If your idea of African music is an easily digestible, mellow soundtrack to lazy sunny days, then this triple bill of trailblazing African artists may come as something of a shock.

The three acts differ in terms of genre, but share an engagement with contemporary musical styles from punk to hip-hop and a sense of purpose that puts most Western artists to shame.

"This is rock 'n' roll, baby", says Rachid Taha, who is currently finding success with Rock El Casbah, an Arabic re-working of The Clash's anthem. An Algerian who has lived in France since the late Sixties, he's long felt an affinity for "Arabs, punks, gays... all the outsiders and minorities."

"Now I make music for everybody who feels that way," he continues. "People have always been scared of me - the right wing, the left wing, conservative Arabs - because I still have that savage quality and it still upsets them."

Joining Rachid in the line-up is Tinariwen, a guitar-led desert blues from the southern Sahara best known for founding and starring in the legendary Festival In The Desert. Formed in a refugee camp in Libya in the early Nineties, they have fought against political oppression.

"Our basic training was in guerilla tactics," says Alhousseini Abdoulahi. "We all know how to use guns." Thankfully, they've now laid down their arms, but the willingness to fight lives on in the music. "Now we sing songs telling people how to improve their lives, how to map out their future," Alhousseini says.

Completing the bill are Senegalese hip-hoppers Daara J - the first African hip-hop crew to be nominated for a MOBO award, with their Boomerang album hailed as a masterpiece. They firmly reject the suggestion they are appropriating an American form. As Faada Fredy points out: "You call it rap but we sing tassu, a music that has been sung in Senegal for centuries.

"These are the real roots of rap - they just had to go to America to grow."

Starts 7.30pm, Tickets £15, Tel 01273 709709