Des programmateurs de festivals espagnols écouteront en direct 30 nouveaux groupes sénégalais à Dakar à partir de demain

Everything will be ready so that as of tomorrow, Thursday the 18th, through Saturday the 20th, the 1st Dakar Vis-à-Vis Festival, the meeting between festival organisers from Spain and musicians from Senegal organised by Casa África with the collaboration of the Association of Musicians from Senegal (AMS), may take place in Senegal. The event will make it possible for 15 Spanish producers and festival organisers to discover, during three days, approximately 30 Senegalese groups that were chosen in an open selection process in which a total of 180 musical groups from the African country participated.

The Festival will take place Thursday and Friday, from 8:00 pm to midnight, at four concert halls in Dakar. The next morning, the musicians will attend work meetings with the organisers so they may meet in person and establish a direct contact. The festival will conclude on Saturday with a large concert, open to the public, at Obelisque Square.

The Dakar Vis-à-Vis, which is sponsored by the Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour, has generated significant expectation in Senegal, and his professional musicians´ association (AMS) considers it “an incredible opportunity with equal conditions” for all of the country´s musicians that are working hard to make a niche in the complicated world of music.

Among all of the proposals presented, Casa África will select two groups to be included in the line-up of some of the concerts that will take place as part of África Vive 2010. In parallel to the Festival, Casa África will inaugurate one of its cultural projects in Dakar, the Africalls? exhibit.

The Casa África website (www.casafrica.es) will carry out a special follow-up of Dakar Vis-à-Vis, both on the actual web page as well as through the social networks of Facebook y Twitter.