I wrote this article for Media Diversified a month ago...
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Africa Express: Can African and European Music Travel Together?
For Media Diversified
By Melissa Chemam
On April 4, 2019
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Africa Express celebrated its 10 years of performances between European and African musicians in London on March 29. A great acknowledgement of multiculturalism in the UK in these times of “othering” and rejection, argues Melissa Chemam, but why are they so alone?
A green-and-yellow circus tent was planted for the occasion in leafy area facing Henry Reynolds Gardens in Leytonstone, surrounded with stalls for food and drinks, offering a lovely festival atmosphere and an African feel, despite the chilly early spring English weather.
As a series of music festivals launched by Damon Albarn more than 10 years ago, Africa Express always had one main goal: give a platform to African musicians on different continents, and encourage some Euro-African multicultural creativity. And with this edition baptised “Africa Express: The Circus”, it has returned to London the last Friday of March, as part of Walthamstow London Borough of Culture 2019’s events. For founding member Damon Albarn, this was also a return to his home, as he did go to school in nearby Waltham Forest, and organised a few visits in his old schools, over the years and on the morning of the event.
Artists on the line-up included: Damon Albarn, his band The Good, The Bad & The Queen (with former Clash bassist Paul Simonon and legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen), Australian musician Warren Ellis and Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan, the London bandDjango Django, Ellie Rowsell (from Wolf Alice), Gruff Rhys, Imarhan, Joan As Police Woman, Mista Silva, Moonchild Sanelly, Morena Leraba, Muzi, Onipa, Rokia Traoré, Sibot, Toya Delazy, Batida, Kinshasa Sound System, Pauline Black and many more. For a night of transcontinental celebrations. But did it really achieve its goal?
A night of noise, movement, colours and joy
Tunisian Sufi singer Mounir Troudi opened the show, followed by the band Turban, by Malik Pathe Sow and Batida. Django Django came among the second wave of musicians on stage, playing ‘Skies Over Cairo’, with a guest appearance from Mounir. From there, Africa Express turned into a jam, with duets and improvisations, pauses and silences. Each artist was asked to perform one song at a time, most often with a guest instrumentalist or two from another band on the bill. This often resulted in fragmentation in the rhythm of course, but created a casual atmosphere, the audience chatting loudly during the blanks. Django Django were followed by Ivory Coast singer Dobet Gnahoré for the song ‘Miziki’, then by The Good, The Bad & The Queen for ‘1917’.
London-based Ethiopian band The Krar Collective, powerful performers infused with an incredible energy, were beautifully led by their charismatic female vocalist, radiating in a long traditional white dress. Punk duo Slaves followed with ‘The Hunter’ and a deeply enjoyed cover of ‘The Guns Of Brixton’, written by The Clash, accompanied by its author: Paul Simonon.
Most of the music fans in the audience felt that allowing artists more time, to perform four or five songs in a raw instead of one, would have enabled them to create a more subtle and intense atmosphere. But for the organisers of Africa Express, this was never the promise. Their spirit is in jamming, and to allow dozens of artists to join in. Fair enough. At least, it looks and sounds less commercial, less planned than a typical British music festival.
Among the long list performing in the last two hours were drummers Tony Allen and Seb Rochford; English-Nigerian singer Pauline Black, who sang ‘Can’t Get Used To Losing You’, a tribute to the late Ranking Roger, with Jah Wobble and Dennis Bovell on musical backing; Algerian guitar outfit Imarhan; Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan with Dirty Three and Bad Seeds violinist Warren Ellis; Ghanaian/UK collective Onipa; South African singer Toya Delazy; Malian star Rokia Traoré; Michael Kiwanuka playing ‘Black Man In A White World’; the Kinshasa Sound System; and of course Damon Albarn, later joined by Alex James, Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree, from Blur. The London Community Gospel Choir and Rokia Traoré soon joined them to interpret their hit ‘Tender’. Kinshasa Sound System and Rokia closed the night.
Music and, in the background, politics
In the backdrop of the party-time feeling, no one could completed forget the current political turmoil on both continents. It would have been hard not to notice the date, March 29, supposed to be “Brexit Day”. And at the same time, thousands of people were demonstrating in Algeria or mourning in Mali, after a terrible attack. This date was instead turned into a celebration of multiculturalism, and where better than in this circus...
While English protesters were storming Parliament Square to call for a delivery of Brexit, many voicing their dislike of European and African citizens living in the country, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan came on stage. He reminded once more that according to him and his electorate “London is open”. Damon Albarn stated: “We’re in a period now where everything is make-believe. It’s like Danny Dyer said – it’s all a great mad riddle.”
Such an evening, in a difficult political context, got me to reflect on the place of African musicians, African artists, and artists from the Diaspora in the UK, especially in the past couple of years.
The particularity of Africa Express is the desire to unite African and European artists on the same stage, with the utopian goal to make the audience forget that newcomers and foreigners are playing in Europe with home-grown superstars… Or that Western, well-off, well-known artists are guest appearances in African festivals on the continent. It’s not always easy.
When I covered Africa Express for the first time in 2009, for BBC Afrique, one of the World Service’s radios broadcasting in Africa, I interviewed the Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, Algerian singer-songwriter Souad Massi, etc. And one artist strongly voiced how odd it seemed to him to mix newcomers with superstars: the late French-Algerian musician Rachid Taha. In our interview, he was quite persistent at the time on the difficulties the platform was facing to make all artists appear as equal. Until his passing last year, Rachid Taha did remain a strong supporter of the Africa Express platform however, and always agreed to join in. Because there was nothing like it, he told me. He was nonetheless hoping to see things change, a time when journalists wouldn’t beg stars only for interviews, but he wasn’t lucky enough to see such a progress.
