the Afternoon

Ayub Ogada and Uno
Playing a tradional lyre, the West Kenyan whitles and sings along to some rootsy African rhythms, with an excellent soulful voice and the sound enriched with his backing band Uno. He says his people have been calling for a 1000 years and it’s taken a long time for people to hear him calling. The songs are peaceful, soulful and full of peace. It’s hypnotic stuff and with the flags and plants all around us a fitting start to celebrating another continent.

Chartwell Dutiro
We dash to the temperate biome, which has restricted numbers although the performance is also transmitted to the big screens in the arena to catch Chartwell Dutiro in ceremonial dress playing the bizarre looking mbira a large hollowed out gourd bowl with metal paddles inside it – which make a distinct noise. It sounds a bit like rain drops and is also mesmerizing and you can tell it’s an ancient and powerful instrument which is used in spirit medium ceremonies. With his voice and the mbira Chartwell’s music is infectious and in the humid lush location again Africa has come to Cornwall.

Mariza
Mariza is next up on the Main stage. Playing fada which is traditional Portuguese music born 2000 years ago as mixture of music from African slaves and Portuguese sailors the singer born in Mozambique is stunningly attractive and exquisite at singing. With it’s bluesy, Mediterranean rhythms and her lush vocal the crowd are clapping from the start. Mariza cuts a distinctive figure with her short cropped blond hair and full length evening gown. The music is beautiful and breath taking at the same time and powerfully delivered, dripping with feeling and it lifts our spirits as drizzle dissipates. The highlight is the single Mil Fada Mil from her new album Transparent a lilting tune with strings which raises the temperature of the crowd.

Mayram Mursal
Accompanied by two woman chanters, with three male chanters and a three piece band. The biodome reverberates with magical sounds and chanted rhythms as the crowd start to liven up and join in with the celebration of African sounds and culture.

Thomas Mapfumo and the Black Unlimited
It’s Thomas’ birthday and the eight piece band bring us songs from Africa. There a people dancing in the crowd and a real atmospheres starting to develop at Eden. Thomas is an exile from his homeland of Zimbabwe and his appeal to “Help to do away with dictatorship in Africa!” is resounding cheered by the crowd many of whom are echoing the sentiment with their ‘Make Mugabe History’ shirts. Seconds later the cheers are just as loud as the sun breaks out and all the crowd start to dance. While Jan (of Jan’s van fame) keeps the kids entertained with ribbons on sticks and it’s good to see so many kids here. The set finishes with the whole crowd singing Thomas a Happy Birthday.

Coco Mbassi
Agelina Jolie introduces the Cameroon singer and thanks us for being there and celebrating the beauty and strength of people and the music on this day when the needs of Africa are highlighted. Coco normally has an eight piece band but today only has an acoustic guitar and some form of maracas for company. Her soaring vocals and the rhythm from her hand is delightful and well appreciated by the crowd. As the media all race off to trail after Angelina and her son.

Shikisha
The WOMAD favourites entertain us with their vibrant dancing and loud vocals from the five girls who bounce and giggle and dance and kick. They get everyone in the biodome dancing with their crazy rhythms while two men on drums provide additional beats. As the singing reverberates around the dome there is some serious swinging of hips as the girls dance themselves into a frenzy!

Madou Diouf and O Fogum
Modou and his family come from a long line of musicians from the Serre people’s of Senegal. With Sabar and Tama drums the family dressed in electric blue traditional dress play with intensity and the explosive rhythms and Madou is all smiles and dance and it’s invigorating stuff. The dancers are able to dance at such pace and perform awesome displays of agility as the sun appears and the arena fills up even more.

Then Peter Gabriel introduces us to the Father of Eden Tim Smit who tells us about Eden being the most exciting development from nothing and that the reason why Eden works is that it’s built by us the people not as some government request and that more businesses need to get involved in Africa instead of governments. The woman who is the delegate we spoke to earlier and off to the G8 summit addresses us afterwards with shameful figures of child death, poverty, AIDs and it’s crushing and emotional and we all agree it’s time to make a change. I’m glad it’s her taking our message to the G8 as if anyone can make the world leaders listen it’s her.

See the whole thing on the BBC website here.

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