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A professional meeting between Spanish music producers and Ethiopian musicians in Addis Ababa
15/12/2011
Today Casa África, in collaboration with The Spanish Embassy in Ethiopia, launched the call for proposals to the third edition of the Vis-à-Vis Professional Music Meeting with Spanish music producers and programmers, a festival that will be held in Addis Ababa from the 2nd to the 5th of February 2012. The encounter will offer 15 Spanish programmers the chance to get to know promising young Ethiopian musicians from a wide range of musical styles (jazz, rock, hip-hop, reggae and traditional music). The programmers will select a short list of 14 groups which will get the chance to perform live during the festival. Two finalists will be selected to travel to Spain in the near future and form part of the line-up at a number of prestigious national and international festivals.
At a press conference held at the embassy this morning, the Spanish Ambassador in Addis Ababa, Miguel Fernández Palacios, explained that this initiative to bring Ethiopian music to Spain represents a major opportunity for professional musicians in this country. He further explained that the Ethiopia Vis-à-Vis festival will offer the selected bands the opportunity to perform live at the Acacia Jazz Festival.
With this new initiative Casa África, a Spanish public consortium at the service of the Spanish State`s actions abroad (in the field of Public Diplomacy), aims to consolidate the success of the two previous Vis-à-Vis encounters (Senegal and Cape Verde), both in terms of participation and interest of the Spanish programmers and in terms of participation of new musical talent in each of the countries. The Vis-à-Vis consists of three stages: first a public call for proposals for musicians and artists of all styles from the chosen country; a second stage during which the Spanish cultural programmers listen to the demos and, finally, an encounter in the chosen country during which the programmers listen to some 14 of these groups playing live over a three days period.
The initiative is divided into a professional encounter between musicians and programmers and a broad programme of performances in various venues in the city. As a result of the two previous editions, artists such as Njaaya, Takeifa, Da Brains, Domu Afrika Dub Squad or Ex Pavi were included in the line-up of Spanish music festivals and tours, including the Cáceres and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Womad festivals, Territorios Seville and the major África Vive Concert, an annual initiative organized by Casa África that finalizes with a grand scale free concert in Madrid for some 15,000 people at which artists such as Salif Keita, Konono nº 1, Alpha Blondy , Tiken Jah Fakoly or Femi Kuti have played.
How to participate:
- All bands residing in Ethiopia can participate in this initiative.
- The initiative is open to any music style and language.
- From December 15th 2011 to January 22nd 2012 (deadline) all bands from Ethiopia that want to participate in this initiative may sign up.
- Each participant will present up to a maximum of three musical compositions in mp3 format, CD or cassette. The entry must necessarily be formalized before midnight of 22nd of January 2012 as follows:
- In www.ethiopiavisavis.com by uploading the name of the band, song in mp3 format, music videos (optional), webpage, links, pictures and contact info, or
- Handing in a CD with the songs in mp3 format named with the bands name band and contact info at Jazzamba Club (Taitu Hotel).
