Shoreditch: Africa '05

Home	Festival Photos	Newsletter
Current Festival	Out of Africa 2006	Out of Africa 2005

On 21st August 2005 from 1pm - 7pm, we ate, drank and got down to the spirit, rhythms and tastes of Africa as Shoreditch Festival 2005 celebrated Africa 05 with a spectacular event in Haggerston Park, Hackney.

Festival Line-up

Visitors came and experienced an explosion of African culture featuring music, food, market stalls, workshops, games, crafts and dance to delight and surprise throughout the day.

People's ears buzzed with the sound of live music and entertainment from cutting-edge, international African musicians including London-based Nigerian four-piece JJC & 419 Squad who fuse African rhythms, hip-hop, salsa and more to Anglo-Yoruba lyrics.

International hiplife superstar
Tic Tac delivered an explosive performance of African hip hop in his local dialect of Twi and English. Plus Congolese rumba stars Koko Kanyinda & Soukous Koumbele brought their own special brand of rumba, infectious soukous, and African funk with wild dancing and acrobatic conga solos which contributed to a spectacular live performance.

Some of Hackney’s finest African performers headed down to Haggerston Park to fuel the celebrations, featuring bands, dance and drumming troupes, fashion shows, solo artists, circus performers and much more, such as B Sharp, Sabar, Ebonessence and Nubian Queen.

Taste buds were satisfied by mouth watering, finger-licking dishes from across the continent and visitors also experienced African market life with stalls offering everything from books and clothes to crafts and jewellery.

There was an abundance of children’s activities with an arts and crafts area offering face painting and African mask making as well as workshops for all the family including live poetry readings from Fatimah Kelleher, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Roger Robinson and Dorothea Smartt, poetry workshops from Beyonder (Africa ‘05 resident artist), Djembe drum workshops and gum boot dance classes.

Thank you to everyone that joined us in celebrating Africa by indulging in the culture of a continent!

Shoreditch: Africa '05 is part of the Shoreditch Festival 2005, which ran from 6 to 21 August and offered up a fantastic programme of events celebrating this year’s theme - Food for the Soul.

Throughout two weeks in August, parks, gardens, streets, historical buildings and extraordinary venues werel open up to showcase the work of contemporary artists, performers and entertainers with a mix of exciting events and experiences set to fuel the soul including music, theatre, dance, visual arts, performance, children’s events, walks, talks and parties in the park.

Visitors also enjoyed the tasty delights that Shoreditch and Hoxton have to offer amongst the huge variety of restaurants, pubs, clubs and healthy eating initiatives.

The Festival kicked off in celebratory style with the magnificent Shoreditch Festival Parade on Saturday 6 August – leaving Shoreditch Park at 12 noon.