Africa Oyé is an annual

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

held annual in

Sefton Park Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a conservation district of the same name, It is the largest public park in Liverpool and the Liverpool City Region. Suburbs neighbouring the park include Toxteth, Aigb ...

, in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

it is the largest celebration of live

African music The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...

and culture in the UK. Originally a smaller, multi-venue event, Oyé now attracts over fifty thousand people every June to Liverpool's Sefton Park.Africa Oye official website.
Retrieved 1 February 2012 The next Africa Oyé is set for June 2026, after the organisers announced a hiatus for 2025. The festival showcases new and established African and

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

artists, plus musicians from across the diaspora whilst celebrating various aspects of the same cultures. Oyé has also been known to programme music from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and the diaspora, with Salsa, Soca and

Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

proving popular additions to the festival. Africa Oyé is a non-profit organisation and registered charity. Entrance to the festival is free of charge, with the festival being partially funded by the

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

North West and

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

, in addition to donations from the public, sponsorship, advertising, in kind support and the revenue generated from pitched traders, merchandise and the Oyé beer tent. The introduction of the Trenchtown area that provided music to the people around the bar was a huge success. The more recent introduction of a second DJ stage, the Freetown area and the Oyé zone have also proven popular. There are over 100 stalls in the surrounding Oyé Village, selling a broad range of world foods, fashion and cultural experiences.WikiFestivals
Retrieved 3 February 2012 Africa Oyé has one live music stage, hosting UK débuts for artists such as

Tinariwen Tinariwen (Tamasheq language, Tamasheq: ; with vowels ; plural of ténéré meaning "desert") is a collective of Tuareg people, Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of southern Algeria and of northern Mali, in the region of Azawad. Considered ...

and Ba Cissoko. The festival has also attracted a wealth of international artists to the wider Liverpool area, including Bonga, Luciano,

Baaba Maal Baaba Maal (, born 13 June 1953) is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July ...

and

Max Romeo Maxwell Livingston Smith (22 November 1944 – 11 April 2025), known professionally as Max Romeo, was a Jamaican reggae and roots reggae recording musician who achieved chart success in his home country and in the United Kingdom. He had several ...

. A wide range of DJs can also perform throughout the weekend at the Trenchtown and Freetown stages. A recent independent Social Economic Impact Study outlined the many effects that Africa Oyé has on the Liverpudlian community. Besides Oyé's general efforts to further cultural understanding in Merseyside, the festival brought in £1.3 million to the Liverpool economy in 2011.. As one of the earliest festivals in the UK calendar, Oyé occurs in the latter half of June. The festival has no authorised camping area, so accommodation for artists and audience alike is sought among Liverpool's many local hotels.

History

Beginning in 1992 as a series of small gigs in Liverpool's city centre, the event has consistently grown in size and popularity, forcing a move in 2002 to its present home in

's picturesque

. 2009 saw Oyé attract an audience of over 20,000 people, increasing to over 50,000 in 2010 and 2011. The festival was briefly a ticketed (£5) event in 2011 This was to cover the cost of enclosing the event, a precaution enforced by

following the large numbers of attendance in 2010. However, after extensive discussions between Oyé's organisers and the council, the decision was reversed and Oyé continued to be a free and unfenced festival. 2017 was the 25th anniversary of Africa Oyé and saw an estimated footfall of 80,000. In 2020, Africa Oyé launched Nyumbani. Taking its name from the Swahili word for 'at home,' this was a new online series of original concerts, interviews, documentaries and DJ sets. In 2022, the festival celebrated its 30th anniversary with a year-round programme of concerts and events, including performances from

WITCH Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

, The Dur Dur Band, Vieux Farka Toure and many more. 2023 saw the busiest single day of the festival's 30+ year history, on the Saturday. 2024 was Oye's busiest ever festival weekend.

Health and participation

2010 began The Decade of Health and Well Being in the Liverpool region. With this in mind Oyé introduced The Health, Learning, and Participation Zone at the Africa Oyé festival, featuring activities such as: * African and

dance workshops by Movema. * Drumming and Percussion Workshops with local community group Beatlife and

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

's Chai Chapel. * Guitar Workshops. * Vocal coaching. *

Capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, capoeira music, music, and spirituality. It likely originated from enslaved Mbundu people, of the Kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. The ...

Brazilian

Martial Arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

performances and demonstrations. * A mobile climbing wall. * Holistic therapies. * African

massage Massage is the rubbing or kneading of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet, or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pa ...

s. * Info stalls about health and well-being. These additions remained in place for each festival thereafter. These events take place in a designated area of the festival, with its own PA system, marquee(s), performance area, platforms and risers for public viewing and participation. 2020 saw the 10 year anniversary of The Decade of Health and Well Being.

