in the African continent is explored. Also on 4 July there is the chance to learn more about the complexities of modern day Nigeria and its giant literary heritage in a discussion between Transwonderland author Noo Saro-Wiwa, and Chika Unigwe, whose latest book Night Dancer is published this summer.  

Africa Utopia has been made possible with additional support from Arts Council England and is part of the London 2012 Festival, the spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from21 June until 19 September 2012, bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

Southbank Centre Ticket Office – www.southbankcentre.co.uk / 0844 847 9910