(Photo credit: RICHMIX)[/caption]
Algeria celebrates 50 years of independence this year. To mark this occasion, RICHMIX is hosting a full-day Algerian cultural festival on Saturday 20 October, from noon until 1 am the following morning.
Subjects the festival explores include the colonial period, the anti-colonial struggle, and Algeria’s future as an independent nation. The festival is a community-led, not-for-profit event organized by the Algerian Cultural Collective, which includes London-based Algerian students, artists, and professionals committed to exploring Algerian culture.
Explaining the rationale for the festival, the organizers state:
[blockquote]Fragmented and lacking cultural references, the Algerian community in the UK is largely absent in Britain’s showcase of international folklore. Albeit fast-growing and increasingly prosperous, the Algerian diaspora in the UK is still haunted by long-echoing media reports on the tragic civil war in the 1990s. The resulting static stereotyping remains unchallenged. Algerian cultural manifestations are rarely seen in the UK, and initiatives to connect and enable expression and exchange are few and far between.[/blockquote]
The festival aims to address this in a full-day immersive experience of Algerian culture, but the festival is only one part of broader ongoing efforts to enliven Algerian culture in London and in the UK generally. Much of the program is interactive and participatory, inviting audiences to share their opinions, raise questions, and take part in creative expression as well as to sample Algerian food.
Music and dance will take place throughout the day and will culminate in the evening with an Algerian dance troupe performing traditional dances from different areas of Algeria from 8:45–9:15 p.m. This will be followed by an extensive musical programme that is still being developed, but is likely to include Al-Andalus Caravan, Sid Ahmed El Bahi, Cheb Nacim, and others, and will feature both traditional and contemporary Algerian music.
Films to be featured during the day include “Africa Rocks the Qasbah,” a short, 30-minute film exploring anti-colonial radicalism in Algeria in 1969. This screening will be followed by a discussion entitled, “Algeria’s Revolution: A Pan-African Perspective” and will include discussion of Franz Fanon’s anti-colonial writings and ideas.
Other discussions to be held during the day include discussion of the experiences of undocumented Algerian workers in Britain and a short film about them. Other short films to be screened address the place of women in Algerian society and their struggles for justice and equality, as well as exploration of contemporary Algeria and social challenges facing the country and its disadvantaged populations.
At the heart of the day’s program, between 2:30 and 4 in the afternoon, is a discussion featuring a number of panelists exploring Algerian history, politics, the transition to independence, Algeria’s future, and independent Algeria’s “stifled cultural, social, and political realms.”
The festival will include music workshops during the day for children, as well as art exhibitions featuring oil paintings, mixed media, ceramics, and photography. There will also be an exhibition on Algerian female dress. A full program is available here including biographies of presenters and performers and providing a description of the program and its organizers.
