African music festival Africa Oyé has revealed the first three live music acts set to perform at the edition 2020 festival of music and culture in Liverpool, UK.
Female pan-African supergroup, Les Amazones D’Afrique; Ghanaian highlife stars, Santrofi; and Cameroonian vocalist are scheduled to perform at the Sefton Park stage when the festival returns for its 28th annual event on June 20 and 21, 2020.
Les Amazones D’Afrique recently released Amazones Power, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2017 album République Amazone. The group sings against gender inequality, female genital mutilation and ancestral violence.
Santrofi is a collective of renowned young musicians with a great reputation within Ghana’s music circles. After widespread touring with the Ghanian highlife stars, bassist and producer Emmanuel Ofori rose to form his own collective, deeply rooted in vintage Ghanaian highlife music in all its variations, some essentially unknown to the world.
Valérie Ekoumè grew up in a family of musicians. She is a French-Cameroonian singer who was raised listening to various musical styles, from Congolese rumba and traditional Cameroonian music to mainstream 1980s pop. She credits Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa) and Whitney Houston as her ‘virtual vocal coaches’, as she found herself singing along to their music at every opportunity at home.
Ekoumè’s musical career attracted attention in 2004 when she started to actively work and tour with Manu Dibango and the Soul Makossa Gang. Then in 2005, she joined the American School of Modern Music in Paris, where she studied and trained for 5 years. For her latest album, Ekoumè worked with producer, arranger and drummer Guy Nwogang, digging deeper into her Cameroonian roots. Her discography includes Djaale and Kwin Na Kingue.
Admission to Africa Oyé is free.
Author: World Music Central News Room
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