Reeperbahn Festival
International

Medase, Accra!

From 28 - 30 November 2019, Reeperbahn Festival visited the African continent for the first time with a delegation and artists and immersed itself in the local music scene of Ghana's capital at the Music In Africa Conference for Collaborations, Exchange and Showcases (ACCES).

With a 30-strong European delegation, Reeperbahn Festival travelled to Accra to dedicate itself full of enthusiasm and curiosity to the African music market, make contacts and get to know existing networks and institutions in Ghana and beyond. The event started with various tours through the local music industry and music scene with visits to various local studios, labels and other interesting companies.

On two panels curated by Reeperbahn Festival, new trends and changes in the respective music markets and European and African partnerships and opportunities were discussed.

The showcase acts Songhoy Blues played in front of an enthusiastic audience on the first day of the opening event, Gato Preto gave an impressive performance on Friday with a lot of energy and Lúcia de Carvalho enchanted the audience on the closing evening of ACCES 2019 with her unique compositions!

Many thanks to ACCES 2019!

Joe Chialo (Senior VP A&R Universal Music Central Europe & Africa and Managing Director Airforce1, DE):

“What we need is a kind of swarm intelligence. I want to learn from people who work in other locations and in other contexts, and I feel that this is one of the most important tasks for us as representatives of the European music industry.”

“The artists here are so passionate and ambitious – I find this very inspiring, and it shows the growing significance of African artists for the music industry as a whole.”

“Particularly for me, representing a music company with global operations like Universal Music, it’s very exciting to travel with a group of artists and business representatives from smaller music companies in order to share our experiences and expectations.”

Björn Mathes (Managing Director, ferryhouse productions, DE):

“I considered going to Accra for ACCES mainly thanks to the Reeperbahn Festival. While there, I was able to get deep down into the local music scene in Ghana and establish a lot of interesting connections, which wouldn’t have been possible without the Reeperbahn Festival.”

Jonathan Jules (Director International Marketing, Africa, BMG Rights Management GmbH, DE) & Matthias Henning (SVP International Repertoire, BMG Rights Management GmbH, DE):

„For us it was important to travel with likeminded colleagues from around the industry to Africa at these very exciting times where everybody is trying to understand the chances of the market. Thanks to participating in this delegation we were able to exchange ideas and see where opportunities exist. We met great people during ACCES, got really good insights and believe we definitely made the right decision joining the Reeperbahn Festival International Accra delegation.“

Vanessa Poku (Copyright Manager, Roba Music Publishing, DE):

„My father is a Ghanaian, so I’ve already been to Ghana on my own a few times. But to travel with the Reeperbahn Festival International delegation was a big chance to combine my passion for music, my roots and business. It really opens doors and I’ve learned a lot about the music business in Africa especially in Ghana and have met great and interesting people. Networking was really good. I’ve been in touch with lot of good artists. I‘m very happy to had this opportunity and join the delegation team.“

Kimberly Tanikromo (Head Of Creative, Next Era Publishing, NL):

„We`ve been in contact with ACCES earlier, and when we learned Reeperbahn Festival International is sending a delegation to Accra, two great things came together. The conference and the additional programme Reeperbahn Festival organized during ACCES tremendously helped to get into contact with local artists and producers. Especially the additional company visits and studio tours were so insightful and close to the local music scene that we find us already now in the final steps of closing our first deal here thanks to these excursions.“