Niccolò Fabi, Tommy Kuti, Kandy Guira, the Mezzotono, Baba Sissoko: these are just some of the many artists who joined the video marathon organised by the Foreign Ministry to celebrate Africa Day 2020.
Today, May 25th – the anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity (later African Union) in 1963, created to mark the independence just won by many countries on the continent – about fifty music videos by Italian and African artists will be uploaded on the Foreign Ministry’s Youtube channel, interspersed with short speeches by political personalities aimed at underlining the importance of the historical relations between Italy and Africa.
Among these, there will be messages of good wishes from Minister Di Maio, Deputy Minister Del Re, South African Foreign Minister Pandor (currently South Africa holds the Presidency of the African Union), Vice Secretary General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed, President of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo, Vice President of the African Union Commission Kwesi Quartey and Executive Secretary of UNECA Vera Songwe.
The initiative will be promoted on the Ministerial Facebook channel, as well as on the Foreign Ministry website.
Parallel to the video-marathon, a virtual photographic exhibition dedicated to Africa will be set up. The exhibition, entitled Incontri Italia-Africa in obiettivo, is a tribute to this world that is so alive, mysterious and full of contradictions, told through the lens of some Italian photographers who have worked or lived in African countries.
Their shots capture moments of life lived between daily labours and urban or natural scenarios of extraordinary beauty. Through their eyes, ours can observe in depth and with greater richness of detail, the thousand faces and the essence of a multiform and complex culture, only geographically distant from our own.
The initiative collects images taken mainly in 2019, on the occasion of the exhibition Italia, Culture, Africa and in cooperation with the Italian Embassies and Cultural Institutes based in Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
To connect to the Foreign Ministry youtube channel click here
To visit the virtual exhibition Incontri Italia-Africa in obiettivo click here
