FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

AFRICA OYÉ 2012 CELEBRATES 20 YEARS – THE LARGEST LIVE AFRICAN MUSIC AND CULTURE EVENT IN THE UK

PLUS HEADLINER ANNOUNCEMENT

Funded by Arts Council of England & Liverpool City council

AFRICA OYÉ 2012

LISTEN TO AFRICA

The UK’s largest celebration of African music and culture

Sefton Park, Liverpool

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2012

12:30pm - 9:30pm both days

Admission: FREE

In 2012 Africa Oyé are marking 20 years of bringing the best in African music and culture to the UK.

Starting out as a series of small gigs in Liverpool's city centre in 1992, Africa Oyé has gone from strength-to-strength, and has evolved into the foremost celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture in the UK.

Over the past 20 years Africa Oyé has brought some of the biggest names in music from Africa, the Caribbean and South America to Liverpool, including Tinariwen, Peter Tosh, Femi Kuti, and of course, last year’s headliner, 'Queen of Reggae' Marcia Griffiths.

Acts confirmed so far for 2012:

Yellowman and the Sagittarius Band (Jamaica) “We're delighted to announce that Yellowman is back by popular demand after his successful 2011 UK tour organised by Africa Oyé. With a career spanning over 30 years, few Jamaican artists can claim to have had such an impact worldwide as this legendary deejay and MC. Massively influential in both reggae and hip-hop, Yellowman's back catalogue, list of collaborations and producers speaks for itself as he continues to tour worldwide with the now legendary Sagittarius Band. Yet to play the main stage at Africa Oyé, 'King Yellow' is sure to tear it up with tune after tune of classics.” - Paul Duhaney (Festival Director)

Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga - Democratic Republic of Congo

Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra (Nigeria/UK)

The Endless Journey (Niger)

Yaaba Funk (Ghana/UK)

Further details about the artists can be found below. Finally, we are sure you will all be glad to hear that Africa Oyé will remain a free and unfenced event. The festival has always maintained that they are committed to keeping Africa Oyé open to all. Thanks to all their supporters, sponsors, and the generous donations received at last year’s festival, they have managed to do so once again.

See you all in Sefton Park 23rd-24th June, 2012!

http://www.africaoye.com

LISTEN TO AFRICA

Funded by Arts Council of England & Liverpool City Council For press queries / images requests please contact ally@onefellswoop.co.uk

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Funded by Arts Council of England

& Liverpool City Council

AFRICA OYÉ 2012

LISTEN TO AFRICA

The UK’s largest celebration of African music and culture

Sefton Park, Liverpool

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2012

12:30pm - 9:30pm on both days

Admission: FREE

NOTES TO EDITORS & FURTHER INFORMATION

ONLINE:

www.africaoye.com

Facebook – www.facebook.com/africaoye

Twitter – www.twitter.com/africaoye

YouTube – www.youtube.com/africaoye1

Tumblr – www.africaoye2012.tumblr.com

AFRICA OYÉ 2012 – CONFIRMED ARTISTS*

Yellowman and the Sagittarius Band – Jamaica

Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga – Democratic Republic of Congo

Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra – Nigeria/UK

The Endless Journey – Niger

Yaaba Funk – Ghana/UK

(More details about all artists below).

*Many more TBC. Please check www.africaoye.com for updates to the line-up and for all up

to date news.

PRESS & AWARDS:

Songlines’ 2010 & 2011 Top 10 UK Summer Festivals

The Times’ top 50 UK Summer Festivals

Telegraph’s 100 Best Festivals in Britain 2011

'This is just the largest festival of African and Caribbean music in Britain, it's the best.'

- The Sunday Times

‘Everything you could need for a unique African experience...a true slice of Africa’

- Virtual Festivals

'A cracking free day out'

- The Guardian Guide

‘A weekend of infectious grooves, smiling, happy crowds and seriously good musicianship’

- Hotline Magazine (Virgin Trains)

‘Oyé is a chance to relish Afro culture in an unlikely setting’

- Songlines

'A wonderful celebration of music, food, arts, crafts and fashion from Africa’

- Big Issue in the North

'Perhaps Britain's best free festival'

- Clash Magazine

Nominated for:

‘Best Medium Sized Festival’ – UK Festival Awards 2011

‘The Grass Roots Festival Award’, ‘Family Festival Award’

& ‘Best Toilets’ – UK Festival Awards 2010

WON:

Paul Duhaney (Festival Director)

Male Achiever of the Year 2010 – Merseyside Black History Month

‘We understand that Africa Oyé’s festival has built on past successes and grown and

expanded - very good news for ‘great art for everyone’ which is what we’re all about. The

North West is home to loads of amazing festivals and Africa Oyé appeals to and attracts a

very wide and diverse audience. We’re delighted that audiences again this year will get to

enjoy the excellent programme that Africa Oyé is offering’

- Chris Bye, Relationship Manager, Music, Arts Council England

WHAT IS AFRICA OYÉ?

