Africa Utopia
African cultures and diasporas · Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London
The festival
Launched in 2012 at the Southbank Centre, with Senegalese singer Baaba Maal as a tutor and artistic collaborator, Africa Utopia explores what contemporary Africa and its diasporas bring to the arts and ideas of the world. Music, debates, cinema, fashion, gastronomy and market: the festival hosted Tony Allen, Mulatu Astatke, Angélique Kidjo, the Chinese orchestra! or the Kinshasa Kingangongist Symphony Orchestra.
Its seventh and last documented edition, co-programmed with Indaba X, included Femi Kuti, Eve and Talib Kweli in September 2019. Since then, the house — Meltdown's — has not announced a new edition: the festival is on a break, with no date of return published.
Good to know
Organizer: Southbank Centre (festival launched in 2012, co-founded with Baaba Maal; 2019 edition co-programmed with Indaba X).Official contacts published: [email protected] (Southbank Centre).