Africans for Africa launched at Womex2013

This first-ever partnership between cultural initiatives in the two countries has emerged out of Africans for Africa Network's mission to change prevailing narrative of Africa from one driven by Western media to one that reflects the inherent strengths of the continent across various Afro-centric platforms.

The Africans for Africa Network is the brainchild of Vanessa Perumal, founder of JT Communications Solutions and the JT Comms African Media Resource Centre of Excellence, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"Africans for Africa Network is a bold initiative but one that is long overdue," says Perumal. "However the groundswell of support that we have received for the network since we launched in July means that it can play a meaningful role in radically changing the African narrative. We're delighted to have launched our Africans for Africa Network website at the biggest world music festival in Cardiff, Wales. We are truly delighted to have IMEXSA as a key partner and would like to thank them for their generous support."

In launching the North-South collaboration at Womex 13, Perumal worked with IMEXSA (Independent Music Exporters South Africa). As part of the celebration of this new initiative, IMEXSA hosted the South African welcome party at the IMEXSA stand on 25 October 2013.

Cross-culture dialogues

The North-South residency taking place mid-December will include cross-cultural dialogues, creations and collaborations between Mali artists, Xhosa traditional groups from the local community, a Zulu group lead by legendary storyteller Gcina Mhlophe and cultural leaders and thinkers from the South African creative landscape. There will also be cross-generational dialogue during a session of the residency earmarked for emerging artists and young people.

Two public events will take place during the collaboration between Emthonjeni Arts, which is based in the Eastern Cape town of Hamburg and the Festival au Desert.

On 13 December the public is invited to a Festival of Ideas, where they will engage and celebrate African ideas, both historic, current and for the future. The event will be driven by a narrative of Africa that defines the continent's people as a people of ideas, and a people of innovation and creativity. During this festival a youth dialogue will take place where young leaders and emerging artists will meet to discuss the African Narrative and what it means to them. This dialogue will be podcast to different regions.

On 14 December, in solidarity with the Festival au Desert on their return to Timbuktu, a re-enactment of the festival will be performed at Emthonjeni, in the heart of our own beautiful dunes. Special South African guest artists with voices that have stood for truth, diversity and peace will also give blessings and join the journey.

Resonating with a contemporary audience

Founded in 2001, and recently faced with enormous challenges when forced into exile by separatist movements and armed extremists in 2013, the Festival au Desert provides an arena where Africa's history and deep-rooted culture can find expression in a way that ensures it resonates with a contemporary audience. It returns to its home just outside Timbuktu in January 2014.

Executive director of the festival, Mohamed Aly Ansar Manny, pinpoints the Festival au Desert's multifaceted impact, "The Festival is focused on generating new African markets, content access to new audiences, Pan African Festival promotion, opening trade routes and tourism destinations."

Emthonjeni Arts Director, Nomsa Mazwai describes the upcoming North-South collaboration as "incredibly special". "Here, all the artists will have a stage in the heart of our own beautiful dunes to perform on, and it is here where Oumou Sangare will bless the road to Timbuktu with a performance, an ode, a prayer for the road ahead."

October 2013 also saw the launch of the Africans for Africa website, created by Webjunkies, a division of 4sa Technologies. Founders Rajen Govender and Kevin Naidoo offered to assist in the launch of the Africans for Africa initiative by developing the much-needed website that will plug into open source networks like Howiviewafrica and Sam Mokorosi's Africa The Good News.

Facing numerous challenges

"As entrepreneurs, we face numerous challenges daily but remain committed to shaping the social landscape where we can," commented Govender and Naidoo.

"Joining this initiative was a way of us 'paying it forward', accordingly, we hope to see Africans for Africa achieve its objectives of groundbreaking, lasting change and creating the platform dialogue it wishes. It's about time that Africans take control of their destiny!"

Perumal, an activist, entrepreneur, innovator, pioneer and a visionary, recently led a global call for action to support the banned and exiled Festival au Desert in Mali through a global Caravan for Peace.

She is determined to change the African narrative and hopes to see a united Africa where Africans for Africa Network can help change the negative perceptions of the continent. "I am amazed by the groundswell of support this initiative has generated from across Africa; it is indicative of the will of ordinary Africans to set the agenda for change on the continent and drive the production of authentic content which frames Africa in a positive light," she says.

The Africans for Africa Network, spearheaded by the JT Comms African Media Resource Centre of Excellence, will focus on: ongoing exchanges, topic specific dialogues and the creation of platforms for African artists within and outside the continent throughout the year; an annual pan African Dialogue; hosting a Global Concert for Peace, featuring top African and international artists, performing for an international audience; hosting dialogues with Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Mahotella Queens, Dorothy Masuku and Yogi Nambiar (Programme Director of the Goldman Sachs-GIBS 10,000 Women Certificate Programme in South Africa), in November at the Media Centre and the first of the Africans for Africa Network's pan African exchanges which will be hosted by Emthonjeni Arts, Hamburg in the Eastern Cape.

The Africans for Africa Network will be instrumental in providing content and programming for a myriad of bilateral activations in Africa, realised through a network of partnerships with various groups and organisations.