Kakatsitsi @ Synergy

[Dr Bunsen]

As summer approaches, and our thoughts turn to the fields, Synergy returns with one last indoor festival before we head off to the outdoors.

Friday 29th April sees the welcome return to Synergy of Kakatsitsi, an amazing group of drummers, dancers and singers from Ghana, West Africa, who will be launching their 2005 UK tour.

(insert picture here).

Kakatsitsi are one of West Africa's leading drumming groups, having previously toured the UK 6 times, performing at Glastonbury, WOMAD and the Sidmouth International Festival, as well as working with a wide variety of local authority partners on educational projects. Offering positive and inspiring images of African people, in contrast to those of poverty and suffering broadcast by the Western media, Kakatsitsi's educational work focuses on raising racial and cultural awareness and the emphasises the importance of participation in the local cultural activities to preserve a sense of local community, as an alternative to the growing alienation of our society of mass cultural production and consumption.

In partnership with their parent company, Indigenous People and Survival International, they will be hosting a room exploring the historic relationship between traditional African and contemporary Western dance culture.

The room will open with DJ Money Pilot of Whirl-y-Gig, opening the night with some mellow, global dance grooves. At 12.15, resident Synergy shamanic poet John Crow will conduct a brief Ancestral Invocation, calling on the spirits of Ancient Southwark to attend. After a short procession through the venue, Kakatsitsi will begin their set at 12.30, with their own call to the Ancestors, in the form of a traditional Libation Ceremony, in which the group leader, Nii Kwartei Owoo, will summon his forefathers to bless and sanctify the gathering. Thereafter, the group will play non stop until 2am, with their unique blend of Djmebe riffs layered onto accessible rhythms from a variety of West African traditions as well as call and response interplays between the Djembes and other less well known drums such as Osrama, Atumpani, Sogo, Kiri and Gome. Bamboo flutes provide the melodies, complemented by traditional chants, arranged in 6 part harmony. Kakatsitsi's performance will be accompan
ied by a video installation of 'Images of Jamestown' documenting the social context of their music in their home fishing community of Jamestown, Accra and a 6 screen slide show of images of tribal peoples, courtesy of Survival.

At 2am, the psy-trance begins with Tron (Liquid Records), Dark Angel (Project Ozma) and Ross (Liquid Connective). Décor, using cloth from Mali and Ghana, will also feature masks and statues from Ghana, completing the tribal ambience.

In the other rooms will be the Peace Not War Collective, IDSpiral & Hafla, The Interdimensional Circus and Bingly Bongly, full line-ups for which can be found at http://www.thesynergyproject.org, plus the customary Synergy fringe of campaign stalls, wholefood cafes, healers, jugglers and the warmest, friendliest community vibes in the capital.

For more information on Kakatsitsi, please visit http://www.indignouspeople.org.uk or contact them at steve@indigenouspeople.f9.co.uk.

see you then...