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Fête de la Musique celebrations in London on 21 June, at the Exhibition Road Music Day 2008.
10am – Midnight, 21 June 2008
Exhibition Road, London
Free event featuring 400 artists over 20 stages
Part of Explore Sites and Sounds – A midsummer
festival of Architecture and Music
Why travel round the world to hear the best music? Let the very best of the world’s music come to you. On Saturday 21 June experience the annual Exhibition Road Music Day, a unique free festival of live music from around the globe.
Exhibition Road, London’s premier cultural quarter, will be alive with sound and closed to traffic to stage over 150 free live musical performances between 10am and midnight. Highlights include the legendary Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, German electro punk act M.I.A, a magic mix of funk, jazz, hip-hop and gospel music by France’s Bibi Tanga et le Professeur Inlassable, the magnificent and diverse sounds of Majestic Brass, African drumming from 2007’s favourite Nzinga Dance, a clash of classical and fusion music between the Ismali Community Ensemble and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and a special performance by the UK’s hottest indie rock band in the shadow of the Natural History Museum’s biggest dinosaur – British Sea Power.
Throughout the day a huge range of workshops suitable for all ages will accompany the performances, including Bollywood, Samba and Ceilidh dance workshops and Indian and Chinese percussion sessions, as Exhibition Road celebrates the diversity of international culture in the area.
“We have an astounding line-up this year in Exhibition Road which just demonstrates the breadth, creativity and internationalism of our many institutions. We are looking forward to welcoming thousands of people to Music Day. It really will be a thrilling event with music to suit all tastes.” David Anderson, Co-chair, Exhibition Road Cultural Group/ Director of Learning & Interpretation at the V&A and Rita Gardner, Director of Royal Geographical Society.
The Exhibition Road Music Day is the capital’s contribution to ‘Fête de la Musique’, a renowned worldwide celebration of music on the longest day of the year. The day is organised by the leading cultural and educational establishments in the UK working in partnership as Exhibition Road Cultural Group , including : Goethe-Institut, Institut français, Imperial College London, Ismaili Centre, Natural History Museum, Serpentine Gallery, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, The Royal Parks, Royal College of Music, Victoria and Albert Museum and Westminster City Council.
The day will highlight the potential of the radical ‘shared space’ traffic calming scheme for the street envisioned by Dixon Jones Architects and the local authorities to create a more pedestrian friendly thoroughfare, supported by the Exhibition Road Cultural Group.
