Dave Paskell ventures over to Leeds on a freezing cold night and takes refuge in the bar of the Leeds Irish Centre with a couple of pints of guiness whilst he waits for the doors to open for the Imagined Village and a night of traditional English folk, political song and a Slade cover version. Here's how it all went...
The very first AfroTurf was a successful night of drum skin bending, tequila slamming and tail feather shaking courtesy of DJ Jen Wah Zee who has a foot in the London scene and her heart set on entertaining Sheffield's city centre party crowds. The Bungalow's and Bears crowd were entertained by two live acts, Sheffield based Mim Suleiman and London based band, The Worm plus DJ Jen Wah Zee who kept the crowds dancing to her blend of Afrobeat.
Adrian Phillips reaches for the cod liver oil as he recuperates from a Staff Benda Bilili gig. "I’ve been to some amazing gigs and, hopefully, I will go to more, but for raw, pulsating energy and sheer joy of the music I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything quite like Staff Benda Bilili at the O2 in Oxford on Friday night.
Dave Paskell juggles the work life balance and gets to the Boardwalk just in time to find the best spot to watch Martha Tiltson and the Woods, there’s a fair size crowd of mixed ages. Nearly everyone is seated for tonight’s performance, around tables in an intimate atmosphere, close to the stage where four chairs await tonight’s headline act.
Sue Miller joined the audience at the London's Barbican for Eliades Ochoa in Concert. Support came from the London Lucumi choir led by its creator Daniela Rosselson and Cuban singer and dancer Martha Galarraga with a bata drum ensemble led by Dave Pattman.
Robin Bream relays his delight at a truly memorable concert where he witnessed perhaps one of the longest encores, as the York audience for Daby Toure were reluctant to go home.
“This is an amazing space isn’t it ?”, said
Lawrence Heath gets out of his seat to the sound of Warsaw Village Band who made their intentions clear as soon as they hit the stage .....this was going to be EXHILERATING!
Live Review from Sue Miller.




