Creating a Pan-African Festival Travel Circuit
The St Louis Jazz Festival, in St Louis, Senegal Back in 1999, I attended the WOMEX World Music Conference and Marketplace in Berlin. One of the most interesting sessions there was one looking at creating a pan-African festival circuit, much like what Europe has, with festivals connecting, and making it possible for artists to tour festivals in Africa. 12 years later, we're perhaps marginally closer to that, but we certainly haven't made the kind of progress that was anticipated. Political instability is one reason, funding another, but one of the most crucial, I believe, is the lack of good, cost-effective, regional travel options in Africa. As you know, it is damn expensive to travel within Africa, far more so that to travel from somewhere in Africa to Europe. From the Sauti za Busara festival, Zanzibar, Tanzania, East Africa's most important festival That is now starting to change. Once upon a time, there was Air Afrique, which made a lot of things poss