Afrocats
Afrocats is a dance project that developed from the Refugee Festival 2003. The group comprises of young women from Rwandan, Burundian, Zimbabwean & Angolan communities, and other locally based young people.

Led by choreographer Magdalen Bartlett, their work is an eclectic mix of African/Caribbean dance styles, making them in constant high demand for performances.

They have delighted audiences at a variety of venues including Urban Mix at Zion Arts Centre, Refugee day at GMCDP, Refugee festivals, Exodus Launch and conference delegates at the Agenda 2010 at Manchester Town Hall, Unity Festival, Dancing In The Streets Festival, Garden of Delights, Now We Talkin' at Zion Arts Centre, Showreel at Contact Theatre, Summit at GMEX and St. Mary's Hospital for LIME.

Afrocats was a nominated finalist in Arts Council England, North West's prestigious Art06 awards for its production of Where is Home?, a theatre piece which explores the issues faced by young refugees in the UK. A regional theatre tour of this production is being planned.

Magdalen gives regular presentations to other organisations on best practices in working with refugees in the arts. Since creating Afrocats, Magdalen has seen it grow from its initial three members to acquiring over fifty, who have gained much publicity and recognition for their work. The group has become an inspiration to other community groups in using multicultural dance and drama to develop young people's personal and social skills.

Afrocats' ethos is to create unity within diversity through integration, raising awareness using cultural arts and performance.

Contact: Magdalen 07834 083437 afrocats@hotmail.co.uk www.afrocats.co.uk

Haween Dance Group
Haween Dance Group are a women's traditional Somali dance group, based at the Somaliland Community Centre in Moss Side. They have perfomed at a number of festivals and events. The group involves both Somali women and children.

Contact: Nasria 0161 636 7541

The Saharan Group
The Saharan Group are young women from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda who perform vibrant African dances accompanied by Zulu music.

Contact: Kelly 07810 280263 kellyjoe0000@yahoo.co.uk

Asian Music Talent
The Asian Music Talent Band is comprised of a group of 5 core members who work with community to root out new Asian Talent in the community. The project is called the Asian Talent Search and is supported by Voluntary Action Manchester (VAM).

The group has developed skills in community leadership, session music, workshops, singing events, gigs, networking, marketing and guidance and support. It is a great multicultural and multinational group (Lahore, Delhi) that has come together to promote racial harmony via music. They are working with western music groups such as Knob Jockeys to create a West meets East flavour without losing styles.

Great percussion Dara Singh in the group consists of Dhol, Dholki and Tabla. Singers include a trained, classical style Indian folk singer and Kashif from Lahore who has versatile singing skills. Ateeq, also from Lahore provides drumming and keyboard skills and Mr Prince who provides the bass.

Contact: Kashif 07900 190512 / 07988 333607 kashifali5@hotmail.com

Britannia Rumba
Britannia Rumba are an exciting, talented dance and music band, consisting of 12 Congolese musicians aged 19-30 years. Many have played with the best of the Congolese bands in their home country. Their music is a fresh and unique British version of Congolese Rumba.

Click here to contact via email
www.britannia-rumba.com

Beating Wing Orchestra
The Beating Wing Orchestra is a group of 12 outstanding 'world' musicians from hugely diverse global geographies, with a line up including:

Indian tabla; Iranian tar; vocalists from Congo and Kurdistan; a Chinese Opera singer; a clarinet player from Guyana, an Angolan guitarist, a jazz pianist from Cameroon, percussionists from Brazil and Congo; and finally a Welsh double-bass player.

Beating Wing were set up by Community Arts North West. They had their debut performance in July 2007 to huge acclaim and 5 star reviews with a new piece commissioned by the Manchester International Festival and composed by Palestinian musician Reem Kelani.

For more details about the project see the CAN Beating Wing Orchestra page or contact CAN on 0161 234 2975.

