A fantastic line-up of London artists with close ties with the Saharawi and their self-determination struggle get together to collaborate for a magical night of music and poetry to raise awareness about the victims of the Saharawi Flood Crisis 2015.

For two continuous weeks in October 2015, the Saharawi refugee camps (SW Algeria) suffered the worst torrential rains in ther 40 years of history. The rains and consequent floods devastated more than 50% of the camps, leaving more than 25,000 people homeless. Following an international appeal of the Saharawi Red Crescent, Sandblast started an international fundraising campaign that is now culminating with the celebration of this Benefit Concert.

The line-up of some of London’s leading talents performing on the evening include Pia de Keyser, singer-songwriter and actress, who recorded her songs in February 2015 in the Saharawi refugee camps; Ramon Goose, one of the most versatile blues artists of his generation, with his World Scatterlings band; Renny Jackson and his band, whose 2007 trip to the camps inspired the beautiful “Free Western Sahara” song; poet Sam Berkson, in collaboration with Algerian darbuka player Karim Dellali, will recite poems from Settled Wanderers: The Poetry of Western Sahara – the first ever English translation of Saharawi poetry; and Grupo Lokito, the best of Cuban-Congolese fusion, led by pianist and sound engineer Sara McGuinness. DJ Jamie Renton will be interlacing the evening with his irresistible global tunes.

Kindly funded by Arts Council England, this concert also benefits from the generous support of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in London.

Make sure you’re at Bolivar Hall in London next February 6 and shake off that winter cold for a good cause!

Tickets are £12 adv / £15 door. Doors open at 6.30pm & performances start at 7pm.