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2021 Countries and Territories
Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, United States.
About
OneBeat Sahara will convene 25 musicians from seven countries in the Saharan Region and the U.S. to collaboratively create original work and to develop a global network of civically engaged music initiatives. During this 3-week program, which includes a residency in Béchar and tour to Taghit and Algiers, OneBeat Sahara Fellows will explore Black diasporic musical traditions that traveled from Africa to the Americas, and back to Africa again. This program will focus particularly on the elements of these artistic traditions and their links to North African music -- both ancient and contemporary -- which create a cultural power based in resilience, creativity, and mutual support.
Inspired by the world’s largest desert, the theme of OneBeat Sahara 2021 will be silence, both as a form of oppression and a source of power and creative awareness. As OneBeat alumnus (2018, U.S) Chakib Bouzidi, put it: “The desert is known as a vast place, given over to emptiness and solitude. When we come into harmony with this vast landscape, we can more clearly articulate each sound, more precisely recognize each gesture, each movement, and hear the breath that surrounds us in the midst of great silence.”
All programming and performance dates are contingent on the development of COVID-19 and may be subject to change pending the evolving international situation.