Mozambique will host the 13th InterRegional Festival in 2011!

This year’s Music Crossroads InterRegional festival brought together some of the best up-and-coming young musicians in Southern Africa, representing Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as special guest bands from around the world. The festival was held for the third time in Tanzania from 16th to 18th July, celebrating 10 years of Music Crossroads in this country. As always, music and life skills workshops were run alongside the showcase.

At the ‘Grand Finale’, which took place on 17^th July at the Tasuba Theatre in the historical seaside village of Bagamoyo, vigorous band Club Shanga (read previous post) from Eastern Zimbabwe showed themselves deserving of this year's title and earned a European tour for next year! They will follow Nyali (Zambia) and Mokoomba (Zimbabwe) who have both successfully performed on international stages over the last two years.

There were some talented performances from the other nine competing bands at this year’s IRF edition, such as Lumumba Theatre - known for their theatrical performances and traditional dance music - and Twetulobo, a band which balances both traditional and modern styles.

Malawi was represented in the competition by Omafadar, an Afro-Jazz rhythms band, and Kula, a band juggling varied forms of music including jazz, blues and afrocentric, while Mozambique was well represented by last year's contenders Nandov and their counterparts Tudulos.

Zambia’s musical offering consisted of Afrocentric Band and Lubani. Both of the bands were tutored by renowned guitarist Jones Kabanga and most of the members made their international debut at this festival.

Aside from the winners Club Shanga, Zimbabwe was also represented this year by The Way band which put up an equally noticeable performance.

Throughout the competition festival revellers also had the chance to enjoy live appearances from guest artists Royale Echoes International (Ghana), Taiwa Jazz Band (South Africa), Body, Mind & Soul (Malawi – IRF 2007 winner), Ashimba (Tanzania), Bogus (Flanders, Belgium), RMS (Wallonia, Belgium) and The Naima Train (Sweden).

On Sunday 18^th, fresh winners Club Shanga moved the crowd at a chill-out concert in the Makumbusho Cultural Center, in Dar es Salaam. The show completed this African sound clash showcase which is the culmination of the year for the Music Crossroads program.

It also concludes this IRF 2010 blog, but stay tuned to the Music Crossroads’ webpage for more info as we are already looking forward to the next (13th) InterRegional Festival in Maputo, Mozambique, on September 2011!