Soundlands presents the webinar Sound, Space & Sub-Saharan Africa.

Often interdisciplinary, sound art offers new ways of working. This webinar will:

• take a critical look at sound art with artist and writer, Dr Jane Grant
• present a field study of sound in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with Ghanian DJ and musician, Rita Ray
• showcase a number of live performances by musicians and sound artists from Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon and South Africa, featuring original compositions based on recent micro-commissions:
  • Nyokabi Kariũki – Kenya
  • Steloolive – Ghana
  • Cara Stacey – South Africa
  • Joy Frempong  – Ghana
  • Joseph Kamaru  / KMRU – Kenya
  • Franck Biyong – Cameroon
• Q&A panel discussion

Supported by the British Council #SouthernAfricaArts as part of Soundlands ongoing international research.

New Commissions

Biographies

KMRU

Joseph Kamaru, known as KMRU, is a sound artist and experimental ambient musician currently based in Berlin a student in sound studies and sonic arts at Universität der Künste.
His works touch on field recording, improvisation, noise, ambient, machine learning, radio art and expansive hypnotic drones.
His 2020 album Peel earned him widespread acclaim, and he has presented his work at CTM in Berlin, Nyege Nyege Festival in Uganda and MUTEK in Montréal. More…

Nyokabi Kariũki

Nyokabi Kariũki  is a Kenyan composer, sound artist and performer. Her work spans classical contemporary to experimental electronic music, sound art, pop, film, (East) African musical traditions and more. She performs with the piano, voice, electronics, and on several instruments from the African continent — particularly on kalimbas, the mbira, and djembe. Nyokabi’s work has been described as “deft” (The Quietus) and “transcendent” (The Guardian). She seeks to create meaningful and challenging art, illuminated by a commitment to the preservation and reflection on African thought, language and stories. More …

Steloolive

Steloolive works in sound delivery, fashion art, and photography. He has pioneered the house music and electronic music scene in his country, Ghana, and has performed Accra’s biggest street art festival, Chale Wote, also in Nairobi 2manysinlings’ thrift social, Abuja Art Week in Nigeria, in Abidjan Electropique Festival and Bush Man Film Festival and Design Indaba Festival – Cape Town South Africa.
Steloo has also performed across  Europe including at We don’t contemporary festival in Hamburg-Germany, Afropean Mimicry and Mockery III Frankfurk- Germany, and with international brands such as Guinness,DHL and recentl collaboration with Adidas.

Cara Stacey

Cara Stacey is a South African musician, composer and musicologist and the Standard Bank Young Artist for Music 2021. She is a pianist and plays southern African musical bows (umrhubhe, uhadi, makhoyane). ​She holds a doctorate in African music, specifically looking at the makhoyane musical bow from eSwatini (University of Cape Town/SOAS). Cara holds a Masters in Musicology (Edinburgh), and a MMus in Performance from SOAS (London). Cara studied various African instruments (makhoyane, mbira, uhadi, umrhubhe and budongo) with Dizu Plaatjies, Khokhiwe Mphila, Bhemani Magagula, Tinashe Chidanyika, Modou Diouf, and Andrew Cooke.

Cara has performed across southern Africa, in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Peru, the USA and Switzerland with the likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Sarathy Korwar, Dan Leavers, Galina Juritz, Natalie Mason, Beat Keller, Matchume Zango, Jason Singh and Juliana Venter. More …

Joy Frempong

Joy Frempong is a singer and composer connecting urban Africa to urban Europe, from electronic, jazz and pop and African vibes to storytelling.
She has toured internationally as Duo OY. For the theme ‘Good News From Africa’, she travelled through seven African countries collecting stories and field recordings as sources for ‘musical messages’.  She has explored global migration issues and transposed them into a future vision, SpaceDiaspora.
Frempong is an international artist concerned with urban culture and creativity, developing new and innovative projects that aim to bring different worlds together.

Franck Biyong

Franck Biyong (born 3 December 1973) is a Cameroonian musician, bandleader and record producer. He plays the electric guitar, bass as well as percussion and keyboards. After a string of AfroJazz albums,[1] Franck is breaking new ground with a genre called « Alternative Afro-Electro-Rock » or « Afrolectric Music » that fuses Rock, Electronica and African-flavoured beats. His music leans towards the new sound of Black Rock and Biyong is notable[2] for his African « Guitar Hero » musical alternative[1] and aesthetics. More…

Space, Sound & Sub-Saharan Africa is supported by the British Council Cultural Exchange programme, which supports cultural organisations, festivals, artists, and creatives between the countries of SSA* and the UK to create art, build networks, collaborate and develop markets and share artists’ work with audiences.