DJ Hot Pepper
DJ Hot Pepper is an Angolan DJ who plays African and tropical sounds. He has his own show on ALL FM 96.9 FM every Monday 7-8pm.

Contact:djhotpepper@hotmail.co.uk 0161 224 0601 / 07761 854479
www.djhotpepper.co.uk

Emmanuella Machozi Yogolelo
A gospel singer originally from Democratic Republic of Congo. Emmanuella has performed at Exodus Live and is a member of the Beating Wing Orchestra who performed at the Manchester International Festival 2007.

Contact: 07824 421149

Hassan Darzi
An accomplished Iranian violinist and singer now living in Salford.

Contact: hasan@hasandazari.com
www.hasandarzi.com

Heritage Survival
The Heritage Survival group is a talented group of young musicians from Zimbabwe, based in Manchester, who play a fusion of African Mbira and Afro-jazz. Formed in 2002, the band has recently recorded their first album with eight fantastic tracks.

The Heritage Survival has played in a number of prestigious venues around the UK: Ocean in London and The Manchester Academy; supporting the famous Lagbwaja band from Nigeria. In 2004, they also performed at Leicester and Leeds Universities, The Manchester Refugee Festival, The African Festival at The Zion Centre, the Manchester 'In The City' programme at Brannigan's nightclub and The Luton Festival 2004. They played at the WOMAD world music festival in 2005- to listen to the gig, see photos and to read an interview click here

The band consists of eight members playing Mbira (thumb piano) Marimba, African drums, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard and a drum kit.

Some of the musicians have worked with professional musicians like Wadada Leo Smith from America, Dr.Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi just to mention a few.

They are trained in facilitating and leading percussion, song and dance workshops, in schools, colleges and at festivals, for beginners to professional players wishing to learn techniques and traditional dance from Zimbabwe.

Contact: Norman Muza 07512 793446
www.myspace.com/heritagesurvivalband
www.heritageband.co.uk

Hohodza Band
Originally from Zimbabwe and now based in Manchester, Hohodza Band are a well polished group of 8 male players and dancers and 5 fabulously energetic dancing queens in a class of their own.

Contact: Portia Gwanzura, 01942 604518 / 07739 131585.
hohodzaband@yahoo.com

Izinyane Lesilo
Izinyane Lesilo are a traditional a capella Zimbabwean choir set up in 2003 who aim to keep their Ndebele culture alive through song, poetry, music and theatre.

Contact Silvester Sibanda on 07932 856535
silvestersibanda@hotmail.co.uk

Jah Rock
Jah Rock is a solo singer songwriter from Liberia performing his own unique version of pop reggae. In 2005, he performed at East Feast Festival & Exodus Live.

Contact: 07852 201581.

Jean Blanchard Azip

DJ, singer, songwriter, dancer, workshop leader

Born in the DR Congo, Jean is a refugee artist based in Manchester. He moved to the UK as a lone child seeking asylum after losing his family during the war in his native Congo.

Since his arrival in the UK 10 years ago, Jean has rebuilt his life, re-educated himself and is now a successful artist. Helping others overcome difficulties and problems in their lives is Jean's passion as well as engaging in community arts, sharing his life story and experiences, artistic abilities and skills during workshops with the community. This, says Jean, is a way of giving back to the community for giving him a chance to rebuild his life.

These workshops are suitable for all age groups, schools, colleges, universities, young offenders' institutions, prisons and community centres and cover the following disciplines and topics.

Music, poetry & visual arts
In these workshops, Jean tells his story and experiences to the participants and based on this, the participants then choose to write songs, poems or can draw images reflecting all the emotions in Jean's story. These workshops are popular among students and school pupils especially those doing performing arts studies.

African dance and drumming
In these workshops participants learn African dance and drumming. This is designed to enable participants to create a piece of dance and drumming performance to be performed at the end of the session.

