Coin Street Festival 2004

Coin Street Festival, a free festival held on London's South Bank, kicked off this year's Refugee Week.

This was the fifth year of the festival but my first time, and what a great day out it was. I'll definitely be going again.

As well as great music and dance there was the usual food, arts and craft and other stalls to mooch around between acts.

The line up for the day included acts like Stella Chiweshe from Zimbabwe, London African Gospel Choir, a great Turkish / UK band called Oojami, Manteca - a Colombian band and many others.

There were also dance groups from places including Columbia, Angola, Rwanda, Albania, Sri Lanka and China; and story telling, poetry and host of other workshops.

As well as all the wonderful music and dance there were a few characters around the festival (and oft seen at other music events on the south bank), that provided the crowd with lots more entertainment. Like the two guys dressed up as Elvis and the guy in the Zebra hat who had all the moves.

The sun was shining and the performances kicking. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time and the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly.

There was a good opportunity to sample food from around the world and even more importantly, find out about other cultures, and the historical reasons why people have sought refuge in the UK from their countries of origin.

I was truly sad when the day finally came to an end. So, roll on next year's festival...

Click on a pic for more of the festival

Coin Street Festival Snippets

Oojami

Stella Chiweshe