Cameroon musicians hold ACCES debrief

Last week, Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) member and Macase bandleader Serge Maboma held the session at Goethe-Institut in Cameroon’s capital where he presented the Foundation’s work and the outcomes of the ACCES conference to an audience of 49 music professionals. The objective of the meeting was to talk about the challenges facing musicians on the continent and how the Music In Africa platform and ACCES conference could aid them to navigate the tough industry more freely.

“In Cameroon, musicians have to face many difficulties,” Maboma said. “There is a huge lack of organisation in the music sector. There has been no collective management organisations for almost 20 years even though some are created almost every year but close down shortly after they are launched.

“We don't have concert halls, we don't even have a real festival in the country. An artist can easily spend a whole year without a single gig. Cameroonian musicians are not easily invited to play international events even though they’re considered to be very good.”

The session, which was attended by musicians, producers, journalists and event organisers, kicked off with an introductory speech by Goethe-Institut programme coordinator Raphael Mouchangou. Maboma then took the stage to talk about the various functions of the Music In Africa portal, which has seen a number of improvements since it was relaunched on Africa Day in May last year.

The microphone was then handed over to Cameroonian hip hop artist Krotal who presented the vision behind ACCES, after which singer Ingrid White spoke about the panel discussions that were held at the conference. Maboma, White and Krotal travelled to Dakar in November to attend ACCES.

The MIAF had invited top music professionals from Africa and around the world to discuss the many complex issues affecting the continent’s music industry in front of a diverse audience. The discussions acted as a window into the finer workings of the modern music industry and addressed topics such as mobility and support for musicians in Africa, the changing realities for African record labels, the latest models of music distribution, conflict and its effects on African music, women in African music and others. 

“Conferences like ACCES are very useful for professionals in Africa because we can get important information about what is actually done in our sector,” Maboma said. “Also, during discussions we can network and share experiences from one another. Sometimes we don’t have such information in our countries.”

ACCES 2018

Meanwhile, the MIAF recently announced that this year’s ACCES conference would be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in November. 

“We’re looking at offering a balanced programme that will cater for both local and international delegates,” MIAF director Eddie Hatitye said about this year’s ACCES. “We want to foster more interaction between delegates and our content offering will be more pragmatic. We are also looking at presenting musicians with more opportunities to further their careers, whether they’re experienced or inexperienced.”

Maboma said: “After our debriefing session here in Yaoundé, many music professionals are planning to come to Nairobi at the end of the year so they can experience the conference for themselves. Unfortunately we don’t have a similar conference in Cameroon but we’re hopeful that the event will eventually come to our beloved land.” 

ACCES is a music conference that takes place in a different African city every year. The conference offers training workshops, presentations, networking sessions, exhibitions, showcases, concerts, visits to key music industry hubs in the host city and panel discussions.

ACCES is supported by Goethe-Institut and Siemens Stiftung.

For more information, visit the ACCES about page.