THOUSANDS ENJOY RUGBY TWICKENHAM FEATURING AFRICAN DRUMS TOO...

Queues everywhere; as far as the I eye can see. Wheew the pulse  pulsates here.

Folks of all ages and colour and gender...Folks in queues.

Queues from and to the trains, queues get in and  out; queues to toilets and bars; queues for food and drinks and eating chips and  sweets and fried meat and walk into the Twickenham Stadium whose capacity is 82, 000.

Wheew...

Lots and lots and loads of people; dressed and decked up in monkey and gorilla costumes and well some, bring Teletubies to mind; it is all part of the fun- Rugby fun.

Then there is the music.

Well, beside the muscular players on the field that is- both entertainers of this Saturday May 11th, 2013.

 Music from various bands including ACD Arts (pictured below) employed by Marriotts Hotels- featuring master musicians from Uganda, Tanzania, Mali , Burkina Faso, Italy- drumming and rocking and boom boom dadan  and drumming Africa.

Music and food and cheering all to soak into the Seven Series that has South Africans, Kenyans alongside New Zealand, Australia, United States, Canada  and of course the hosts- England.

PLANETMAN AT PASSING CLOUDS- MUSICIAN AND INNOVATOR

Saturday night a couple of weeks ago...

I and a few friends are here to have a good time, one of the best clubs- not in the centre of London- but up town, in remote Hackney, a borough filled with musicians and artists from almost every corner of the world.

This is Passing Clouds and it is April 13^th....2013.

The beers we are drinking seems to have  a Swahili name, but Mongozo does not come from East Africa, who cares?   Mwongozo  ( not “Mongozo” )means guidelines, in Swahili, mind you. Which might fit our theme today.

“Tastes good,”  Angolan, world travelled bon vivant, Antonio Mamede, a  jazz enthusiast who plays Trumpet says with relish.

As we sip  Mongozo and swing to the house DJ's  blues and jazz and the Afro and the funk and the reggae... Passing Clouds  suddenly unleashes its melodic tsunami.

 Band on stage is doing the most beautiful sound-check I have seen for ages. I will tell you why in a second.

On keyboards is confident looking Cyrus Richards (UK/Grenada), who I am told has just been touring with Culture and Abyssinians while Gabriele - Italian and newest member of the band - stands tall on Sax ;  Kit drums? It's Juba who also plays for Sam and the Womp, Tumbaito etc.  Bass bassing bass, is the swinging and tingling  rhythms of Caswell Swaby...

“We will sound check and play you something...” Says the man with the red guitar, long dreadlocks and a very pleasant vibe. Passing Clouds vibe.

The vocals "welcome" everyone to dance and enjoy themselves and by the time we start to move, the guys, these artists, have balanced their sound. There is no "testing one two three", that old fashioned, monotonous rivulet....

This is Planetman in action.