The Oyé Village

The Oyé Village is a phrase used to collectively describe the growing number of stalls at the festival. With over 100 stalls, it features food, arts and crafts from around the world, plus children's entertainment drum workshops, funfair bouncy castles and face painting, and The Oyé Inn; Oye's on site bar, as well as the Oye Active Zone.

Notable artists

Freddie McGregor Fredrick "Freddie" McGregor (born 27 June 1956, in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a Jamaican singer, musician and record producer. His music career began when he was seven years old. Biography In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to ...

* Frankie Paul * Andrew Tosh * Michael Rose (Mykal Rose) *

Femi Kuti Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti (born 16 June 1962), popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician born in London and raised in Lagos. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and a grandchild of political campaigner, women's r ...

* Rebecca Malope * Habib Koite * The Morgan Family Heritage * The Soul Brothers * Thomas Mapfumo * Luciano * The Gangbé Brass Band * Tiken Jah Fakoly * La Excelencia *

Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

* Misty in Roots * Kanda Bongo Man *

Marcia Griffiths Marcia Llyneth Griffiths (born 23 November 1949) is a Jamaican singer best known for the 1989 remix of her single " Electric Boogie", which serves as the music for the four-wall " Electric Slide" line dance. It is the best-selling single of ...

* Fatoumata Diawara *

Osibisa Osibisa is a Ghanaian-Caribbean Afro rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London-based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa was the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...

* Bonga * Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band *

Andy Palacio Andy Vivian Palacio (December 2, 1960 – January 19, 2008) was a Belizean punta musician and government official. He was also a leading activist for the Garifuna people and their culture. Biography Palacio was born and raised in the coasta ...

* Akala *

Horace Andy Horace Andy (born Horace Keith Hinds, 19 February 1951) is a Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as " Skylarking", as well as "Government Land", "Angel", "Spying Glass", and "Five Ma ...

* Wesli * Jah9 and The Dub Treatment * Rocky Dawuni * Inner Circle * Lura * Oumou Sangare * Fuse ODG * Julian Marley * Les Amazones D'Afrique

Press and awards

Africa Oyé has appeared in The Times' top 50 UK Festivals, Songlines' Top UK Summer Festivals for the past 10 years and the Telegraph's 100 Best Festivals in Britain 2011. Oyé has also been shortlisted for Best Medium Sized Festival in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2019 at the UK Festival awards, been nominated for ‘The Grass Roots Festival Award’, ‘Family Festival Award’, and the all important ‘Best Toilets’ at the UK Festival Awards 2010. Paul Duhaney, Director of Oyé, won the Merseyside Black Achiever award in 2010. In 2014, the festival won the 'Inspiration Award 2014' from GIT etintothis More recently the festival has been nominated for a 'Merseyside Tourism Award' and 'Northern Soul Award' in 2018. In 2019, the festival won 'People's Choice Award 2019', 'International Reach Award 2019', and 'Improving Community Cohesion Award 2019' at the Liverpool City Region Culture & Creativity Awards. The chair of the board of trustees for Africa Oyé is Sonia Bassey MBE. In 2022, the festival was shortlisted for 'The Positively Perfect Pivot Award' at the UK Festival Awards. In the same year, the festival was a finalist for the 'Liverpool Echo Community Event of the Year'. In 2023 the festival was again nominated for the 'People's Choice' Award at the LCR Culture & Creativity Awards.

Oyé touring and trading

Africa Oyé launched an additional strand of work in April 2009, funded by the Arts Council, called Oyé Touring and Trading. Along with 5 other national organisations (Serious, Punch Records, Joyful Noise, and CMAT) and as part of the Black Routes network, Oyé produced two National tours, and a Learning and Participation Project called The Legacy Roots and Music in Liverpool. The first two tours were with Jamaican Reggae artist Freddie McGregor in June and Odemba OK Jazz All Stars from DR Congo on September 9, 2010 featured To’Mezclao; while 2011 saw several artists take part, including tours with Misty in Roots and Yellowman. Oyé also hosted one-off shows with Wailing Souls and The Mighty Diamonds during the same year.Africa Oyé Touring and Trading website.
Retrieved 3 February 2012 Oyé were also the first to bring

Songhoy Blues Songhoy Blues is a desert blues music group from Timbuktu, Mali. The band was formed in Bamako after being forced to leave their homes during the civil conflict and the imposition of Sharia law. The band released its debut album, ''Music in Exil ...

to the UK on tour in January and February 2015.

References

External links

* * http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/news/newsdetail_2649.asp {{DEFAULTSORT:Africa Oye Music festivals in Merseyside Festivals in Liverpool