2023-06-02 19:00:25
Every week, The World Africa presents three new musical releases from or inspired by the continent. As the festival season begins in France, we have chosen to select three events that take place in June and give a special place to African artists: head to Angoulême with Musiques métisses, Toulouse with Rio Loco and Marseille with Africa Fête.
SuperJazzClub, in Angouleme
Since 1976, the festival Métis music intends to do “to radiate artists on the world stage”, whether they are confirmed talents or “new nuggets”. This year, the Charentais event offers 21 concerts on three stages, from Friday June 2 to Sunday June 4, as well as literary meetings, shows for young audiences, film screenings and exhibitions.
Several musicians already mentioned in this column are featured in this 47e edition, including Souad Massi (Algeria), Faada Freddy (Senegal), Blick Bassy (Cameroon), Fidel Fourneyron and the Kolinga group (France), but also Soba (Burkina Faso) or N3rdistan (Morocco). And then a Ghanaian collective, SuperJazzClub, made up of singers, musicians and videographers and whose first album, For All The Good Times (2020), navigates with freshness between soul, jazz and hip-hop. He will perform on Sunday at 5 p.m. on the main stage of the Angoumoisin festival.
Kabeaushe, in Toulouse
Founded in 1995, the festival crazy river had the specificity of changing the theme each year, first following the course of rivers such as the Ebro, the Nile or the Senegal, before opening up to the seas and lands with editions devoted to the Indian Ocean (2017 ) or to Africa (2021). This year, under the leadership of its new director, Fabien Lhérisson, the Toulouse event breaks with this tradition to “exploring popular music from the five continents”.
It’s vast, a bit of a catch-all, but fans of African music will find what they’re looking for, from June 14 to 18, with concerts by Tiken Jah Fakoly (Côte d’Ivoire), BCUC (South Africa) and a tribute evening to Tony Allen (Nigeria). On Saturday, June 17 at 11:15 p.m., they will also be able to attend a « performance pop » by Kabeaushé, a UFO from Kenya who has no equal in entertaining the audience – sometimes to the detriment of the musical performance itself.
Ashs The Best, in Marseille
We end this tour of France in Marseille, where, from June 17 to 30, the 19e festival africa party. Or at least its 19e edition in Marseille, since this event was created by Senegalese producer Mamadou Konté in 1978 in Paris and takes place every year in Dakar, after having in the past settled in Benin, Cameroon, Mali, Guinea, in Ivory Coast and as far as the United States.
No big headliners here, but young talents such as Zeina Ndong (Senegal), Salif Diarra (Burkina Faso), Sayon Bamba (Guinea) or, among the most established, rockers from Loharano (Madagascar). On June 30 at 8 p.m., the Senegalese Ashs The Best and Jo Keïta will close the festival on the Makeda stage. The first, author of the album Dibeer in 2021, distills an airy afropop, while the second notably distinguished himself within the KBK trio alongside guitarist Andrew Sudhibhasilp (Terakaft) and drummer Carl Charrin.
Find all the musical favorites of the editorial staff in the playlist YouTube of World Africa.
In Morocco, the Gnaoua festival returns to Essaouira
Outside France, one of the continent’s major musical events will be held in Essaouira, Morocco, from June 22 to 24. It is of course the Gnaoua and world music festivalof which it will be the 24e editing. If the event has built its notoriety on Gnaoua music thanks to the competition of the greatest maalem (masters) from the four corners of the Cherifian kingdom, it also offers more “general public” concerts, with international artists. This year, he receives the Belgian Selah Sue, the Jamaican Ky-Mani Marley and the Cuban Eliades Ochoa. But also, as far as Africa is concerned, the Moroccan group Bab L’Bluz, Les Amazones d’Afrique and Les Tambours du Burundi Amagaba.
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