If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get yourself to Hoxton Square tomorrow night to see Africa Express collaborator and general legend-in-the-making Spoek Mathambo do things like you’ll see in the above video…you can get tickets by clicking here – be quick, this’ll sell out…

Our headline show at The Great Escape Festival was a tremendous success, and we have some fantastic reviews to share with you (as well as the great footage above).

The show, which lasted over two hours, starred a whole host of fantastic musicians, including Kano; South African MOBO-nominated DJ and producer Spoek Mathambo, Noisettes vocalist Shingai Shoniwa, Mim Suleiman, Senegalese artist Diabel Cissokho, Reverend and the Makers’ frontman Jon McClure, Gorillaz keyboardist Jesse Hackett, Ghanaian hip hop pioneer M3NSA, British singer/songwriter Terri Walker and master West African percussionist Musa Mboob.

Virtual Festivals gave us a rating of 9 out of 10, writing that “if you want to get the party started then this is the band to do it”; FM First Monday described our show as one of the festival’s “most unforgettable evenings...a vibrant, colourful and powerful performance“; while the Digital Fix thought it “a vibrant, infectious performance”.  (Looking at the video above, it’s not hard to see why.)

This Saturday, as you’ll know by now, our Africa Express Sound System is headlining the Great Escape Festival in Brighton; please click here for tickets, if you’ve not got yours already.

This autumn, as part of the London 2012 Festival, Africa Express will travel around the UK with a group of over 100 musicians. If we are coming to a town near you, please let us know if you want us to visit your school, store, factory, office, or anywhere else. We’ll act on the best suggestions, which you can send to info@africaexpress.co.uk.

The Guardian will be our official media partner during our journey, and their music editor, Caspar Llewellyn Smith, recently spoke with Damon Albarn and Baaba Maal about the Africa Express train tour.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/10/all-aboard-africa-express?newsfeed=true

ALL ABOARD THE AFRICA EXPRESS

‘It’s always felt like a journey on an African train,” says Baaba Maal of his involvement with the organisation known as Africa Express. “You set off withou

It’s only a few days till Noisettes’ lead singer, Shingai Shoniwa, takes the stage for the Africa Express Soundsystem at Great Escape Festival; and, to accompany that exciting countdown, here’s “Never Forget You”, which showcases Shoniwa’s rousing vocals at their best. If you’d like to see her in action on May 12th, you can book tickets by clicking here.

M3NSA’s tune with Wanlov, “Adjorkor”, really whets the appetite for his appearance at the Great Escape Festival; catching, haunting electro rhythms, the most fluid of flows, and an offbeat style that recalls Jeru the Damaja. It’s terrific stuff; come and see him as part of the Africa Express Soundsystem on May 12 by clicking here: escapegreat.com/news/get-ready-for-africa-express-sound-system

Diabel Cissokho, performing here with Ramon Goose in Senegal, is coming to the Great Escape Festival on May 12 off the back of the launch of his fantastic new album, “Kanabory Siyama”. To see him in action on May 12, click here.

Spoek Mathambo has been named by the Guardian as one of the top ten must-see acts at the Great Escape Festival. Above are 50 minutes of reasons why – a full album stream of his superb “Father Creeper” album, which we think you might just love. Come and see him play as part of the Africa Express Soundsystem on May 12:

http://escapegreat.com/news/get-ready-for-africa-express-sound-system

Terri Walker gives a sublime rendition of “So Hard”, the first single from her fourth studio album “Walk With Me”. She’ll be gracing the stage on May 12 with the Africa Express Sound System at the Great Escape Festival – tickets are available here.

Featuring truly mindblowing African and Western artists such as Spoek Mathambo, Noisettes, Mim Suleiman, Jesse Hackett (Gorillaz/ Owiny Sigoma), Diabel Cissokho, Jon McClure (Reverend and the Makers), Ghanaian hip hop pioneer M3NSA, Thristian Bpm (Boiler Room) and British singer/songwriter Terri Walker (plus, if you can believe it, many more – some of which we’re not allowed to tell you about yet).
JOIN US for a rare chance to experience ‘Afritronica’:

http://escapegreat.com/news/get-ready-for-africa-express-sound-system

And stay tuned for updates at www.africaexpress.co.uk, http://twitter.com/africaexpress and https://www.facebook.com/AfricaExpress

Mim Suleiman’s music is an irresistibly funky reason to hit the dancefloor; if you’re asking for evidence, just listen to Nyuli. You can see her in action for the Africa Express Soundsystem at the Great Escape Festival on May 12, join us for an amazing evening.