In its 19th and reportedly best-attended year yet, Liverpool’s 2010 Africa Oyé festival last weekend saw thousands descend upon the city’s Sefton Park to enjoy an eclectic selection of accomplished musicians from across the pan-African world. Completely free and open to all, Oyé boasted two days of exciting acts from countries as varied as Guinea, Cuba and Kenya and brought diverse crowds from across the city and far beyond.

Though visa problems reportedly prevented a couple of bands from participating and an initial period of technical hiccups proved disruptive to the festival’s opening act, the music on offer at Oyé was invariably highly entertaining. Cuba’s feisty To’Mezclao put in energetic sets on both Saturday and Sunday, while Modou Touré (Senegal), Victor Demé (Burkina Faso), Les Espoirs des Coronthie (Guinea) and Boukman Eksperyans (Haiti) also stood out as terrific musicians. In the UK’s biggest Africa-based music festival, the bands combined to thrill listeners with a magnificent mix of sound, language, musical genre, melody and rhythm. While the music of Andrew Tosh, son of reggae legend Peter Tosh, may arguably already be fairly well-known to UK audiences, other Oyé performers are certain to have gained myriad new fans on the strength of some great performances of their respective repertories.

In a city recognised as the home of The Beatles, Liverpool and Everton FC and as a erstwhile commercial hub of the Atlantic slave trade, Oyé’s ability on a packed World Cup weekend to pull in residents of a decidedly football-mad city was testament to its appeal. Boasting great weather not commonly associated with the northwest of England, the event was perhaps helped in no small part by a certain blue-sky cooperation throughout the weekend. As Bob Marley – whose own music was regularly heard during the breaks between bands’ performances – would have put it, ‘the sun is shining … the weather is sweet’.

Aside from the obvious musical attractions, many festival goers were perhaps also keen to wander around Oyé’s crop of different stalls and gazebos hosting a range of traders, not-for-profit organisations and food vans, which together offered diverse cuisine, arts & crafts, complimentary drumming workshops and the opportunity to connect with various activist and charitable causes. Indeed, in pulling in different groups of people united by their enthusiasm for a great pan-African line-up, Oyé also offered a far-from-everyday opportunity for a concentrated mix of festival goers interested in Africa at large to interact and meet-and-greet in an entirely relaxed, informal and non-partisan environment.

Perhaps more subtly, Oyé also stands out owing to its noticeable absence of the corporate sponsorship which can come to dominate other festivals. Being completely free to attendees, the event is generously and wisely supported by funding from Liverpool City Council and Arts Council England. In a looming climate of potentially brutal public spending cuts as the UK’s coalition government faces up to a formidable budget deficit, Africa Oyé deserves to be applauded loudly for its ability to showcase great musicians, bring Liverpool’s different communities together and provide a unique cultural hub for pan-African music in the UK.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Alex Free is assistant editor of Pambazuka News and Pambazuka Press's publications officer.
* Along with a great range of books, Liverpool's News from Nowhere stocks CDs of each of the performers at Oyé for those in and around the city.
* Thanks to all at Oyé who visited the Pambazuka Press stall. We look forward to seeing you all next year!
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.