Since 2009, Africa Express has visited, recorded in and performed in five African countries, toured the UK on a customised vintage train, created a Malian “reimagining of a modern masterpiece”, headlined festivals across Europe and reunited a Syrian Orchestra to work with African and Western artists. Amazing achievements that few artists can claim. And you can revel in Damon Albarn’s efforts to make it happen.
African positivity
Talking to the African musicians backstage, they all agree on the issue. They’re from a younger generation than Taha, maybe that explains their optimism. For Toya Delazy, 29, who’s from South Africa, it’s undeniable that Africa Express opens doors and opportunities for African artists. “I started in music in South Africa, and I was really lucky, people liked it, and it spread my country, in Zimbabwe and neighbourhood countries. But I felt the music world had changed and there are so many platforms to reach an audience way beyond. It was always my goal to play abroad; it does make you feel like you’re growing and give you a chance to interact with other artists. I grew up listening to Jimmy Hendrix or Queen, so Britain was special; then there were Amy Winehouse, Adele… I felt moulded by Britain somehow. I do sing and rap in English, in Zulu as well, but nowadays I feel I can sing in all the languages I want, I speak German, and a bit of French. Producers and festivals are open to that now. It’s all about how you share your own creativity. There are no more barriers. We can make songs from our bedroom.”
Toya is from Zululand. Her last album, Uncommodified, has been produced in London, where she lives now, though she travels back to Southern Africa as much as she can. To her, ‘it’s all about finding a place that understand you, to just be”. South African music has obviously always had a very political element, from Miriam Makeba to Motèl Mari. But the younger generation just wants to express their individuality.
Mounir Troudi took again later at 8pm. In between his performances, backstage, he was only complaining about the cold weather in the evening, after a beautiful sunny day… For the whole evening, he was smiley and as shiny as his golden embroidered jacket. He told me in French how enjoyable the event is, how much he likes the platform.
Like himself, most of the artists spoke French all evening, coming from North Africa, central Africa, or being based in France, like Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan and Australian musician and composer Warren Ellis, member of several groups like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman. The atmosphere was indeed very optimistic, almost utopian in its multicultural feel and joyous energy.
Unequal but working for change
Nevertheless, African musicians are not and have never been treated as their European and American counterparts. Not by the British and French audiences – most often these were unaware of their music before coming to an Africa Express event (and in that sense, the whole concept is partly efficient in promoting African musicians). But they are not treated as equals by the media either. On Saturday morning, for instance, most of the articles mentioning the show focused on the fact that it ending with a surprised appearance of the other members of Blur, Damon Albarn’s first band. If you’re a British reader, that might sound obvious, as Blur was one of the most successful acts of the emblematic 1990s. But if you’re an African reader, not aware of the “Brit Pop” scene that deeply affected the UK back then, you might not even understand why.
Moreover, a lot of musicians couldn’t join their friends in London, like the dazzling band Jupiter & Okwess, from Kinshasa, struggling with visas and unable to come this far for one night only in the middle of their own tour… I met Jupiter in Paris for the first time in 2015 for a series of interviews, notably for my book on the Bristol scene, Massive Attack -Out of the Comfort Zone, which retells a journey into Britain’s multiculturalism and addresses the role of artists and musicians in politics and social change. Jupiter worked with Damon Albarn on his two albums and with 3D from Massive Attack, who’s created the artwork for his album cover, Kin Sonic. His band, Okwess International, have toured the world but still struggle every time to access some countries, and first and foremost the UK.
A few of the Congolese musicians from Kinshasa Sound System also had to stay at home in the Congo, because their visa was refused. Drummer Cubain Kabeya was still delighted to be present and focused on the positive. “It’s a great opportunity to meet with other creators and we share a lot together,” he told me. “I’ve participated two other times, in 2007 in the Congo and in 2012 in the UK train ride. I do believe that music is universal, it depends on how you listen to it, and we all have evolving inspirations. Like myself, I was first inspired by Pygmies’ music, from the Congo, then world music, as we say, then the Beatles. And I’ve been able to play with Paul McCartney via Africa Express, so it was very important to me. But for sure, visas are an issue. My guitarist wasn’t able to come here. It’s always difficult. But when we get to have the opportunity to come, it’s such great fun. We also meet producers, journalists, agents, etc. And this has changed a lot for me and my band. Even our way of playing music. We’re 80 musicians from so many countries. We get into others’ talents.” Like these Tunisian/Turkish bands, for instance. “I heard them here; they gave me a thrill!”
In that sense, Africa Express and the WOMAD Festival, taking place in July in Charlton Park, Wiltshire, are the only major events dedicated to all worldly music in the UK. For such a multicultural country, it seems very little. Other smaller initiatives exist of course, like the Bloomsbury Festival in October in London, backed by SOAS University, and the work of fantastic venues like the Rich Mix, Brixton Academy and the Jazz Café. But more could be done to showcase the world diversity of music in the country.
Nevertheless, to Cubain, Africa Express proves that the challenge launched by Damon Albarn is definitely met. Kinshasa Sound System have recorded their rehearsals from Friday, their performance and some vocals during the pauses, and will now work on the band’s next album in Paris, their base. “Africa Express is a musical journey,” Cubain concludes. “We also represent our countries for others, and that can have a ripple effect. I’ve created two other bands after I first joined Africa Express. What’s not to like about that?”
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Melissa Chemam is a journalist and writer who has covered international news from the UK, France, the US; North, East and Central Africa; the Middle East (for the BBC, DW, Reuters, CBC...). Since 2006, she has also worked regularly with Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck (‘I Am Not Your Negro’, ‘Sometimes in April’, ‘Lumumba’), as a researcher, for films on Karl Marx, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, and post-colonial history. Her book Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone, on Bristol, music, art and politics, was published in March 2019 in the UK.
