West African Festival 2011

Overview

Africa is a big place. Getting a handle on just its Western corner is no easier than getting your head around the whole of of Western Europe. It's almost equally big, diverse and connected across borders. Even just sizing up the music can be a bit of a job for the outsider, with skinny harps made of wood, calabash and skins, more modern guitars, djembe drums tracing their designs back to the fourteenth century and a lot of dancing. Café Carnivale is offering to accelerate this education with a West African Festival to unite you with half a day of of occidental music and culture.

Exploding on the Marrickville stage will be the salsa-like swing of Keyim Ba, the soft stories of Miriam Lieberman, twisting rhythms of Pape Mbaye and Chosani Afrique, reggae-loving Afro Moses, Errol H. Renaud's Carribean grooves and Guinean percussionist Sibo Bangoura. More traditional music education comes in the form of dance and drum workshops, food from African Feeling to help you keep the energy between moments at dance or play and, if you have any energy left, you can browse around the market stalls that help round out the line-up.

Image by Shane Rozario.