Renowned female musician, dancer and event coordinator, Wendy Harawa, recently attended one of the high profile meetings in the creative sector— Visa for Music— in Rabat, Morocco.
This was the fourth edition of Visa for Music which has established itself as a unique international marketplace for World and New Music for places such as Africa and the Middle East.
The Africa Middle East Music meeting was held from November 22 to 25.
“It was an important and fruitful gathering where I have learnt a lot in all areas of music. Again, through this platform, I promoted Malawi with the aim of attracting more participants and people to attend festivals in the country as part of promoting our music, culture and tourism,” Wendy said.
The singer, who early this year launched her fourth album Nalliah, said the meeting mostly focused on promotion of artists and networking among artists and other key stakeholders.
“It was an eye opener because I learnt new skills on how festivals are organised in Africa and Europe. As an artists’ manager and artist, I benefited a lot through the links I made and I am happy to have managed to get two managers, who will manage me internationally through the same event,” she said.
Apart from managing artists such as Organised Family from Zambia, Wendy has also been part of the organising team for the annual Sand Music Festival.
The Visa for Music meet started with an opening parade in the streets, according to moroccoworldnews.com.
Media reports indicate that the Visa for Music meet is initiated in partnership with the Hiba Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
It brings together artists, professional organisations, record companies and cultural institutions from different regions.
This year’s edition saw performances from music gurus such as rapper Mobydick, also known as Lmoutchou, Khansa Batma who illustrated Moroccan rock, singer Fayçal Azizi, musician and instrumentalist Farid Ghannam, Amazigh group Inouraz, Black Jaguar and the Saharawi fusion collective DaraaTribes.
Mokoomba from Zimbabwe also performed during the gathering according to Wendy.
The organisers also said that the purpose of this event was to highlight intercultural exchange in order to create a music market that offers better visibility for artists.
“As I said earlier, it was a fruitful meeting and we had workshops and some of the meetings were specifically on collaborations. The performances were also great and gave me an insight on seriousness of artists when performing and stage management,” Wendy said.
She said she was looking forward to being part of more of such platforms.
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