Pangea – Stokey’s supercontinent

‘DO I have a bar of chocolate in my pocket?’ ‘What’s the worst thing you can do on a computer?’ A battle of wits and one liners, quick drawings and an alternative lyric writing round. Such are the components of the monthly pub quiz, No Wrong Answers, at Pangea Project, Stoke Newington.

The recently opened venue is many parts: pub, intimate live music venue, comedy and cabaret club, community drop-in centre, meeting place, music school, late night club and plain barking pub quiz. However, as is often the case with backroom hidden gems like Pangea Project, the sum of the parts fail to do justice to the whole.

“We’ve always wanted a place that involves the community,” says owner Rosanna Schura, who runs Pangea Project with husband Selim Goksel. “A haven were we can stage live music and workshops, but where we can also follow what anybody else wants to do – basically a bar where we can create activity and draw people in who will hopefully go away with some really good experiences of live music, comedy and art.”

Such is the extraordinary variety of Pangea Project, the average weekly listings contains an open night of stand-up comedy, talent & variety, ‘songs & stories from travels and the imagination’ imagined by the ‘musical tapestry of ukulele led samba, folk and colourful sound, an acoustic and hip hop MC open mic night, live Northern Soul band, bass-led jazz and rockabilly heroes and then Sunday plays host to the best Stokey bands around. Diversity is in its DNA.

“We started off playing a lot of jazz here, but hip hop has really taken off. We never anticipated that at all. Our creative agenda is flexible enough to accommodate that, though. We have a full back line of instruments, PA and amps on the stage, so anyone can just drop in and jam. Or, if it takes you, you can even drop in and join the choir.

“We have a licence until 3:00am every night, and are planning on staying open late from Wednesday to Sunday. It means that we can put loads of stuff on every night, and most of it is free.”

I ask Rosanna about the name as I’m leaving. “Pangea is the name given to the super-continent before the tectonic plates shifted and split into the world it is now. That’s our concept.”
Sounds like an open invitation.

Pangea Project, 72 Stamford Hill, London, N16 6XS
www.pangeaproject.co.uk