Now a well established event in the Cambridge gig calender, Matoke's October showcase for Oxfam lifted the roof off CB2 bistro! The brilliant Alex and Grace warmed up the crowd with beautiful reels and jigs played on fiddle and uilleann pipes, then it was time for Matoke and special guest Ali Baba to get the crowd dancing! The two Bens played some brilliant solos and Ali, who had just arrived from Brighton added some Guinean Chili pepper to the mix! A brilliant night which raised over £300 for Oxfam.

Matoke recently contributed a song to "Tracks for Amnesty" a project set up by former Matoke percussionist Mark Hannington to raise funds for Amnesty International's human rights campaign work. To download Yaze Yangala and support Amnesty International visit amnestybrighton.bandcamp.com

Vodou jazz factory also featuring one Chris Peckam warmed up the crowd for this fundraiser for Oxfam. With their multi layered percusion of congas and agogo bells they bought the sound of Benin, Haiti and Cuba, and the music played for the Orishas (Yoruba saints) to the back streets of Cambridge. Then it was time for Matoke to transport the crowd to a steamy Shebeen way off the beaten track in Soweto South Africa, with a mix of Mbaquanga, Zimbabwaen Jit and Reggae. An exciting gig! which raised £350 for Oxfam. Thanks to everyone who helped and supported the event.

"Goodbye... Hello..."

In January we said goodbye and thank you to Matthew who played his final gig with us at CB2 Bistro before returning home to America. Matthew had been with us since the beginning and had contributed a number of songs and shaped the early Matoke sound. The same night the band were supported by a charismatic musician originally from Cote d'Ivoire Joseph Koutoua, who Lucas had seen busking in town. A few weeks later Joseph was part of the Matoke family, contributing new ideas and beautiful guitar lines to compliment the rhythm guitar Chris is now often to be found playing in the band. Together we are looking forward to a summer quickly filling up with gigs in Cambridge and beyond.

Saturday 10th November "Fundraiser for Lifecraft"

Very happy to play this gig for local Cambridge charity Lifecraft. We shared the evening with brilliant Kathak dancer Vidya Math, who performed some beautiful dances. Also mashing up the dancefloor was a Ugandan toddler, so we had a great time!

More news - We have now printed some cool Matoke postcards and have a few limited edition Matoke CD's, look out for them around Cambridge and at gigs!

We were added to the playlist of Cambridge's community radio station today. Mandela, Tojours Afrique, Yaze Yangala and J'aime mange Matoke will be broadcast on www.209radio.co.uk, and from 1st October on 105 FM in Cambridge. 209 Radio is a volunteer centred community radio station playing a diverse programme of music, news, talk, and comedy.

We returned "home" to the Elm tree with our new songs and for the first time with Ben and Maxwell performing together. The new songs such as "Tsotsi" and "Voza" sounded great (thanks to Graham!) and we enjoyed playing together and people responding and dancing to the music. Looking forward to playing at the Elm tree again on Friday the 19th October.

Monday 6th August 2007 "Oliver Jouer avec Matoke encore"

It was very nice to be asked to play for the council's first Jesus green music event, and we enjoyed ourselves supporting Cuban band Viva Latino. We were happy to have Oliver with us again. Thanks to all of our friends for supporting us.

Sunday 8th July 2007 "Matoke on the Piece"

We had a nice time playing on parkers piece today. We performed in the fringe tent as part of the world music day, and were in good company with brilliant senegalese band Afro Tema also performing. It was great to see so many friends there, and African taxi got the dancing started! Thanks to Cambridge City Council for inviting us to play, and bringing together so many great musicians.

Sunday 27th May 2007 "Matoke on Wax"

The weather today was like West Africa at the moment (the rainy season has just started) so the tropical downpour outside didn't take away any our spirit as we recorded. It has taken us a while to get here so it felt good to finally record some of our songs and those which we have made our own. We recorded "Mandela”, "J'aime Mange Matoke”, "Yaze Yangala" and then finished with the two Balafon songs "Mamadi" and "Toujours Afrique". It was brilliant to have Oliver and Maxwell joining us for the recording session and everyone really gave their best. Thanks so much to Andrew for his help. We look forward to sharing the results with you soon.

This was our last gig with Oliver on Saxophone before he moves to Brighton to start University, and was an intersesting one! We were asked to play a Birthday party out in the mangrove swamps of the fens! Matthew got us lost on the way, and then got lost at the party appearing later talking about a totem pole in the woods! When we finally played we had a really good time. Thanks Oliver for your inspiring playing with the band, we will miss you and you are always welcome to come and jam with us.

A really enjoyabele gig `at home' at the Elm Tree as part of Cambridge's world music festival "Heart of the world". We were lucky to be joined by a friend of Matoke Ali Baba from Guinea, via Brighton! Ali sung some improvised words over "Yaze Yangala" as well as playing some nice Djembe solos! We all really enjoyed ourselves and it was brilliant to see so many friends in the audience.