Refugee & asylum awareness
This workshop is designed to educate participants about refugee and asylum issues. Having escaped to safety from his war-torn country aged 15, and living in the UK, Jean strongly believes that it is important for him to talk of his asylum and refugee experiences to community members many of whom have not heard of these directly from a person with a refugee and asylum background.
In this workshop, Jean gives details of his experiences during the war, how he lost his family, the pains and torture he endured, his escape, and his early days in the UK having no family and friends, the culture shock and how he managed to turn his situation from bad to better using his mind and imagination techniques.
This is an inspiring and motivating session where participants can ask questions and engage in discussion regarding these issues. As well as the above, Jean educates the participants about the history, culture, way of life and geography of his native Congo.

Entertainment
Apart from the above workshops, Jean has a 10 piece African music and dance band. The band is called Britannia Rumba. As a band, they have built a strong reputation as one of the most exciting music and dance groups. They have performed at the G-Mex, Bolton Octagon Theatre, Contact Theatre, greenroom and many more venues and festivals in the North West. The band also performs at private functions such as birthdays, weddings,and anniversaries electrifying the crowd with their infectious Congolese Soukouss dance music.

Contact: 07944 503444 contact@deplaizir.com
www.deplaizir.com www.myspace.com/deplaizir www.youtube.com/deplaizir

Lost Melody

Lost Melody is a group of experienced Kurdish musicians living in England who perform traditional Kurdish cultural and folk music.

Band members include: Sarwat Koyi (violin), Koresh (santour), Talib Rasul (saz & vocal), Jiyan (vocal), Blnd (lute), Hevi Shamzini (vocal), Farhad Husayni (zarb), Hiwa Sharazuryi (daf & vocal) and Sarmad (keyboard).

Contact: 07734 157744 lostmelody@hotmail.co.uk
www.myspace.com/lostmelodykurdish

Mackela

Known as Pat Mackman from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He plays both the drum kit and hand drums as well as percussion. Because of his drumming skill he was chosen as the main drummer in the Beating Wing Orchestra to perform at the Manchester International festival with Reem Kelani.

To keep the beat and tempo for good and professional music, Pat also works with Serge Tebu, Martin Milner, Esther Clarke and Zack in the newly created Manchester Afro Jazz band, Kokorico.

Pat is among those who believe that music brings peace of mind- no one can break it because music indeed is a power, because if you don't catch the rhythm you are going to like the message and both make a powerful connection.

Nouvelle Alliance
Nouvelle Alliance is a live band created in 2005. Composed of Congolese and African musicians, Nouvelle Alliance shares Congolese culture through music and dance.

As well as live concerts, Nouvelle Alliance leads workshops on Congolese music and dance in Schools and Colleges. In January 2006, Nouvelle Alliance released Toyembela Yawhe, their first 10-track album with a video to promote their work. As a band, Nouvelle Alliance has built a strong reputation as one of the most exciting live music and dance groups in UK. Firm festival favourites, they electrify the crowd with their music and dance wherever they appear.

Contact: 07961 062291 / 07728 551515 nouvelleallianceuk@yahoo.fr

U-Jeff
A Nigerian Gospel and R&B singer whose debut album Another State sold over 45,000 copies in Nigeria. U-Jeff has performed at Exodus Live and the Exodus Festival.

Contact: 07908 273196 blissint@yahoo.ie

Serafim Bernardo
Serafim is an Angolan singer-songwriter who performs a unique fusion of African and Latin sounds.

Contact: 07961 589905 seffinbenn69@yahoo.co.uk

Silo
Silo is a talented Zimbabwean dub poet and singer based in Manchester, established in 2003 for teaching, promoting and reviving mthwakazi culture. The Imbongi (poet) doesn't just perform normal poetry, he stands as the mouthpiece of the people. Even way back during the Kingdom of Nguni, the Imbongi was the only person with permission to speak out against the King and get away with it.

