SA supports Mali's exiled Festival au Desert

This North-South collaboration of Mali's Festival au Desert and South Africa's Emthonjeni Arts was announced and launched at WOMEX in Cardiff recently and is the forerunner of collaborations that will celebrate Africa's diverse musical offerings.

The Africans for Africa Network aims to engage in a series of dialogues, set up exchanges between artists on the continent, create new markets for Africa's cultural content and products, and take ownership of the space in which Africa's voice is expressed through music and culture in international arenas.

Afro-centred platforms

The Hamburg, Eastern Cape-based Emthonjeni Arts aligned itself with the Africans for Africa Network to lend support to changing the prevailing narrative of Africa from one driven by Western media, to one that reflects the inherent strengths of the continent across a variety of different, Afro-centred platforms.

"Emthonjeni Arts has joined the Africans for Africa Network because we believe we are a representation of the positivity this continent has to offer," said Nomsa Mazwai, director of Emthonjeni Arts.

Mazwai, also a social entrepreneur and a SAMA Award-winning performer, believes that the initiative will provide a vehicle for both youths and economic development in the cultural industries.

"The Africans for Africa network articulates what we hope will become the African narrative: one that celebrates our many talents and achievements as Africans. As a project of the Eastern Cape department of Economic Development Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Emthonjeni Arts is thrilled to be kicking off the Africans for Africa programme with a residency at our facility in the Eastern Cape," she said.

The partnership will be a melting pot of arts engagements, opening of new markets, collaborations and dialogues at a two-week-long residency programme at the Emthonjeni Arts centre in Hamburg, South Africa from 3 to 16 December, 2013.

Collaboration of Mali and South Africa

"It is in celebration of Africa that we are hosting this collaboration of Mali and South Africa, in particular the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape. Africans will come together to create magic! Because Africa is magical," said Mazwai.

Emthonjeni Arts is a multi-disciplinary artists' residency specifically geared for those with creativity and passion and leaders in new thought. It includes a theatre, a gallery and dance and recording studios. Its aim is to help with the economic regeneration of the small community.

The residency will include cross-cultural dialogues, creations and collaborations between Mali artists and traditional Xhosa. The programme, spearheaded by young people, will include contributions from artists and cultural leaders and thinkers from the South African creative landscape.

For more, go to www.emthonjeniarts.org.