MWALIMU EXPRESS

Destination Lagos, Nigeria

London’s only free lunchtime Pan African family adventure chugs into the 2012 with a dazzling experience of Africa and the diaspora!

All aboard the legendary MWALIMU EXPRESS as we pull in to African cities throughout the year at Rich Mix on Sunday afternoons and bring you awesome music from around the continent – balafon, mbira, talking drum, molo, oud and kora are just some of the instruments to be featured live by the amazing musicians we meet at each destination. Plus your hosts Rita Ray and Max Reinhardt on the dex spinning the tunes. Come listen to the stupendous storytelling sessions, play Oware, the compelling African game of strategy, watch films at our Screen Station and join in far out family arts workshops.

On Sunday 15 January our destination is LAGOS NIGERIA, the city in which Fela Anikulapo Kuti created Afrobeat, lived his life , walked the walk and talked the talk of serious rebellion against the military dictatorships of his country, against global capitalism and against neo-colonialism . Our red hot live music session features a solo performance from DELE SOSIMI .

Dele played rhythm keyboards Fela's Egypt 80.  For 7 years he worked and toured extensively with Fela around the world. During Fela's incarceration in 1984, Femi ,Fela's son and Dele temporarily led the band. You can hear Dele’s keyboards on Fela&Egypt ’80 hits like Original Sufferhead, Authority Stealing, Army Arrangement, ITT (International Thief Thief), and Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense. After  playing a while in Femi Kuti’s Positive Force,  these days he’s resident in London with his Afrobeat Orchestra and with Gbedu. He recently was musical consultant and keyboard player in the Royal National Theatre production of Fela! At the Mwalimu EXpress he’ll be playing keyboards and singing…a unique solo set, in which he’ll also be telling stories about his days with Fela and life in Lagos.

So join us at the MWALIMU EXPRESS for a fun filled afternoon of live and recorded Nigerian music, Lucy Angell John's Parent and Toddler dance sessions, Layli Goobalay Games Workshop with the Oware Society, plus stalls, a well stocked bar and food close by.

And it gets even better! We finish off our Mwalimu Express afternoon with a Question and Answer session with film maker Jeremy Marre, followed by a showing of his 1991 film Konkombie from the much praised Beats of The Heart series.

‘Each is a marvel of sociological, as well as musical, insight’ Boston Globe

‘It can make your jaw drop regularly with astonishment’ New York Times

The film provides revealing insights into Juju, Afro-Beat, Highlife, Afro-Pop and Lagos street music. It takes us into recording studios, to a party given by the King of Lagos, into the inner sanctum of major stars, even to Fela and his 26 wives hiding from their persecutors. The programme finally travels to the deserts of the north to record – for the first time – the musical rituals and spirit ceremonies that underpin this kaleidoscopic culture.
Featuring: Fela Kuti, King Sonny Ade, Sonny Okosun, I. K. Dairo, Ebenezer Obey, the Lijadu Sisters, and the drummers and ritual performers of the North.

Play some great African games, read your young ones a book or browse a magazine while you unwind to wikkid sounds against a backdrop of fab décor and market stalls including books from Brick Lane Bookshop and T Shirts from the Motherland.

MWALIMU EXPRESS is brought to you by The Shrine

Next month's MWALIMU EXPRESS Sunday 19 February  destination Dakar Senegal.

The Shrine www.theshrine.uk.com