Africa Express

Africa Express is a stab in the heart of "heal africa" concerts like Live 8. More than being a concert about Africa, and not representing may of the continents great musical talents, it is a festival celebrating african music along with the artist of the land. On August 5th, there was a another in the series of concerts, started by London music artist Damon Alburn, in Paris.

"The free concert is due to take place at the Place de l’Hotel de Ville - an historic public square in front of the mayor’s office in the centre of Paris. Among those playing are Oumou Sangare, Mongrel, Rachid Taha, The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Souad Massi, Damon Albarn, Vieux Farka Toure, Patrick Wolf, Konono No 1, The Magic Numbers and Ebony Bones. Earlier in the evening, there will be performances by Amadou & Mariam, Housse de Racket and Jamie T as part of the showcase night for the festival."

Also this week a compilation was put out, exclusively at Puma stores, featuring new and unrelease track by african and western artist.

Words on The compilation,

"Africa Express, the collective of African and Western musicians, is taking African music to a wider audience. This 17-track compilation features tracks performed and recorded by some of Africa’s most exciting artists, chosen by Africa Express collaborators from Europe and the US.

“Africa Express Presents…” includes unreleased songs by Amadou & Mariam, Tinariwen, Baaba Maal and Femi Kuti alongside numbers by the likes of Oumou Sangare, Tony Allen, Staff Benda Bilili, Rokia Traore and Rachid Taha. The tracks have been selected by artists such as Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, Elvis Costello, Massive Attack, VV Brown, Fatboy Slim and Damon Albarn amongst others; reflecting their interest and love of African music."



Also Check out a short film on the project so far, Africa Express.