Announcing the OneBeat Sahara Fellows

We’re thrilled to announce our talented OneBeat Sahara Fellows. Read our press release below and learn more about the cohort on our OneBeat Sahara program page.

From February 21 to March 13th, 2022, OneBeat Sahara will bring together 23 genre-bending musicians from seven countries in the Saharan Region and the United States to collaboratively create original work and to develop a global network of civically engaged music initiatives. Artists from Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, and the United States will gather in the oasis town of Taghit in Southern Algeria for two weeks of workshops, songwriting, recording sessions and social engagement, followed by a week in Algiers. Inspired by the world’s largest desert, OneBeat Sahara Fellows will explore black diasporic musical traditions that traveled from Africa to the Americas, and back to Africa again, from experimental hip hop to gnawa, jazz to Maghrebi electronic, and more.

During OneBeat Sahara’s 12-day residency in Taghit, Fellows will form new ensembles and compose original music alongside OneBeat staff and collaborating artists. On March 5th, OneBeat will present a full-day outdoor festival by the ancient rock carvings outside Taghit featuring music written during the residency. For the final week of programming, OneBeat will travel north to Algiers where they will work in residence at the cultural center Dar Abdellatif and record their final material. On March 11th, the program will culminate in a final OneBeat marathon show open to the public at the Algiers Opera House.

OneBeat is a constellation of music diplomacy programs that began in 2012 and has worked with over 370 socially engaged musicians from over 50 countries. OneBeat Sahara is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, produced by Bang On A Can’s Found Sound Nation, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy Algeria and the Algerian Ministry of Culture, with additional support from the U.S. Embassy in Libya, the U.S. Embassy in Mali, the U.S. Embassy in Mauritania, the U.S. Embassy in Morocco, the U.S. Embassy in Niger, the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia. Serving as Artistic Directors for the program will be OneBeat alumni Domenica Fossati (U.S.), Haile Supreme (U.S.), and Chakib Bouzidi (Algeria), with support from OneBeat staff.

All programming and performance dates are contingent on the development of COVID-19 and may be subject to change pending the evolving international situation.