From February 21 to March 13th, 2022, OneBeat Sahara brought 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 explored 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 formed ensembles and composed original music alongside OneBeat staff and collaborating artists. On March 5th, OneBeat presented 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 traveled north to Algiers where they worked in residence and recorded their final material. On March 9th, an evening concert was co-presented by audio visual collective Alpha Tango and on March 11th, the program culminated 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 were OneBeat alumni Domenica Fossati (U.S.), Haile Supreme (U.S.), and Chakib Bouzidi (Algeria), with support from OneBeat staff.