BT River of Music Festival is a weekend of music from around the world on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July. This is the weekend before the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games and will act as a curtain-raiser for the sporting celebrations to follow, featuring artists representing all Olympic and Paralympic nations from the largest nations to the tiniest ocean island.
Established, award-winning and emerging artists will be performing on 6 stages along the length of the River Thames. The 6 stages, and the artists performing on them, are:
Asia Stage – Battersea Park
Asif Ali Khan; Gong Linna; Homayun Sakhi; Sanchita Farruque; Kronos Quartet; Alif Ensemble; Arun Ghosh; In Transit; Transglobal Underground; Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ; Youth Music Voices; Zakir Hussain
Asif Ali Khan
Europe Stage – Somerset House
Mariza; Penguin Cafe; Andy Sheppard; Beverley Knight; Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra; Saxophone Massive
Penguin Cafe. Photo: Steve Gullick.
Europe Stage – Trafalgar Square
Amira; Ben l’Oncle Soul; Big Gay Sing; The Brazz Brothers & Sisters; Youth Music Voices; Arthur Jeffes aka Sundog; Budapest Bar; Kathryn Tickell – JigHop; Ludovico Einaudi; Matthew Herbert’s Russian Big Band
Budapest Bar
Americas Stage – Tower of London
Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis; Naturally 7; Roberto Fonseca; Scissor Sisters, Soul Carribean; Aurelio Martinez; Carlinhos Brown; Ondatrópica
Aurelio Martinez. Photo: Sarah Wheeden.
Oceania Stage – Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
9Bach; Frank Yamma; Mamiaith – Mother Tongue; Wantok Musik Sing Sing; Coastal Voices; Green Fire Islands; The Barons of Tang; The Black Arm Band Company
Frank Yamma
Africa Stage – London Pleasure Gardens, Docklands
Angelique Kidjo; Baaba Maal; Justin Adams; King Sunny Ade; LGS // LDN; Seckou Keita; The Invisible; The Invisible Republic of JuJu; Wizboyy; Hugh Masekela; Muntu Valdo; Staff Benda Bilili + Zao; The Noisettes
Staff Benda Bilili
Tickets are being released weekly and are selling out fast, so visit www.btriverofmusic.com for more information. The website also gives full details of the performers and the day on which they are performing, travel information and more.
To all of us here at Propermusic.com, this looks like a fantastic event for anyone who enjoys music from all the corners of the globe. If you haven’t experienced world music then this is the perfect opportunity!
