Royal Echoes for Tanzania

ROYAL ECHOES, a youthful band from Ho (Volta region), who won the ultimate prize of New Music Ghana 2010, will next week leave Accra for a ten-day performance tour of Tanzania.

The group, who competed with six other bands from all over Ghana, will perform at the 2010 edition of Music Crossroads International Festival in Dar es Salaam and the Zanzibar International Film Festival, which will take place on the Island of Zanzibar.

Countries taking part in the Music Crossroads Festival, which will involve competitions, include Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Guest bands comprise groups from Sweden, Belgium, Ireland and Ghana.

Royal Echoes is expected to dazzle the expected huge audiences with a curious blend of jazz, blues, highlife and agbadza - a move that has endeared them to the hearts of passionate audiences in several parts of the Volta and Greater Accra Regions.

Music Crossroads Festival is Southern Africa’s premier music competition for young artistes of all styles, which offers a unique opportunity for young artistes to expose their artistic creations in several European and African countries.

It represents the culmination of an entire year’s activities throughout the Music Crossroads program, which includes 34 provincial and 5 national festivals, as well as daily rehearsals/events at the Music Crossroads centers in Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zambia.

As part of the festival, workshops will take place with focus on professionalism in the music field.

These include improvisation, promotion, management and music rights workshops with local, European and African moderators.

In a true festival style, all activities for musicians will be supplemented with Relationship Workshops on HIV/AIDS and Gender Issues.

New Music Ghana was initiated in 2009 by the Institute for Music and Development with support from the Danish Centre for Culture and Development. Its objectives include evolving a new popular musical style derived from the diverse traditional musical styles in Ghana, identifying and developing youth talents, and providing a conducive learning environment for artistic growth.

Others are sensitizing the youth to appreciate and revere their own traditional musical forms and those of others, while enhancing the understanding of cultural diversity through interaction with others from cultures other than their own. The tour is being supported by the Danish Centre for Culture and Development, Music Crossroads International, Jeunesse Musical and Art Moves Africa.