Swiss and regional professionals head to Accra for Music in Africa ACCES

November

Swiss, SADC and Sub-Saharan music industry professionals are headed to Music in Africa’s 3rd Annual Conference for Collaborations, Exchanges and Showcases (ACCES) in Ghana from 28-30 November 2019. ACCES is a pan-African music event held in a different African country each year, bringing together influential music industry players from across the globe to exchange ideas, discover new talent and accelerate the shaping of a vibrant music sector on the continent. Having debuted in Dakar in 2017, followed by a Nairobi edition in 2018, ACCES now heads to Accra. The event will include panel discussions, presentations, exhibitions, live performances and networking sessions aimed around building connects between musicians, platforms and music industry professionals.

We are supporting the attendance of three music professionals from our Swiss and Regional networks who will participate to explore programming possibilities as well as network development and extension in West Africa. At the curatorial discretion of Music in Africa, support via the ANT Mobility Fund will additionally enable professionals from the SADC region as well as Kenya, Uganda and Nairobi to attend the gathering in Accra. This support works towards increasing participation from these regions and ensuring a diverse range of delegates.

BIOGRAPHIES

Dženan Čolpa founded his music agency DIAPAZONA Promo Zika Code La3 in 2006. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Dženan moved to Switzerland as an asylum seeker in 1992. Music runs in his family, and since his first booking to DJ at the Montreux Jazz Festival, things have quickly grown. Today, DIAPAZONA is amongst the most original indie booking agencies in Europe with an eclectic, exciting and always-growing roster of artists and platforms. DIAPAZONA activities are mainly focused on bookings and tour management as well as management for a few artists including Swiss veteran Christophe Calpini and Swiss-Tchad new neo-soul hip-hop talent Evita Koné.

Elisabeth Stoudmann is a project manager and journalist with over 20 years’ experience in the music industry. After graduating from Lausanne University with an MA in History and History of Art, Elisabeth Stoudmann set up and ran Vibrations Magazine for more than 15 years, specialising on the musical and cultural scene from countries like Mali, Sénégal, Ivory Coast. From 2011 to 2016, she created and coordinated the webmagazine swissvibes.org that shone the spotlight on the alternative Swiss music scene. Currently working as a music journalist for Le Temps and Le Courrier, she has recently launched, in the company of Cameroonian artist Blick Bassy, a musical project called Show-me, the first live and digital musical forum dedicated to DIY musicians from Africa and Europe.

Matchume Zango is a composer, performing artist, timbila player and dancer from Mozambique. He has dedicated himself to Mozambican traditional music and dance since the age of six. His parents and grandparents are originally from Zavala, Inhambane Province (Mozambique), which is the center of Timbila, a marimba-style instrument which is revered as part of Mozambique’s national patrimony. Inspired by this long and passionate tradition of music and percussion, Matchume began to play, study music and produce traditional instruments such as timbila, mbira, xitende and djembe drums. Matchume is interested in the fusion of traditional and experimental music and regularly collaborates with musicians from different countries and cultures. In December he will host Swiss musician Jul Dillier at Nzango Artist Residency in Maputo. Nzango Artist Residency is one of the ten Regional Mobility Partners that we work with in the region and is supported through the ANT Mobility Fund.