Celebs out in force for Africa Rising Festival, London

| | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Celebs were out in force for last night's Africa Rising! Festival, held at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Yeah, we know it's not a celebrity holiday, but it's an event worth mentioning, what with Christina Aguilera's eye-popping top and vertiginous shoes and Colin Powell's impromptu dance with Nigerian hip hop artist Olu Maintain

Pictures below:

 

Joaquin Cortes

Above: Ballet and flamenco dancer Joaquin Cortes

 

Ozwald Boateng and wife Gyunel with children

Above: Fashion designer Ozwald Boateng and wife Gyunel with children 

 

Hofit Golan

Above: Model Hofit Golan model (and face of Elizabeth Grant skincare)
with choreographer
Brian Friedman 

  christina Aguilera

Above: Singer Christina Aguilera sports an eye-popping top...

 

Aguilera sports some vertiginous shoes

Above: .... and some vertiginous shoes

 

Aguilera on stage

Above: Christina Aguilera headlines in her first UK performance since giving birth

 

  Seal

Above: Seal on stage

 

Youssou N'Dour Above: Youssou N'Dour

 

Tyson Beckford and Alek WekAbove: Models Tyson Beckford and Alek Wek with celebrity jeweller Chris Aire 

 

Colin Powell gets down Olu MaintainAbove: Colin Powell "gets down" with Olu Maintain

 

The Africa Rising! festival aims to promote positive images of Africa and on find "sustainable solutions" rather than the "problems" facing Africa

The London show marked the end of Africa Rising's four-date international tour, which began in Nigeria.

One of the highlights of the evening was former US Secretary of State Colin Powell performing an impromptu hip hop dance when he climbed onstage with Nigerian group Olu Maintain.

Speaking to the audience, Powell told the audience that Africa, with hard work and foreign investment, could prosper like Asia and Eastern Europe.

He said: "I stand before you as an African American. Many people have said to me you became Secretary of State of the USA, is it still necessary to say that you are an African American or that you are black, and I say yes, so that we can remind our children.

"It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history. I didn't just drop out of the sky, people came from my continent in chains."

All images: Brian Rasic/Rex Features

0 TrackBacks

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Celebs out in force for Africa Rising Festival, London.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.travelweekly.co.uk/movabletype/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/10237

Leave a comment