The train ready for departure from Euston station at 11.30am on Sunday wasn't the usual Virgin service to Stoke-on-Trent.

For one thing, the vintage Class 47 diesel-electric locomotive was decorated with flags from 37 countries. For another, Congolese musician Jupiter Bokondji and his Okwess International band were playing an impromptu gig on the platform's edge to an audience that included Blur singer Damon Albarn and more than 80 other musicians, equally divided between those from Africa and the west.

The Africa Express, a train hired by the musicians' collective of that name as part of the London 2012 festival, has embarked on a week-long tour of the UK taking African performers around the country. The first stop was Milton Keynes, where the Congolese contingent jammed to a few bewildered souls on the platform, then Stoke for a series of workshops and pop-up events. The tour continues on Monday with a first proper gig in Middlesbrough, then performing nightly in Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol before returning to London for a finale at King's Cross.

Baaba Maal, the Senegalese singer, said: "Already everyone we see looks amazed and is asking: 'What is this? How can we get involved?' "