OLUZAYO – African Music Futures

Festival of Contemporary and Experimental Music from Africa

May 31 - June 04

Oluzayo - Zulu for "What lies ahead " - is the name of this first Cologne music festival of its kind. Orchestral and ensemble music, sound art and electronic music, jazz and improvised music as well as transcultural mixtures and indigenous forms, all united by one thing: the reference to the African continent and its musical forms and traditions. On three evenings in the Stadtgarten we welcome artists from South Africa, Uganda, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Angola and Rwanda. Among others, the experimental songwriter Sibusile Xaba, the Ndagga Rhythm Force with futuristic minimal mbalax, produced by Berlin dub techno pioneer Mark Ernestus, or the composer and instrument inventor Victor Gama.

Also to be experienced: Avant-garde electronic facets by Ocen James & Rian Treanor and Satch Hoyt Surround sound art by Aurélie Nyirabikali Lierman and an experimental club night with co-hosts Dope Gal Soundsystem and guest stars Jay Mitta, Kadilida, Nonku Phiri and Hibotep.

The complete festival program as well as info on the city's "African Futures - All Around" program and the "European Conference on African Studies", whose closing party will take place at our venue on June 3, can be found here:

www.oluzayo-festival.net

www.african-futures.koeln

OLUZAYO is an event organized by ZAM Center for Contemporary Music in collaboration with NewMusicSA, Stadtgarten Köln / European Center for Jazz and Contemporary Music and other cooperation partners as part of the City of Cologne's "African Futures - All Around" program.
Media partners of OLUZAYO are WDR 3, Stadtrevue and WDR Cosmo.
OLUZAYO is supported by the TURN2 Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and further supported by the City of Cologne, the Kunststiftung NRW and the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.