Themes

Women in African music

By Music In Africa Foundation

01 Mar 2019 - 11:05

Women in the African music industry have a way to go to benefit from the same privileges as men. When we talk about women in African music, we do not only mean singers and musicians; the industry also involves professions like sound engineering, stage management, event organisation, A&R, and publishing, to name just a few. And it's very seldom that you'll find women involved in the decision-making processes that shape the future of music on the continent. It's as if women's role in music is accepted to be only about entertaining through song and dance and not much else.

Kenyan musician Maggie von Lekow. Photo: Music In Africa

At Music In Africa we want to see more women getting involved in the more complex structures of the music business. This is why we do our best to publicise workshops and various programmes that strive to empower women to be leaders and decision makers. Our role as a pan-African NPO and media organisation is also to call out regressive political ideologies and backward cultural norms that repress the aspirations of women to excel in the music space.

We’ve encountered deplorable stories where women who choose music as a profession are ostracised by their families and communities. We have also seen governments in certain countries jail female artists on grounds of immorality, when in actual fact the reason they do so is due to deep-seated sexist views.

On 8 March the world celebrates International Women’s Day. This is one of the reasons we have chosen Women in African Music as our theme, which pays homage to all the women who operate in the African music scene.

Below are links related to women in African music – with plenty more to come as the month progresses.

Women in Africa news, features & reviews