Barely one year after it launched itself into African music consciousness, BridgeAfric has scored a major goal – bringing artistes and music producers from different countries to converge on Lagos for a four-day intellectual and creative soiree that was designed to uplift the standard of music wilting the continent and deepen collaborations.
And so the Mike Adenuga Centre (Alliance Francaise) venue of the creative confab last month was filled with palpable creative energy.
The roll call of stars was impressive. They included Rexxie from Nigeria, Mix Master Garzy from Ghana, Shado Chris from Ivory Coast, DelB, Banger and DJ Neptune from Nigeria.
Others are Twinsbeatz, Juma Jux, Didi B and Himra from Ivory Coast. And there were Erin Ross and EVK from America. Suspect 95 from Ivory Coast, Bucci from Malawi, Zani Challe from Malawi, DJ Moh Green from France/Algeria, Sonia Aimy from Canada and a number of emerging talents who gathered for the Showbiz101 Global Workshop and Music Creation Camp which bridgeAFRIC hosted in collaboration with All Africa Music Awards, (AFRIMA).
It was a period dedicated to learning, fostering collaborations, and building networks by top music business leaders, celebrities, business executives, and creative industry professionals.
The event started with a comprehensive workshop hosted by Juliet Ibrahim and Nigerian comedian Phronesis. It brought together a diverse array of creative industry professionals representing various regions of Africa, Europe, America, and Canada.
Workshop topics included: Show versus Business, where speakers delved into the business of music, structure and team formation.
Your Art versus Your Brand, where brand experts and brand representatives discussed the importance of brand and how to build a brand that is attractive to other brands.
Publishing, music distribution, copyright and intellectual property, where speakers discussed the approach to benefitting properly from all these streams of income and how artistes could enroll and get professional help.
Tgere was also Wealth Wellness: How artistes can build financially healthy careers and also maintain work/life balance to deal with the pressures of stardorm.
Speakers included Bizzle Osikoya of The plug, Adaora Mbelu of Lumination Global Network, Zimbawean-South African rapper, Nadia Nakai,l; Tanzanian Songwriter and artiste, Juma Jux; Ivorian rapper Didi B, MTN Brand Manager: Osaze Ebueku, DJ Neptune, Ivorian Hip-hop artistse: Suspect 95, Wendy Harawa, President of ROL Records Daphne Montgomery, Eric Bellamy from Live Nation France, Freddy Daddy from Cameroun among others.
After the workshop, artistes went into a three-day music production camp with all the big music stars as well as music producers working together in the studio to produce a global EP that would feature the songs that were created at the camp.
Victoria Nkong, the bi-lingual President of BridgeAFRIC, said the event was a genuine embodiment of the global creative industry converging in one location, and tgat she found the smooth collaborative efforts, networking activities, and the establishment of new relationships to be truly invigorating.
She added that BridgeAfric was looking forward to the release of the EP and the exploration of the musical collaborations that were developed during that unique gathering
