The World Music Festival (FMM), scheduled for July 22 to 29, in Sines and Porto Covo, in the district of Setúbal, will feature 41 concerts, “with great weight” of African artists, announced today the organization.
At the presentation session held today at the Casa do Alentejo, in Lisbon, the organization revealed more details about the 23rd edition of the festival that, every year, under the slogan “Music with a spirit of adventure”, attracts several thousand people to the Alentejo coast.
With 15 concerts, Africa is the origin of more than a third of the artists invited to this year’s edition of the festival, organized by the Sines City Hall.
Guinea-Bissau will have the largest delegation ever to the FMM, with the confirmation of Tabanka Djaz, Eneida Marta, and Super Mama Djombo, who join three legendary groups from other Portuguese-speaking African countries – Os Tubarões (Cape Verde), África Negra (São Tomé and Príncipe), and Ghorwane (Mozambique).
The African delegation also includes the Franco-Moroccan Bab L’Bluz and the Tuareg band Tinariwen, the Senegalese Lass, the Ghanaians Alotge Oho&His Sounds of Joy, the Congolese group Kin’Gongolo Kiniata, and the Madalitso Band, which makes its Malawian debut at the festival.
One of the greatest artists of the African continent, the Nigerian Nneka, will be in Sines, and from Mali will come the singer Rokia Koné and the band Bamba Wassoulou Groove.
Portugal will be present with nine artists: Carminho, who will make her debut in Sines, Maria João&Carlos Bica Quarteto, whose presence in Sines was postponed by the pandemic, Tó Trips, Expresso Transatlântico, A garota não, Rita Vian, Rita Braga, B Fachada and RAIA, who pay tribute to the viola-campaniça.
In April, the organization had already announced 16 names in the program, namely the Brazilian Chico César. From Brazil, there will also be Céu and Gilsons, joining Mexico’s Lila Downs and Silvana Estrada, Cuba’s Cimafunk, and Jamaica’s Inna de Yard and Brushy One String.
The festival’s European contingent includes Spain’s Rodrigo Cuevas, France’s Brama, France’s La Chica, Estonia’s Mari Kalkun, and Britain’s The Selecter.
The Syrian-Lebanese duo Bedouin Burger debuts in the Middle East geography, which also includes the Alright Mela Meets Santoo project and the return of the Al-Qasar group, in a meeting with Sudanese artist AlSarah.
It is the group Leenalchi, from South Korea, that makes the longest trip to be at the FMM.
Winner of the Best Cultural Program category in the last Iberian Festival Awards, FMM will also have a program of parallel initiatives, yet to be known.
This year, the FMM is set to take place in the village of Porto Covo between July 22 and 24, and in the city of Sines between July 25 and 29.