Africa Oyé is the UK’s largest festival of African and Caribbean music and culture. Each June, our event draws audiences from near and far to take in some of the best music the world has to offer in the picturesque surroundings of Liverpool's Sefton Park.

Having grown from humble beginnings as a series of gigs across Liverpool's city centre in 1992, Africa Oyé is now not only the largest celebration of African and Caribbean culture in the UK, but also one of the biggest in Europe. In 2010 and 2011, the festival brought an estimated £1.3 million to the region's economy and attracted over 50,000 people from all around the UK and abroad. We expect as many if not more to attend in this, our twentieth anniversary year.

Africa Oyé is a registered charity partially funded by the Arts Council of England North West

and Liverpool City Council as well as through sponsorship, advertising, in kind support, and

the revenue generated from pitched traders, merchandise and The Oyé Inn.

Over the past two decades, Africa Oyé has hosted artists from South Africa, Democratic

Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Senegal, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Burundi,

Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Mali,

Lesotho, Ghana, Somalia, Morocco, Benin, Cape Verde, Jamaica, Dominican Republic,

Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad & Tobago amongst others.

Some of world music’s biggest artists and stars have graced the stage at Africa Oyé

including Freddie McGregor, Peter Tosh, Michael Rose, Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal, Rebecca

Malope, Habib Koite, Tinariwen, The Morgan Family Heritage, The Soul Brothers, Thomas

Mapfumo, Luciano, The Gangbe Brass Band, Tiken Jah Fakoly, La Excelencia, Culture,

Misty in Roots, Les Freres Guisse and Kanda Bongo Man to name but a few. Last year’s

event also saw reggae legend and matriarch Marcia Griffiths wow the crowd with her back-

catalogue, spanning six decades of classic hits.

Keep Oyé Free

With rising costs and new regulations, we still need help in keeping the festival free:

How to keep Oyé free:

1. Raise funds for Oyé just by shopping online through Easy Fundraising at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/africaoye

2. Buy an official t-shirt from the on-site festival shop, or online from http://www.africaoye.com/village.html

3. Buy a drink at the Oyé Inn

4. Donate whatever you can to our collection buckets on site

5. Volunteer to help out with on-site fundraising

If everyone who comes to the festival does just one of the above, it will go a long way towards keeping Oyé free for years to come.

As a registered charity, all proceeds will be reinvested into the organisation.

Africa Oyé would like to thank Liverpool City Council, the European Regional Development Fund, Arts Council England, and all our sponsors for their support.

Touring and Trading

In April 2009 Africa Oyé added another string to its bow in Oyé Touring and Trading, an Arts

Council funded initiative. For the past 3 years, along with 5 other national organisations

(Serious, Punch Records, Joyful Noise, and CMAT) and as part of the Black Routes

network, Oyé has produced both a Learning and Participation Project called The Legacy

Roots and Music in Liverpool, and tours by Jamaican Reggae legend Freddie McGregor,

Odemba OK Jazz All Stars, To’Mezclao, and Les Freres Guisses. Last May, Touring and

Trading brought the legendary Yellowman to a sold-out crowd at The Picket.

Health and Participation

Since 2010 it has been the Decade of Health and Wellbeing in the Liverpool region. With this

in mind, for the past three years Africa Oyé has featured the Oyé Active Zone, featuring:

* African and Caribbean Dance Workshops by Movema

* Drumming and Percussion Workshops with local community group Beatlife and

Glastonbury’s Chai Chapel

* Guitar Workshops

* Vocal coaching

* Capoeira Brazilian Martial Arts performances and demonstrations

* A mobile climbing wall

* Holistic therapies

* African massages

* Information stalls about health and wellbeing

These events will take place in a designated area on-site with its own PA system, marquees,

and performance area for public viewing and participation.

For updates on tours and learning and participation projects please visit:

www.africaoye.com/tandt/

The Oyé Village

Africa Oyé isn’t just about the wonderful live music. The Oyé village features over 80 stalls of

arts and crafts, food, and drink from around the world, as well as children’s entertainment

including bouncy castles and face painting. At Africa Oyé, there really is something for all the

family.

