Africa Express (organization)

Africa Express is a UK-based non-profit organization that facilitates cross-cultural collaborations between musicians in African, Middle Eastern, and Western countries.[1] It seeks to help African musicians break beyond the perceived stigmas and prejudices of the term world music, while presenting a positive impression of Africa to counter against common media images of war, famine, and disease.[2] Notable events that Africa Express has been involved in include performances at the 2012 Olympics, the Glastonbury Festival,[3] the BBC Electric Proms,[4] Denmark's Roskilde Festival,[5] a tour of Syrian refugee musicians,[6] and concerts in such places as Mali, the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and France.[7]

The organization has also released a number of compilations and collaborative albums along with a documentary of the 2012 Africa Express UK train tour.[8] Many of the established Western musicians who have participated in the organization's projects have spoken of their admiration for the musical skill levels of the African musicians involved and the influence their participation has had on them.[9][10] Over 50,000 people are estimated to have attended Africa Express events, which have received substantial global media coverage.[10]

  1. ^ Hasted, Nick (18 August 2012). "Express Delivery From Africa". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference lead:2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Denselow, Robin (26 June 2007). "An African Triumph For Glastonbury's Best Kept Secret". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference lead:3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Hawksley, Rupert. "Watch Damon Albarn get dragged off stage after refusing to stop performing". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Damon Albarn to perform with Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music". BBC News. BBC. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference lead was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference lead:iv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBCMaliJeunes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b Birrell, Ian (7 December 2013). "The hip of the desert: Africa Express returns". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2018.