Silo has a debut album called Kutheni (Why) where his powerful and distinct voice cries for freedom of which the people of Zimbabwe have been deprived.

Contact: Silvester 07932 856535/ 0161 6299 544 www.isilo.co.uk

Tloh
Tloh means Sunrise. Tloh are 2 young musicians from Afghanistan who perform contemporary and traditional songs. They have recorded a 2 track demo at Community Arts North West's studio, and performed at many Exodus events since 2005.

Contact: 07986 285873shosh-n@hotmail.com

Ya Freddy
Ya Freddy is a Congolese pop singer-songwriter. Ya Freddy has written and recorded a tribute song to Marc Vivien Foe the Manchester City player who tragically died in 2003.

He has performed the song 'Foe, We All Miss You' to 48,000 fans at Manchester City Stadium and in Albert Square. The CD single including DVD is on sale and available from Reebok City, Manchester City's Superstore, online at www.rfrecords.com, and is priced at £4.99 with £1 of the money raised from each CD single sold going towards the Marc Vivien Foe Foundation which has been set up in Foe's memory to help young people access all areas of sport.

Contact: 07950 455388.

Kelly Ndikumana
My name is Kelly Ndikumana I was born in Burundi, Central Africa where because of the war I had to move to South Africa for a while and then to Manchester. I attended high school at Manchester Academy where I achieved all my GCSEs and started college at Loreto where am doing a National Diploma in Health and Social Care and am currently at Salford University studying for a degree in Mental Health Nursing.

I am a member of Afrocats that specialises in African dance and drama and I have performed in various places like at the G-Mex for the Deputy Prime Minister, seminars, refugee festivals and ceremonies. I have been part of the play called 'Where is Home?' which we performed at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, greenroom, Contact Theatre, the Zion Centre and even received an award at Art 06. I have also been part of another play called 'A Letter from Home' which was sponsored by Manchester University.

I completed the Exodus training with Community Arts North West which lasted for six months, where we had to learn and develop our skills on facilitating workshops like dance and drama workshops, where after the training I got involved with the Royal Exchange Theatre with the help of Jean Blanchard Azip and Janine Waters for more drama workshops. I have also done African dance workshops in Cumbria with young children, London on a youth festival and in Bolton doing workshops in schools.

My passion is in acting and African dancing, doing workshops in both styles. I am willing to learn more and explore all areas so that I can develop on my skills to become a better artist. My thanks go out to Cilla from CAN, Magdalen from Afrocats, Jean from Britannia Rumba and Janine Waters from the Royal Exchange Theatre. All these people have helped me a lot in developing my skills so far.

I have just finished playing a part in The Graduate at the Garrick Playhouse in Altrincham.

Kurdish Creative Film Centre
KCFC (formerly World Theatre Company, WTC) was founded in 2003 by Alan Amin as a response to the lack of cultural diversity and cultural representation in theatre companies in the UK. Alan Amin's impressive CV includes a number of projects as the Artistic Director of the 'Citizens Theatre Company' in Iraq.

In 2006, the Kurdish Creative Film Centre was founded in Manchester. KCFC is committed to the development of skills involved in theatre and film and to offer those skills to culturally diverse communities. KCFC focuses on preserving the cultural identity of diverse communities through the process of the work and providing the environment for the necessary skills to grow.

KCFC works with refugees, asylum seekers, ethnic minorities, youth groups and members of the host community who want to share our differences and similarities.

KCFC objectives are to offer a diverse range of people in Greater Manchester and the North West the opportunity to work in a multi-cultural context to develop new theatre and film making. Give a voice and offer a sense of social inclusion to under-represented people through various aspects of film, dance, drama, music and new media.