Once again this year The Oyé Inn will make an appearance. Our very own beer tent will sell

ice cold lager, selected spirits, wine and soft drinks all at affordable prices and served in a

safe environment. Entertainment will be provided by top local DJs.

All profits go straight back into funding the festival to help keep it free.

Africa Oyé is a family friendly festival, so please remember to drink responsibly.

Artists at Oyé 2012

Yellowman and the Sagittarius band (Jamaica) We're delighted to announce that Yellowman is back by popular demand after his successful 2011 UK tour organised by Africa Oyé. With a career spanning over 30 years, few Jamaican artists can claim to have had such an impact worldwide as this legendary deejay and MC. Massively influential in both reggae and hip-hop, Yellowman's back catalogue, list of collaborations and producers speaks for itself as he continues to tour worldwide with the now legendary Sagittarius Band. Yet to play the main stage at Africa Oyé, 'King Yellow' is sure to tear it up with tune after tune of classics.

Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Samba Mapangala was born in Matadi in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He spent the early 70s with various bands in Kinshasa, before moving to Uganda in 1975 where he and some other Congolese musicians formed the Les Kinois band. They moved to Nairobi in 1977. He formed a new band, the Orchestra Virunga, in 1981. The band is named

after Virunga volcano located in Congo.

Orchestra Virunga released their first album, It's Disco Time with Samba Mapangala in 1982. In early 90s the group gained some international popularity through album releases like "Virunga Volcano" and "Feet on Fire."

He has continued to record, and is still one of the leading musicians in East Africa. He is now based in the United States.

Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra (Nigeria/UK) Dele began his career when he joined Fela Kuti's Egypt 80. He then created the Positive Force band with Femi Kuti, with whom he performed from 1986 to 1994. In both bands he was keyboard player, also musical director taking care of re-orchestrating and arranging music as well as handling the recruiting and training of new musicians. Based on Afrobeat, Dele's music is a blend of complex funk grooves, Nigerian traditional music (including hi-life), African percussion, underpinning the jazz horns and solos from other instruments, as well as rhythmical singing. With a 15 strong line up featuring a brass section and some amazing dancers, this is one live show not to be missed!

The Endless Journey (Niger)

Touareg singer, guitarist and songwriter Alhousseini Anivolla and Wodaabe singer Bammo Agonla have toured Europe, Canada, America and Australia with the internationally acclaimed group Etran Finatawa. Mamane Barka is a charismatic musician and ethnomusicologist who is widely known in Niger as a virtuoso ugurumi player. Internationally, he is best known as the last master of the Biram, a sacred instrument of the Boudouma people that he learnt in order to save it from obscurity. Oumarou Adamou, the son of a Hausa Griot, is a famed percussionist and lifelong friend of Barka. Together, their swirling strings, driving rhythms and haunting vocals evoke the vast open spaces of the desert and the very soul of nomadic life.

Yaaba Funk (Ghana/UK)

The band was born in Brixton in 2006. The core members of Yaaba Funk met on the south London African scene in the late 1990s when, as well as studying African music, many wild nights were spent jamming together at house parties, drumming, dancing and djing 'til dawn. The name Yaaba Funk comes from an album called Yaba Funk Roots, the only album ever released outside of Africa by Captain Yaba, a musician from northern Ghana and exponent of the 2-string ‘guitar’ called the koliko. The band has gigged extensively around London and the UK, building up a loyal fan base with their exuberant live shows, and have also performed in Europe and Africa. A floor-filling extravaganza combining the tightest rhythm section this side of Accra, fat analogue bass lines, blazing horns, sparkling African and gritty rock guitars. YF are considered to be one of the best live acts on the circuit.

The European Regional Development Fund

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programme allocates funding to various

regions throughout the EU to boost economic development in less prosperous areas.

In the UK, the government has given its nine Regional Development Agencies responsibility

for managing this funding, meaning that European Union regional policy can be aligned with

UK domestic regional policy. In the Northwest, the Northwest Regional Development Agency

(NWDA) is responsible for managing the ERDF programme, and was allocated €755 million

from the ERDF to spend on the region between 2007 and 2013.

The ERDF programme in the Northwest is known as the Northwest Operational

Programme (NWOP).

The Northwest Operational Programme has four Priority Areas for funding.

The ERDF was set up in 1975. The ERDF is one of two European Union Structural Funds;

the other is the European Social Fund (ESF), which in the Northwest is delivered by Job

Centre Plus, the Learning & Skills Council, and the Government Office for the North West.

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For press queries / images requests please contact ally@onefellswoop.co.uk

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ENDS