From July 11 to 13 Festival au Désert brings to Florence the magic of the encounter in music among distant cultures: a three-day event under the sign of rhythm, reflection and sociality.

The Festival au Désert in Florence is a multicultural music project that since 2010 has created a network for contemporary creation among Africa, the Mediterranean and Europe, starting from the collaboration between Festival au Désert in Essakane (Mali) and Fondazione Fabbrica Europa.
Along with this festival (which since 2012 has become Caravane pour la Paix due to the war in Mali), a collaboration has been established to develop a network for the production and promotion of new creations that can combine the delicate work of transmitting traditions and nomadic instrumental techniques with the most innovative sounds experimented in the West.
Since then the project has favoured a journey to and from Africa, a new Africa that is able to innovate without denying its own story, becoming a “meeting space among cultures” in Florence.

PROGRAMME

TUESDAY, JULY 11

Cloister of Cenacolo di Ognissanti, Piazza Ognissanti, Florence
h 19:00 presentation of the book AZALAI 1500 km a piedi nel deserto (AZALAI 1500 km walking across the desert) by and with Carlo Maver
h 19:30 meeting “Africs imagined and Africa’s realities” with Luca Morino – Mau Mau and Jacopo Tomatis – Il Giornale della Musica
h 20:30 concert with Francesco Loccisano – strumming guitar, Antonio Petito – double bass, Tonino Palamara – percussion, Federica Santoro – Calabrian lira

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12

Cloister of Cenacolo di Ognissanti, Piazza Ognissanti, Florence
h 19:00 meeting “Europe, the Mediterranean and the Arab world: which challenges?”
with Anna Paola Concia – Councillor for Cooperation and International Relations of the Municipality of Florence, Isabelle Mallez – Director of Institut français Florence, Sanaa Ahmed – Cultural manager of Florence Mosque and
h 20:30 concert with Giorgos Manolakis – laouto and vocals, Zacharias Spyridakis
– Cretan lyra (Greece)

Piazza Ognissanti, Florence
h 21:30 ALMAR’À – the orchestra of Arab and Mediterranean women
(winning project of the call MigrArti)
h 22:00 Hindi Zahra – vocals (Morocco), Riccardo Onori – guitar, Ziad Trabelsi – oud (Tunisia)
h 22:30 TERAKAFT (Mali): Sanou Ag Ahmed – vocals and guitar, Liya Ag Ablil – guitar and backing vocals, Andrew Sudhib Hasilp – bass guitar, Bruno Marmey – drums, special guest: Justin Adams – guitar

THURSDAY, JULY 13

Cloister of Cenacolo di Ognissanti, Piazza Ognissanti, Florence
h 19:30 meeting “Caravane pour la Paix” with Manny Ansar – director of Festival au Désert (Mali), Afel Bocoum – musician Fadimata Walet Oumar – musician
h 20:30 ITALY > MALI: Fadimata Walet Oumar – vocals (Mali), Badara Seck – vocals (Senegal), Dimitri Grechi Espinoza – sax, Emanuele Parrini – violin, Paolo Pewee Durante – keyboards, Andrea Melani – percussions

Piazza Ognissanti, Florence
h 21:30 Justin Adams – guitar, Riccardo Onori – guitar, Sanou Ag Ahmed – guitar
h 22:00 Afel Bocoum & Ali Farka Touré Band (Mali)
h 22:30 Jam session CARAVANE POUR LA PAIX

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