African jazz goes global with Dakar Music Fair

The fair, held at the French Institute in the capital Dakar on February 20-23, brought together young African jazz artists, music industry professionals, producers, managers and festival organizers under the same roof.

During the day, panels and workshops were held at the fair, and in the evenings, concerts by jazz groups and artists from Africa and around the world were presented to the audience.

This year's fair featured groups and artists from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Guinea, Republic of Congo, Mali, Burkina Faso, France, USA, Austria, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The organizer of the fair, Dudu Sarr, who is also the manager of world-famous Senegalese musician Youssou Ndour, made statements about the event to AA correspondent.

Sarr said that in the many music festivals and fairs he has attended around the world, he has seen that African musicians do not have the same opportunities as Western artists and that African music is underrepresented.

"I set out with the idea of ​​establishing a platform that would allow promising African musicians to reach out to the world," said Sarr, adding that he has been bringing together music professionals from all over the world and young African musicians with limited opportunities for the past 6 years.

Call to Turkish artists

Sarr pointed out that African and Western musicians performed together at the fair.

"For example, a Swiss flutist and a Senegalese bassist and drummer shared the same stage," said Sarr, continuing:

"An American pianist played with a Senegalese group. Perhaps the most striking concert of the fair was two guitarists from Mali and Guinea playing with the balafon. We learned that in Guinea and Mali, those who want to play any musical instrument first play the balafon. The audience was very impressed. It was amazing to hear the harmony of the guitar and balafon. Another aim of the Dakar Music Fair is to offer such collaboration opportunities to African musicians."

Underlining that they expect participation from Turkey in the fair to be held next year, Sarr said, "We would love to see a country like Turkey, which is very rich in both instruments and music, in Dakar next year. Various collaborations can be made with Turkish and African artists. We have also started working on our percussion festival project, where Turkey will be the guest of honor. In this sense, I would like to express my special thanks to Turkey's Dakar Ambassador Nur Sağman, who has been helping us."

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