DJ Rita Ray
Rita Ray is a Club and radio DJ who is also a presenter, performer,
compiler and broadcaster. She also remixes and curates and
writes. Rita plays the global musical spectrum; in the 1990s helped to
revitalise the world music scene in London with the Mambo Inn; with
Max Reinhardt she runs the Shrine club nights and tours with their
band the Shrine Synchro System all over Europe and Africa; creates
soundscapes for theatre companies as well as live soundtracks for
silent films; programmes international music festivals in London;
co-presented the first two BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music,
compiles the annual CD and is currently chair of the jury; and has
recently co-presented an excellent documentary on Fela Kuti for BBC
Radio 3 which will shortly become a book. Presentation highlights
include the Festival in the Desert from Mali as well as WOMAD 2004 for
BBC4 and the Musical Legacy Of Slavery series for BBC World
Service. Along with long time collaborator Reinhardt, Rita recently
artistically directed and performed a musical/spoken word/ visual
exploration of the relationship between Europe and Africa, I Dream of
Accra with the Long Blonde 'Fro, with novelist Patrick Neate, rapper
BREIS, and musicians Tunde Jegede, Byron Wallen and Juldeh
Camara. They are currently at work on its successor project, Where
Have All the Panthers Gone?
Rita is one of the producers and interviewers for ScreenStation's
multiaward winning documentary As Old As My Tongue: The Myth and Life
of Bi Kidude, which will be screened on Tue 28 Oct. Rita will play a
DJ set at the Bongo Club on the same evening, as part of an Africa in Motion Club Night.