The Italian Cultural Institute of Dakar, Senegal, will take part in the third edition of Dakar Music Expo (DMX), the event scheduled for 3-6 February 2022 which celebrates African music and creativity.
The final display of the event will take place on 6 February at the Italian Cultural Institute, while the initiatives of the first three days will be hosted by the Institut Français.
Dakar Music Expo is the main music platform of western Africa: a unique event dedicated to music, art and culture that aims to export African and Senegalese creativity beyond national borders. For the first time, Dakar Music Expo will be held both in French and English. In fact, organizers do not hide the ambition to use DMX to open the Senegalese music market to the English-speaking world. It is no coincidence that the motto chosen for the 2022 edition of DMX is “Dakar goes global”.
The exhibition is directed by Doudou Sarr, cultural entrepreneur, artistic director and agent of world-famous artists such as Youssou N’dour.
The event will feature workshops, masterclasses and panels which aim to support experience-sharing and contribute to the professional growth of the new generation of artists and professionals of the music industry in Africa
With its selection of events and concerts strongly focused on new creative proposals, DMX aims at showing to the world the great potential of contemporary African music. The complete program is available on the Dakar Music Expo 2022 website.
The program includes the presentation (5 February) of the set of Khalab (stage name of Raffaele Costantino), an Italian journalist, music expert and one of the major performers of afro-futurism music. In particular, he will present his project “Laamb”, commissioned by the Italian Cultural Institute and thought up together with journalist Megan Iacobini De Fazio. With “Laamb”, Khalab celebrates the dialogue between cultures and creativity, contemporary languages and tradition, Italy and Senegal.
“Laamb” is about Senegalese folk wrestling, one of the continent’s oldest fighting techniques, a ritual, a show and a sport practised by many and followed by millions of people. Khalab will record the sounds and voices of the athletes as they train in gyms and on the beaches, as well as the percussions and ceremonial chants that precede the actual fight. He will also work with Senegalese musicians to compose the rhythmic patterns to be paired with his field recording work. Once back to Italy, Khalab will process and synthesise the material to create the final artistic product.
