Damon Albarn and his group Africa Express are one of the highlights of Waltham Forest's year as London's Borough of Culture in 2019.
The Blur and Gorillaz star — who grew up in Leytonstone — will perform an extravaganza called Togetherness with his band from 25-29 March next year, as part of London's first ever Borough of Culture celebrations. Musicians from across Africa, Europe, Britain and Waltham Forest will be involved, culminating in a five-hour headline show, taking place on the day that the UK leaves the EU.
The Borough of Culture celebrations kick off on 11 January, with a three-day celebration of art, music and local culture, entitled Welcome to the Forest. It features a collaboration between Mercury Award-winning musician Talvin Singh, digital artists Greenaway and Greenaway, and students of Leyton Sixth Form College.
Other events taking place in the borough throughout 2019 include:
- Matthew Bourne's New Adventures: in which the stage director takes up residency at Roger Ascham Primary School, culminating in a performance by pupils at Walthamstow Assembly Hall (January-March)
- Waltham Forest Jazz Festival, featuring Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth (16 February)
- A Chingford Forest May Day Fayre, in which a procession of bicycles will parade through the borough to Chingford Plain — celebrating Walthamstow-born John Kemp Starley, inventor of the modern day cycle (6 May)
- Duckie Loves Fanny, a late-night al fresco feast from Duckie, celebrating Leytonstone native Fanny Craddock (Summer)
- Molecules on the Marshes, a large-scale outdoor illumination by Zarah Hussain, in which 50,000 'water molecules' made from recycled plastic and LED lights will be suspended in the borough's marshes, gently changing colour (October-November)
- Bauhaus Centenary, a year-long celebration at the William Morris Gallery, about how the Victorian designer influenced the Bauhaus movement.
In a year when the UK becomes no longer eligible to compete for European Capital of Culture, it's heartening to know we at least have a Borough of Culture.
Plenty more is happening. More information can be found on the Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture website.
