Mozambique gears up for Music Hackathon

The primary objective of the event is to bring together professionals from the creative, cultural, tech, entrepreneurial and startup sectors to find innovative and participatory solutions to the challenges of Mozambique’s music industry. As with most hackathons, the participants and their ideas will compete with each other for a prize.

The interactions between the participants will be aimed at facilitating feedback exchange, group brainstorming and collaboration. Costruire Con la Musica says that in March it ran a survey designed to ascertain some of the most pertinent challenges facing the Mozambican music sector. The organisation says that ‘copyright and related rights’, ‘project management’ and ‘networking’ were identified as most urgent.

The three identified areas of interest will be complemented by two panel discussions, the first about intellectual property and copyright protection and the second about developing and managing creative and cultural projects, while a series of roundtable sessions will cover networking. Participants at the roundtables will be tasked with brainstorming ideas and solutions, and presenting them to a jury. The winning ideas will be awarded prizes such as participation at the Music Innovation Hub’s Linecheck Festival in Milan, Italy, as well as incubation and development support in Mozambique.

The copyright panel discussion will feature Thando Makhunga (Sheer Publishing Africa, South Africa), Joane Shiro Mwendwa (Sheer Publishing Africa, South Africa), Andre Le Roux (IKS Cultural Consulting, South Africa) and Domingos Carlos Pedro (National Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries, Mozambique), while the project management panel will host Eddie Hatitye (Music In Africa Foundation, South Africa), Silvia Nocentini (NoOx Worldwide, Italy), Sarah Parisio (Music Innovation Hub, Italy), Namakau Star (Paradise Worldwide, South Africa) and Matilde Muocha (National Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries, Mozambique).

Eight music acts selected from a previous open call will perform on both nights of the event. The showcasing artists will stand a chance to win prizes from Sheer Publishing Africa and NoOx Worldwide, including an exclusive publishing agreement, international digital distribution, digital marketing support and collaboration opportunities, among others.

The performing artists are Leyna Souto, Bruno Akani, Deltino Guerreiro, Xixel Langa, Vasikate, DJ Ardiles, May Mbira and AnaloguELEKTRONIKA. There will be special guest performances from Namakau Star (South Africa) and Double Drop (Mozambique).

The full Music Hackathon programme is available here. Read more about Costruire Con la Musica here.

Costruire Con la Musica is implemented by Mozambique’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, AGAPE ETS, the Municipality of Milan, Milano Musica and Diapason Progetti Musicali. It is funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.