Multiple Artists
Music Crossroads Interregional Festival 2008 Malawi (Jeunesses Musicales International, 2008)
For 13 years the Music Crossroads Interregional Festival has reached out to thousands of musicians and audiences. Started by the Jeunessess Musicales International, the Music Crossroads Interregional Festival lures musicians from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for competition and workshops and culminates in staging a cultural exchange of Africa’s up-and-coming traditional and contemporary musical artists.
It is through this exchange that Africa’s young musicians learn about self empowerment and social awareness. Stepping in to offer their support for the festival and its goals are the governments of Sweden, Norway and UNESCO, turning the Music Crossroads International Festival into a beacon of hope for young musicians everywhere.
The 2008 festival took place in Lilongwe, Malawi and in case you missed it you have the chance to capture all the musical goodness through Jeunesses Musicales International’s and Music Crossroads International’s documentary and CD set. Reaching out to fans all over the world with a giant, Sub-Saharan festival and jam session, the documentary and compilation CD of 2008 winners and notable performances showcases the extraordinary talents emerging out of Africa.
The real value for these musicians comes in the form of workshops that give voice to the next generation’s concerns about social issues, including HIV AIDS, malaria, poverty and education, and how to turn those voices into music, as well as receive music crafting advice and music business education. The festival has added benefits for these aspiring artists in social and business networking, cultural exchanges and touring opportunities.
The 2008 winners of the competition include first prize winner Zimbabwe’s Mokoomba and their electrifying “Ndipe,” second prize winner Gwarimba from Zimbabwe with their song “Bho-Bho-Bho” and third prize winners Liverpool Youngsters from Zambia with their song “Michitia Cheendende.”
Other notable tracks on the festival’s CD include “Tipewe” by Malawi’s Malfilika, “Balvina” by Mozambique’s Marove, “Angoni” by Malawi’s Moshef and “Ni Wewe” by Tanzania’s Damian Mihayo Ft. Peter Manyama.
More information at www.music-crossroads.net.
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
