Haja

The second day of the Africa Oyé festival was even hotter than the first and, I suspect, even better attended. Thousands of people flocked to Sefton Park to enjoy the sun and the sounds, and what sounds they were!

Today's Blip is of HAJAmadagascar from, er, Madagascar! This was the second time I'd seen him and his band The Groovy People and he was as mesmerising as I'd remembered him being - singing beautifully, playing a multitude of instruments (including this hollow guitar), and busting some serious moves into the bargain!

The Extra Photos are of some of my other favourite acts from today… the great Senegalese griot and master kora player, Diabel Cissokho (beard), who's played with many of the superstars of African music including Baaba Maal, Youssou N’Dour and Femi Kuti; Jupiter Bokondji (grin), of Okwess International - an incredible bunch of punks with attitude from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Nana Akumu (great hair) and Baniel Bambo (awesome headgear) - vocalists with another band from the DRC, the Odemba OK Allstars; and Anwar Ali (checked shirt) a Liverpool resident and oud maestro, who arrived here as a refugee from the Bajuni Islands off the coast of Somali and whom I first encountered when he very kindly played a World Mental Health Day gig for us 3 or 4 years ago.

A complete set of my Oyé pictures can be found at… https://flickr.com/photos/129535142@N04/sets/72157685126405396

Today's tune is by Jupiter Bokondji and Okwess International, ‘Margarita’ www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWEXnPe_HcA