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 19th 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.
