Take a clanky old train, and a lot of high profile African musicians – who probably aren’t household names. Add in a bunch of known randoms from Bjork, Bullion, Carl Barat, De La Soul, Martina Topley-Bird, Nitin Sawhney, Massive Attack and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. After Manchester, Bristol (unsurprisingly sold out) the train hits London on Saturday – at the Granary Square in Kings Cross.
So we lose half of London’s clubs off York Way in one fell swoop but gain a huge art college, Shrimpys – a deeply underwhelming cool-kids hangout, an enormous Caravan restaurant and a big open square. And this is where this motley crew of musicians will turf onto this Saturday. Now that those cutesy fundamentalists have blown up those wonderous Malian earth mosques, they’re looking to silence the Festival au Desert. This might just be the best place on earth to catch up on some Afrique sounds.
Africa Express, London N1 Saturday 8th September
