how Africolor 2023 must deal with the issue of visas for certain Sahelian artists

Published on : 11/17/2023 – 09:10

2 mins

It is on November 17, 2023 that the major annual festival, Africolor, opens north of Paris. For more than a month, 39 concerts, shows and meetings in around ten towns in the department will highlight African music in all its forms.

For several years and more particularly since the diplomatic crisis between France and three Sahel countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Africolor has had difficulty bringing in certain artists.

If this year the festival turns to East African music, it is firstly out of taste, but it is also out of necessity. The crisis between France and Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger impacts the movement of artists, which festival director Sébastien Lagrave deplores. “ We knew from August 6 and the placement of the three capitals in the red zone that, in any case, the services (consulars, Editor’s note) and visa providers were going to be closedhe explains on the microphone ofOlivier Roger of the RFI Economy department. It was with the circular of September 12-13 that things became public. So, I had already replaced the artists who were to come “.

On September 12, a circular limiting the arrival of Sahelian artists caused an outcry in France and the Sahel. Since then, the French authorities have reversed course but have established an exceptional regime. Sébastien Lagrave underlines: “ On this side, I think that the mobilization in September bore fruit. I think that the Ministry of Culture is very attentive to this and we are working in good harmony so that exemptions can take place. »

The director of Africolor, however, deplores a regime which considerably limits the movement of artists and also students. This festival, a link between continents, refuses to become a broken line.