Africa Oyé full line up confirmed as international stars head to festival

All of the international musicians heading to Africa Oyé have been confirmed.

The annual Sefton Park festival is a huge celebration of African and Caribbean music. Beginning in 1992 in the city centre, it has become one of Liverpool’s must-visit events - and unbelievably it's still free.

Festival organisers had already announced that Julian Marley, the son of Bob Marley, would be performing at this year’s event with his band The Uprising, with music inspired by life and spirituality.

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Also confirmed were female group Les Amazones d’Afrique, who were originally due to play at the festival in 2020 before it was cancelled due to covid.

Now, the international line-up of acts on the main stage has been confirmed. These will be Nyboma, Congolese rumba royalty, Vox Sambou, Haitian multilingual poet and MC, and Batch Gueye, a Senegalese griot which means a musician or storyteller from West Africa.

Nyboma, stands as an illustrious figure in the realm of Congolese rumba music, with a career spanning over five decades. The song Conséquence, from his band Kékélé's, was at the top of Barack Obama's 2021 summer song playlist.

Vox Sambou blends the spirits of Fela Kuti and Bob Marley in his multicultural sound. Meanwhile, Batch Gueye’s music touches on travel and immigration.

The main stage DJ line-up for the festival will be revealed soon, as well as the two community performances and the young local artists who applied to play this year's Oyé Introduces programme, which sees up-and-coming north west talent showcased on the line-up alongside the international heavyweights.

The Oyé Active Zone on site will once again be hosted by Liverpool's world dance charity Movema, and audiences can expect the usual array of multi-arts workshops across the whole weekend, for all ages and abilities. The increasingly-popular DJ stages Trenchtown and Freetown are also confirmed to return with a line-up of local selectors and MCs to be announced this month.

Paul Duhaney, Oyé's Artistic Director, said: "Congolese rumba is a sound that's synonymous with Africa Oyé and we're delighted that such an important figure in the history of the genre is playing the festival this year in Nyboma.

“Vox Sambou is someone that's been on our radar for a while so it's great to finally bring him over to Liverpool, and Batch Gueye was one of the first performers to take part in Nyumbani - our YouTube series we filmed during the lockdowns - so being able to see him perform live will be a real treat for those who enjoyed his online dance workshop and showcase that he filmed for us back then."

This year’s Africa Oyé festival will take place on June 22nd and 23rd 2024, in Liverpool’s Sefton Park from 12.30pm until 9.30pm both days. Entrance to the festival is free.

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