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Uganda: Nyege Nyege returns to the Nile for 11th edition with Wakaliwood collaboration

Uganda: Nyege Nyege returns to the Nile for 11th edition with Wakaliwood collaboration

Burna Boy to headline halftime show at NFL’s first Paris game

Burna Boy to headline halftime show at NFL’s first Paris game

Suno faces another class-action lawsuit over alleged 2025 data breach

Suno faces another class-action lawsuit over alleged 2025 data breach

SA: Mawhoo to bring Secret Garden live experience to Durban in November

SA: Mawhoo to bring Secret Garden live experience to Durban in November

Pax Nicholas of Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 returns with ‘Mind Your Business’

Pax Nicholas of Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 returns with ‘Mind Your Business’

British-Ghanaian rapper Sway DaSafo dies aged 44

British-Ghanaian rapper Sway DaSafo dies aged 44

Long Story Short named Apple Music’s Up Next artist for South Africa

Long Story Short named Apple Music’s Up Next artist for South Africa

SA: SOL Distro marks first year with more than 1,000 artists, R1m in royalty payouts

SA: SOL Distro marks first year with more than 1,000 artists, R1m in royalty payouts

Spotify adds control to exclude kids’ music from personalised recommendations, Wrapped

Spotify adds control to exclude kids’ music from personalised recommendations, Wrapped

UMG sues DistroKid over alleged copyright infringement, deceptive practices

UMG sues DistroKid over alleged copyright infringement, deceptive practices

SA: Free the Jazz to showcase emerging talent on Heritage Day

SA: Free the Jazz to showcase emerging talent on Heritage Day

SA: Bontle Modiselle, Robot Boii and Baba Mthethwa to host Scorpion Kings Live

SA: Bontle Modiselle, Robot Boii and Baba Mthethwa to host Scorpion Kings Live

NEFCISA
NEFCISA

The Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) is proud of its partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as a Strategic Implementing Partner (SIP) for its Social Employment Fund (SEF). Through this collaboration, MIAF is running a national programme that is creating jobs, addressing skills gaps, and strengthening South Africa's creative industries — in line with the SEF's overarching goal to generate work for the common good and build community value through employment, social contribution, and inclusive economic participation. Operating under the banner NEFCISA (National Employment Facility for Creative Industries in South Africa), the initiative is recruiting and training participants, matching them with host organisations, and has already placed 1 500 workers across the country — surpassing its original target of 1 000. NEFCISA is delivered through a network of 20 host organisations spanning five provinces, who are actively hosting participants and contributing to work for the common good across South Africa's creative and cultural industries. Key Objectives: Support employment and entrepreneurship in the creative industries. Offer skills development and training programmes. Foster partnerships between public and private creative sectors. Promote South African creativity at both provincial and national levels Foster community development through social contribution.

ACCES
ACCES

ACCES Conference and Showcase Festival is Africa's leading music industry gathering, bringing together the people shaping the future of the continent's music business. Artists, entrepreneurs, executives, investors, policymakers and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world come to ACCES to build partnerships, exchange ideas, discover talent and create new business opportunities. Since its launch in 2017, ACCES has become the continent's premier platform for professional exchange and music market development. Combining a high-level conference with a curated showcase festival, networking, exhibitions and industry programmes, ACCES offers a unique space where creativity meets business and where African music connects with the global industry.