Contact: Alan Amin 0161 234 2791 / 07916 288095 kcfcfilm@yahoo.co.uk
www.kurdishcreativefilm.org.uk

Choman Hardi
The Kurdish poet Choman Hardi was the chair of 'Exiled Writers' Ink', an organisation consisting of established refugee writers. She has published three collections of poetry in Kurdish and her first collection in English, 'Life for Us', was published by Bloodaxe in 2004. Choman is based in London and performed in Manchester for the Exodus launch in 2005.

www.exiledwriters.co.uk/writers.shtml#Hardi

Amang Kamil
A Kurdish visual artist who came to the UK in 2002 has shown work in several exhibitions both within Kurdistan and abroad including Canada and Nottingham. Amang is based in Stockport.

Contact: 07759 263611

Kabos Kembia Louison

My name is Kabos Kembia Louison. I am from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

I was born in Mbuji-Mayi in the Congo on November 26, 1970. I am married and have two lovely daughters, Alexia who's 4 and Gabriella who's 2. My wife's name is Rose, she and my daughters recently joined me in the UK after almost two years of separation.

I have a degree in Economics and have worked as a teacher in a children's school in the Congo while I was a student. After my graduation I worked for the World Health Organisation in their Polio Programme, and took part in National Immunization Days vaccinating children from 0 to 5 years old.

I arrived in the UK in January 2005 as an asylum seeker. At present, I am taking part in the Exodus Training Programme for refugee artists to help me develop my artistic skill and get involved in community art work.

My principal art skills are graphic design, photography, film making and video editing. I have also developed other skills including painting, web designing, some break dancing etc. and I am also a very good football player.

Saranda Bogujevci

My name is Saranda Bogujevci; I am from Kosova but have lived in Manchester for seven years. I came to England when I was 14 years old, with my father, uncle and four younger cousins. I was medically evacuated from Kosova after receiving multiple gun shot wounds and losing eight members of my close family.

Because I had to spend a lot of time at the hospital, I could not attend school but at the hospital they had a centre where children could go and learn. After four months I started secondary school in Manchester, but because I couldn't speak English, I couldn't do my GCSEs, so I had to stay a year behind. The school I attended was a Roman Catholic high school and I am a Muslim but other refugees from Kosova were already attending the school. I had special support teachers to help me with English language and I attended other classes, maths, science and art. I had support teachers for my other classes as well. The students were very helpful and before I started school, two teachers came to visit me at home and gave me everything I needed before starting school.

After I did my GCSEs I started my 'A' levels at a Catholic college in Manchester. The college was more mixed than the school.

Now I am 21, I did Fine Art: New Media and Spanish for a year at Chester. Now I am studying Interactive Arts at Manchester. I did fine art at school, sculpture, print making, clay, painting, drawing and so on.

At college I carried on doing Fine art, I also did Media Studies and Graphic Design and Spanish GCSE. I got very interested in Digital art; I have done a few videos, a music video, an opening sequence of a thriller which was shown at the Cornerhouse and other sorts of video.

After losing my family and getting injured, for my family and I it was very important to get justice, and in 2003 my cousins and I went to Belgrade to testify against one of the men who did the shooting. We were the first children and Kosovar Albanians to testify in a war crimes trial and with the accused and his family being present in the room.

I have talked to many schools about what happened to my family and what happened in Kosova, since I started school here in England.

I am a member of Manchester Aid to Kosova and I've been involved in many different events and projects.

In Place of War has developed an online refugee arts directory. The directory begins a process of documenting interesting and innovatory arts practice involving refugee and asylum seekers in the UK. It is hoped that the directory will be useful to artists and academics who want to find out more about arts practice with a refugee theme or refugee and asylum seeker-led arts projects. The directory is a partial, initial, and incomplete view of a rich and diverse field of practice that has developed significantly over the last few years. It is constantly being updated and In Place of War welcomes any information from artists engaged in making work related to refugee or asylum issues and from artists who are refugees or asylum seekers.

To view the directory go to:
www.inplaceofwar.net/pages/database.html

For more information about the directory, or to send information please call 0161 275 3784 or email info@inplaceofwar.net