Africa Village

Lots of different countries have set up cultural houses around London, where fans can watch their athletes perform and curious visitors like me can find out about the country.

The organisors of Africa Village have gone one better and organised a cultural spot for the entire continent. Not every country is represented but a good number are including quite a few who are only represented in my world tour through the British Museum. I had a chat with a couple of ladies from the Nigerian stall and the Conogolese stall about music from their countries.

And Shazam finally came to my aid and identified 3 of the songs playing in the Africa Village - two by the Gabonese singer Oliver Ngoma and a song by Sengalese artist Ismael Lo.

 And how can you listen to a song like this and not end up with a big smile on your face? (well it has that effect on me anyway)

 Togolese cloth print

 Congolese cloth prints

 Art by Moroccan artist Houria Niati

 Gabonese crest

 As the Spirits Roam by Nigerian artist Cinwe Chukwuogo-Roy 2005

 Landscape Redux 1 When Sunshine gets blue by Nigerian artist Damilola Oshilaja

 Nne-nne Aguna Asaa by Cinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, 2005

 Equatorial Guinean cloth prints

Art by Cameroonian artist Pouka (Mbeng Pouka)

Hey'ya Arab Women in Sport

Hooray for the Metro newspaper!  I was reading it on the Bakerloo line heading to Casa Brazil in Somerset House when I saw that they recommended this exhibition in Sothebys, nearest tube Oxford Circus. So out I jumped at the aforementioned stop and managed to visit a good portion of the Middle East in one go.

The exhibition comprises of a series of photos and interviews with sportswomen from Muslim countries.

Women in sport is quite a topical issue at the moment. This is the first ever modern Olympics where women have been allowed to compete from every country.

Lizzie Armstrong who won a cycling silver medal this week used her interview to highlight continuing discrimination against sportswomen in the UK.  So, as you might imagine, some of the women interviewed in this exhibition have had a hard time of it and several mentioned challenges they face. These ranged from criticism that sport makes you less of a woman (Sudan), a lack of facilities (Morocco), sport not being a subject taught to girls in schools (Saudi Arabia) and the risk of being murdered by Islamic extremists (Somalia).

It was inspiring to see so many young women talking about how much they loved their sport and some of whom were realising their dreams by representing their country in the 2012 Olympics.

Ceramic Gravestone

Created by Tunisian sculptor Khaled Ben Slimane.