Vive L'Afrique! Official We Face Forward Party July 21, 2012

In celebration of the city-wide We Face Forward festival of West African art and music, Band on the Wall are delighted to welcome you to our free festival party featuring the cream of professional West African performers currently resident in the Manchester area, including:

Jali Nyonkoling Kuyateh
Born into a family of traditional oral historians or Griots in The Gambia, Jali Nyonkoling Kuyateh is a master of the African harp or Kora, an instrument built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator with a notched bridge like a lute or guitar.

Sam Maitland aka PapaSam Alafia
Accomplished composer songwriter and music teacher, Sam Maitland, aka Papa Sam Alafia, moved to the UK from Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa in the late 1980s. Sam toured the United States and Japan with the African band Rokoto and more recently has been working with the Post Modern African Peoples Dance Group Sakoba. He has also performed with internationally known artists such as Seal and King Masco.
Sidiki Dembele
The second son of a Griot family, and playing from the age of six, Sidiki has achieved acclaim throughout West Africa and Europe as a master percussionist. He has worked with various ballet and touring companies in his native Ivory Coast and in the UK. He was the featured lead percussionist and Djembefola in the international African touring circus Afrika!Afrika!

Kuwor Sylvanus Kwashie
Sylvanus Kwashie Kuwor is a Ghanaian master drummer, dancer and general practitioner of a range of dance forms from the West African sub-region. Kwashie began his performing arts and cultural training from early childhood.

Presented by Band on the Wall in association with We Face Forward - a season of contemporary art and music from West Africa, celebrated across Manchester as part of the London 2012 Festival. www.wefaceforward.org

Official Website: http://crd.fm/1H9