OneBeat announces 2022 Sahara Fest and Exchange participants

The music excavation will bring together 24 genre-bending musicians from seven countries in the Sahara region and the US, including Aziz Azzi (Morocco), Black Assets (US), Bouba (Algeria), Ignabu (US), DJ Dhakar (Mauritania), Elenna Canlas (US), Fama M’baye (Mauritania), Garba Ouma Tourè (Mali) and Hadja Fanta Diabaté (Mali). They will be joined by Hassen Ben Ahmed Mchaikhi (Tunisia), Hind Ennaira (Morocco), Hind Meriem Boukella (Algeria), Ibrahim OmarMokhtar (Libya), Jenna Camille (US), Karim Bouras (Algeria), and Kildjate Moussa (Niger). Other participants include Labib Benslama (Algeria), Matt Evans, (US), Raja Kateb (Algeria), Soufiane Ez-Zahy (Morocco), Soumia Ghechami (Algeria), Nazim Bakour (Algeria), Sarra Douik (Tunisia), and Nappy Nina (US).

This year’s edition will run under the theme, Silence and Noise. The programme aims to create original work and grow a network of civically engaged music initiatives. It will include workshops, songwriting exchanges, recording sessions and social engagement.

The fellows will explore musical traditions such as experimental hip hop, gnawa, jazz, Maghrebi electronic, and more. “So excited to have been selected in this group,” Hassen Mchaikhi said. 

The musicians will form new ensembles and compose music with OneBeat’s staff. On 5 March, the residency in Taghit in southern Algeria will close with a full-day outdoor festival by the ancient rock carvings, featuring music created during the residency.

In the following week, the participants will travel to the capital Algiers in the north where they will work in residence at the Dar Abdellatif cultural centre and record their concluding material. The programme will culminate in a final OneBeat marathon show open to the public at the Algiers Opera House on 11 March.

OneBeat is a constellation of music diplomacy programmes that began in 2012. To date, the organisation has worked with more than 370 socially engaged musicians from over 50 countries. OneBeat Sahara is an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The programme is produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation, in partnership with the US embassy in Algeria and the Algerian Ministry of Culture, with additional support from a number of other agencies.

Meanwhile, OneBeat Virtual 2022 is open to musicians and sound artists from some 50 eligible countries and territories. Find more information about applying here.