Africa Oyé

Africa Oyé Festival is the largest celebration of live African music 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 festival showcases new and established African and Caribbean 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 and the diaspora, with Salsa, Soca and Reggae 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 North West and Liverpool City Council, 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 and Ba Cissoko. The festival has also attracted a wealth of international artists to Merseyside, including Bonga, Luciano, Baaba Maal and Max Romeo. 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 Liverpool's picturesque Sefton Park. 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 Liverpool City Council 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.

2019 saw the busiest day of the festival's 27-year history on the Saturday.

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.

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 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.
* 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.

Notable artists

* Freddie McGregor
* Frankie Paul
* Andrew Tosh

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