Gender@Work
Gender@Work

Music In Africa Gender @ Work is a three-year training programme aimed at upskilling and increasing the participation of female professionals in the African music sector. Launched by the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) in April 2019, the programme is connected to the MIAF’s ACCES music conference – a pan-African event held in a different African country every year. This connection enables the programme to reach new participants in a different African country every year. The programme marks the beginning of a more concerted effort by the Foundation to support the participation and inclusion of women in all facets of its programmes and the music sector in Africa as a whole. Over the three years, the programme will aim to address gender imbalances in the sector through training, lobbying, facilitating knowledge exchange and dialogues that foster the interest of women. The broader objectives of the programme are to: Provide industry training for women on critical music industry skills, focusing on: Stage management Electronic music production and recording Music business management Technical knowledge Provide an opportunity for both professional and aspiring women to benefit from the Music In Africa network and its broad range of activities in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Provide a solution-based platform in the form of a round table at ACCES with a view to identify challenges, discuss opportunities and lobby for the interests of female practitioners. Offer participants the opportunity to benefit from programmes offered by MIAF’s partners. Increase access to educational materials. Integrate participants in the broader ACCES programme to maximise experience and exposure to the industry. Record and present training materials on the www.musicinafrica.net, including but not limited to tutorials, templates and other best-practice materials. Communicate women-based themes that support the initiatives and messages of the programme. MAIN TRAINING ACTIVITIES Training in first country (Ghana): In the first year, participants will be trained on all aspects of stage management by a team of experienced stage managers from 10 to 17 November 2019. The programme will offer robust classroom training as well as practical, hands-on training in which participants will also be given the opportunity to manage various aspects of the ACCES performance programme. Training in second country: The second training iteration will take place at ACCES 2020 when the programme will diversify its course to include music production lessons and training on other music business topics. A round-table platform will also be introduced to coincide with the ACCES programme. Training in third country: The third training iteration will take place at ACCES 2021 in a different country, offering an advanced course. HOW DO YOU GET INVOLVED?  As a participant, facilitator or trainer: The programme enrolls up to 12 trainees every year. All opportunities are advertised publicly on this website, and will be added to this page. Please keep checking this page for new calls (below under UPDATES & CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES). As a partner Please contact Claire Metais at [email protected]. APPLY The call for applications for 2020 will be announced soon. The Music In Africa Gender @ Work programme is made possible with the support of the Prince Claus Fund, Siemens Stiftung and Goethe-Institut.

Sound Connects Fund
Sound Connects Fund

For cultural and creative practitioners and organisations operating in southern Africa, access to funding remains a major challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a massive impact on government policy, spending and the economy in general, and has seen spending on culture being moved further down the list of priorities. Further, the cultural and creative industries repeatedly cite four main areas where investment is needed for growth, which are increased visibility, mobility including access to new markets, finance and support structures.

Instrument Building And Repair Project
Instrument Building And Repair Project

Experience the Vibrations African Instruments Exhibition online in 3D

Music In Africa
Home / Magazine / News
News

Africa Month: Apple Music to celebrate roots of modern African music

Peter Choge By Peter Choge

28 Apr 2023 - 10:39

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Apple Music has announced a new campaign to mark Africa Month. The campaign, titled Origins, will explore and celebrate the roots of modern African music each week of May by focusing on different genres from the continent.

Seun Kuti (Afrobeats), Nduduzo Makhathini (Mzansi jazz), Alikiba (bongo flava), Fally Ipupa (ndombolo) and Bilal Sghir (raï music) will curate exclusive playlists for Apple Music’s Origins campaign

Over the month, four leading musicians from West, Central, East, North and Southern Africa will each curate exclusive guest playlists that highlight the roots of the respective genres from their region.

The artists selected to curate the playlists are Seun Kuti (Afrobeats), Nduduzo Makhathini (Mzansi jazz), Alikiba (bongo flava), Fally Ipupa (ndombolo) and Bilal Sghir (raï music).

“From amapiano to Afrobeats and bongo flava to alté, Apple Music will be hitting the rewind button by celebrating the music and artists from the yesteryear who played a critical role in shaping the sounds of modern African music,” Apple Music said.

Origins will be complemented by an overarching playlist featuring the biggest and best African songs the world has come to know and love.

It will also feature two exclusive home sessions from Nigeria’s Young Jonn and South Africa’s Bongeziwe Mabandla. Young Jonn will perform Lagbaja’s ‘Never Far Away’, Beautiful Nubia’s ‘What a Feeling’ and his hit single ‘Xtra Cool’. Bongeziwe will do Brenda Fassie’s ‘Too Late For Mama’, Shwi no Mtekhala’s ‘Ngafa’ and his track ‘soze’.

Tanzanian artist Alikiba said he was looking forward to the assignment because bongo flava had played a huge role in the development of African music and in presenting African culture to the world.

Seun Kuti, who is the son of Nigerian legend Fela Kuti, says Afrobeats has played a great role in the success of African music generally while showing the cultural and political consciousness of African people.

For South African artist Nduduzo Makhathini, jazz symbolises a refusal to disconnect from African origin, terming it “a product of black memory and solidarities over the Atlantic [and] a way of being free, an opportunity to co-create one’s reality.”

Algerian singer Bilal Sghir describes raï music as a vehicle for conveying social reality without taboos or censorship, and a language for the young and young at heart.

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