Cultural diversity on the rise

Rise Festival
Finsbury Park
***

Saturday's Rise Festival, a free event organised by the Mayor's office to promote multicultural London, saw a sunny Finsbury Park packed with tens of thousands of music fans. As they enjoyed a creatively programmed line-up on the main arena and smaller culturally themed stages - African, Asian, Arabic and Cuban - the crowd's good humour and diversity succeeded as a demonstration of the musical and cultural richness that London's cosmopolitan status has created.

Acid Jazz pioneer Roy Ayers was hotly anticipated and much appreciated, although his effortless set, heavy on improvisation, was infuriatingly brief, coming in at around 15 minutes. Chicago rapper Common followed, his "conscious" outlook ( favouring lyrical themes such as marital fidelity over guns, cars and sexual mischief) a good fit with the event's values. The highlight of his performance was a breathtaking display of scratch-DJ-ing from his young cohort DJ Dummy.

Next, Ken Livingstone addressed the crowd. Dressed in a trendy T-shirt and clearly justifiably proud of the huge throng that faced him, he declared: "This city is strong because we welcome asylum seekers." Frequently inaudible due to sound problems, He also spoke in support of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. But instead of rallying the people around a general theme of diversity with which they could all sympathise, the speeches left the crowd nonplussed, perhaps because they were unwilling to be railroaded into a very specific political agenda to which they had not signed up.

Ex-Blur member Graham Coxon was clearly one of the most eagerly awaited artists, and he didn't let his fans down. Supported by a strong, cohesive backing group, he banged out his back catalogue with passion, although the derivative nature of his punk-rock sound was emphasised by the next act, The Buzzcocks, who, despite being from a previous generation, sounded remarkably similar.

A small but brilliant addition to proceedings was an open-topped double-decker bus manned by the Solution Soundsystem. Their two DJs and two excellent singers/MCs provided a wonderful feel-good blend of melodious reggae and gentle dancehall.

As the sun set and the smaller stages closed down, Bob Marley's band, The Wailers, closed the show with a wonderful set consisting purely of old favourites such as Three Little Birds and No Woman, No Cry. An inspired choice of headline act on account of their wide appeal and ability to create a feeling of benevolent togetherness, they provided a fitting end to a glorious day.