Événements

Selam and the Swedish East African Music Network would like to welcome you all as we announce the launching of the 1st annual Selam Music Festival to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! The heart of the festival is to provide an opportunity for professional actors to meet and make voices heard in seminars, debates, workshops, concerts and clubs. Our focus is the development of East African music industry and this year we spotlight a number of urgent issues:

Talent or technology? How to improve and introduce East African music production to international markets with standardized views on quality?

What does traditional record production look like today and which technology defines the future? Could Africa benefit from a « tradition of music piracy » as file sharing and streaming replace record sales?

Modern media – 15 minutes of fame. What role does music journalism play in East African music industry?

What do we want with international cultural exchange? Are the many national cultural institutes active in Africa only remnants of a colonial legacy, branding nations through cultural imperialism? Or do they represent the real enthusiasts within contemporary local cultural life?

Who invests in human capital? Custom-made education for music industry sub sectors such as sound engineering, studio techniques, management/marketing etc.
Selam Music Festival is also an excellent opportunity to enjoy the extraordinary wealth of talent and live music around Addis Ababa! As your host, Selam will keep you busy by planning a programme of concerts and club nights in venues around town. The public will be able to sample a range of music from ethiojazz to mbalax, hiphop and reggae including a special release concert with Jaqee, Swedish soul and reggae queen on tour in East Africa!