Banjul (Gambia) – The African Union (AU) on Tuesday in Banjul, The Gambia, pledged to continue supporting African youths in promoting creative talents on the continent.
Ms Angela Martins, Head of Culture Divisions, African Union Commission (AU), said this in Banjul, The Gambia, during the opening of the African Union Conference (AUC) and All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) stakeholders’ conference.
Martins who represented Dr. Mustapha Kaloko, the AU’s Commissioner for Social Affairs, stated the union’s readiness to continue promoting African music.
“We will continue to promote regional and continental integration of Africa using the potential of this creative industry which is music by linking the activities of the artistes to the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance, the African Youth Charter and the AU Plan of Action on Cultural and creative industries,’ she said.
He said the AFRIMA platform would provide a formidable front for the development of African youth and talents, adding “Apart from that, we need to create jobs and integrate the African lifestyles to the continent and the outside world.
“Since we started this journey almost a decade ago, we have been focusing on developing the African youths and celebrating them and we will continue to do that through AFRIMA,’’ he said .
Efe Omoregbe presented a paper titled, “Using music, culture and entertainment as tools for a new Africa”.
He called for more spread of the music revenue sharing system so that it could get to all the practitioners.
Omoregbe called on the music practitioners to, “Get together, get organised, get educated, engage your governments and play the game on your own terms because you are a nucleus.’
Also, Cordelia Okpei, General Manager of Metro FM called on Africans to tap into their cultural values and celebrate themselves.
“We have to advertise to the world what we have in order to attract revenue and tourism.
“A lot of artistes are not educated about their craft and so cannot exploit it to make profit,” she said.
Similarly, Stanley Enow, a rapper from Cameroun, suggested that Africa should develop a more unique sound of its own.
Ahmed Soutane, a singer from Morocco, advised that more retail outlets be created for African music.
Laolu Akins, a veteran-music producer from Nigeria , charged younger artistes to take time and develop themselves and their music so that they could be durable, stand the test of time and remained evergreen.
NAN reports that AFRIMA was founded in 2014 by Mike Dada of Nigeria and two editions of the awards had been held in Lagos while the third edition is ongoing in The Gambia. (NAN)