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Rapper Sway leads BASS Festival music lineup
08th May 2009. Posted by Luke McNaney.
The influential music of African artist Fela Kuti will be brought up to date in a series of live shows featuring leading British rapper Sway.
'I Dream of Fela' will tour Leicester, Manchester and Edinburgh in June as part of this year’s BASS Festival, which features a musical lineup that celebrates the best in black music.
The new commission will explore the influence that traditional African music, especially afrobeat, has on contemporary styles like hip hop, grime and garage. Baby J will lead a full band of live musicians, including MOBO award winner (‘Best Hip Hop Act’) Sway and percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker, to produce a live show of specially composed tracks.
BASS 2009 is this year ‘Inspired by Africa and Africans’, making the timely retrospective on Nigerian pioneer Fela Kuti even more relevant. The show, presented by Punch Records, will use African call and response techniques as its starting point.
Ammo Talwar, director of Punch Records, said: “The fusion of styles is guaranteed to result in an electrifying live experience. It will be great to hear traditional African sounds updated by a popular hip hop act like Sway, and I’m sure Fela Kuti would be honoured.”
This clash between the traditional and modern extends to other musical events at BASS. The Shrine, aka DJs Rita Ray and Max Reinhardt, sink their teeth into the first ever vampire film 'Nosferatu' at the Electric Cinema on June 21, providing their own live soundtrack.
Self-proclaimed ‘She-jays’ Mama Feel Good!, recently voted as one of Flavour Magazine’s top five groups to emerge from the UK, bring their set of rare funk and soul to Bulls Head on 6 June. Meanwhile, The Rainbow plays host to live hip-hop beats from producers LouisDen Beat Cypher on 11 June, with a participatory beat battle organised for attendees.
Catch 'I Dream of Fela' at Leicester’s Peepul Centre on 12 June, Manchester’s Contact Theatre on 13 June and Edinburgh’s The Bongo Club on 14 June. Tickets cost £8 and are available to purchase from www.bassfestival.co.uk.
For more info on BASS Festival 2009, including further line-up info, visit www.bassfestival.co.uk.