Africa Oyé reveal full line up
The
Rasites (UK) / Brinsley Forde (UK/Jamaica) / Yaaba Funk (Ghana/UK) /
The Endless Journey (Niger) / Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra
(Nigeria/UK) / Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga (Democratic
Republic of Congo) / Jaliba Kuyateh (The Gambia) / Diabel Cissokho
(Senegal)
Funded by Arts Council of England
and Liverpool City council
and Liverpool City council
LISTEN TO AFRICA
Sefton Park, Liverpool
Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2012 / 12:30pm - 9:30pm both days
Admission: FREE / http://africaoye.com/
In 2012 Africa Oyé are marking 20 years of bringing the best in African music and culture to the UK.
Starting
out as a series of small gigs in Liverpool's city centre in 1992,
Africa Oyé has gone from strength-to-strength, and has evolved into the
foremost celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture in the
UK.
Over
the past 20 years Africa Oyé has brought some of the biggest names in
music from Africa, the Caribbean and South America to Liverpool,
including Tinariwen, Peter Tosh, Femi Kuti, and of course, last year’s headliner, 'Queen of Reggae' Marcia Griffiths.
Full Line Up Now Confirmed For 2012:
The Rasites (UK)
In
2001 the Rasites Band lit up the roots market with their debut album,
Urban Regeneration - a record that inspired comparisons with the early
greats of the business. UK reggae hadn't witnessed the emergence of a
young band of musicians intent on writing and playing their own
material, since Aswad and Steel Pulse first blazed their international
roots trail a generation ago. Since their emergence The Rasites they
have recorded hits with Jamaican Superstar Luciano. After playing at
2004 Rbel Salute in Jamaica, they stayed on the island to record tracks
with master Saxaphonist/Producer Dean Fraser and Bobby Digital.
Brinsley Forde (UK/Jamaica)
Best
known as front man to seminal reggae band Aswad, Forde now takes to the
Oye stage to deliver a charismatic set of Roots reggae. His phenomenal
stage presence and crowd pleasing vocal earned Forde a number of live
collaborations with Dizzee Rascal, collaborations which blew audiences
away on the likes of Jools Holland and at the Electric Proms.
Yaaba Funk (Ghana/UK)
The
band was born in Brixton in 2006. The core members of Yaaba Funk met on
the south London African scene in the late 1990s when, as well as
studying African music, many wild nights were spent jamming together at
house parties, drumming, dancing and djing 'til dawn. The name Yaaba
Funk comes from an album called Yaba Funk Roots, the only album ever
released outside of Africa by Captain Yaba, a musician from northern
Ghana and exponent of the 2-string ‘guitar’ called the koliko.
The
band has gigged extensively around London and the UK, building up a
loyal fan base with their exuberant live shows, and have also performed
in Europe and Africa. A floor-filling extravaganza combining the
tightest rhythm section this side of Accra, fat analogue bass lines,
blazing horns, sparkling African and gritty rock guitars. YF are
considered to be one of the best live acts on the circuit.
The Endless Journey (Niger)
Touareg
singer, guitarist and songwriter Alhousseini Anivolla and Wodaabe
singer Bammo Agonla have toured Europe, Canada, America and Australia
with the internationally acclaimed group Etran Finatawa. Mamane Barka is
a charismatic musician and ethnomusicologist who is widely known in
Niger as a virtuoso ugurumi player. Internationally, he is best known as
the last master of the Biram, a sacred instrument of the Boudouma
people that he learnt in order to save it from obscurity. Oumarou
Adamou, the son of a Hausa Griot, is a famed percussionist and lifelong
friend of Barka. Together, their swirling strings, driving rhythms and
haunting vocals evoke the vast open spaces of the desert and the very
soul of nomadic life.
Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra (Nigeria/UK)
Dele
began his career when he joined Fela Kuti's Egypt 80. He then created
the Positive Force band with Femi Kuti, with whom he performed from 1986
to 1994. In both bands he was keyboard player, also musical director
taking care of re-orchestrating and arranging music as well as handling
the recruiting and training of new musicians. Based on Afrobeat, Dele's
music is a blend of complex funk grooves, Nigerian traditional music
(including hi-life), African percussion, underpinning the jazz horns and
solos from other instruments, as well as rhythmical singing. With a 15
strong line up featuring a brass section and some amazing dancers, this
is one live show not to be missed!
Samba Mapangala and Orchestra Virunga (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Samba
Mapangala was born in Matadi in what is now the Democratic Republic of
Congo. He spent the early 70s with various bands in Kinshasa, before
moving to Uganda in 1975 where he and some other Congolese musicians
formed the Les Kinois band. They moved to Nairobi in 1977. He formed a
new band, the Orchestra Virunga, in 1981. The band is named after
Virunga volcano located in Congo.
Orchestra
Virunga released their first album, It's Disco Time with Samba
Mapangala in 1982. In early 90s the group gained some international
popularity through album releases like "Virunga Volcano" and "Feet on
Fire."
He has continued to record, and is still one of the leading musicians in East Africa. He is now based in the United States.
Jaliba Kuyateh (The Gambia)
Modernising
the exquisite Kora music of Gambia into what he calls ‘Kora Pop’,
Jaliba Kuyateh - together with his band - unite current and ancient
Gambian sounds into an electric and uplifting live show. Kyuateh began
playing the 21-stringed instrument at the age of five and is now among
the most dynamic of its players.
Diabel Cissokho (Senegal)
Part
of a great line of Cassikho griots, Diabel Cissokho’s virtuosic talent,
his resonant voice and rocking kora style, have been welcomed
everywhere from WOMAD and Glastonbury to London’s Barbican, where he
performed alongside Femi Kuti, Cheikh Lo and Manu Dibango. Diabel’s
success with bluesman Ramon Goose cemented his reputation as a versatile
musician, able to effortlessly cross cultures. Their album Mansana
Blues was lauded as “a flavoursome mix of slide guitar, mellow kora and
undulating Mandinka rhythms” (fRoots) which “delivers moments of steamy
pleasure” (Songlines).
Article posted by Musicmafia
