The 8th InterRegional Festival of Music Crossroads Southern Africa will be held 24-27 May of 2007 in Harare, Zimbabwe. "Over the past ten years, Music Crossroads has identified and groomed young musicians who have now made it musically and become national household names," said Mathias Bangure, MCSA Zimbabwe.

Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI), the world’s largest youth music network, will present Music Crossroads Southern Africa this May. This festival highlights the talents of young bands (aged 15-25) from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who have been selected following local and national competition rounds.

The Music Crossroads Southern Africa (MCSA) program is open to all styles of music including ethnic/traditional, pop, rock and hip-hop. During its 10 years of existence, the MCSA competitions have launched many careers. In 2006, the Tanzanian afrofusion band Afrikali, played 40 international tour dates following their win at the 2005 InterRegional Festival.

The winning band from 2006, the 7-piece Malawian afro-pop band Konga Vibes be on tour in Europe 7 June - 28 July 2007, including performance at Belgium’s acclaimed world music festival Couleur Café and the Festival Mundial in Tilburg, Holland.

Music Crossroads Southern Africa is more than a festival - it is the largest cultural program in Sub-Saharan Africa. The program has received financial support from UNESCO, SIDA and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its success as a youth empowerment platform. The MCSA program are reaches out to youth from both urban and remote areas, improves youth self-esteem through performance opportunities, fights HIV/Aids through participant workshops, encourages young woman to assert themselves as performers, and more…

Alongside the 2007 competition, sound engineer Marco Gudanski from Couleur Café will run workshops for young sound engineers from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These workshops participants will join the Couleur Café sound team June 2007 for further training and work experience.

Festival schedule:

24 May Zimbabwe National Final Part I, Harare Gardens
Including performances by other InterRegional Festival participants

25 May Zimbabwe National Final Part II, Harare Gardens
Including performances by other InterRegional Festival participants

26 May MCSA InterRegional Festival Grand Final, Glamis Arena

27 May Public Festival, Chinhoyi Caves
With performances by 8th InterRegional Festival participants, winning bands from previous MCSA InterRegioanal Festivals and international acts

Photo: Afrikali.

More information at; www.jmi.net/activities/crossroads.