Kendrick Lamar headlines, as Move Afrika campaign arrives in Rwanda

[By VICTOR NZE]

International advocacy organisation, the Global Citizen in collaboration with creative imprint, pgLang, Friday, announced plans to organise the ‘Move Afrika: A Global Citizen Experience’, a new long-term, large-scale effort to pioneer a first-of-its-kind international music touring circuit throughout the continent of Africa.

Global Citizen is the world’s leading international advocacy organization on a mission to end extreme poverty, through campaigns and events that convene leaders in music, entertainment, public policy, media, philanthropy and the corporate sector.

The Move Afrika initiative of Global Citizen will be hosted for the first time in the East African nation of Rwanda on December 6, 2023 at the BK Arena in Kigali.

Partners of Move Afrika include pgLang, the Rwanda Development Board and TimesLive.

Tagged; Move Afrika: Rwanda, the event will be headlined by Grammy Award, Pulitzer Prize winning artist and co-founder of pgLang, Kendrick Lamar, while pgLang will serve as the Curator of Move Afrika for the next five years, from 2023 until 2028.

According to the organisers, Move Afrika is Global Citizen’s latest effort to address the world’s inequities by creating job and entrepreneurship opportunities for the continent’s emerging generations through an annual series of world-class live events.

Showcasing the best of Africa to the world, these events will drive transformative investments within local communities, engage local artists, vendors, agencies and crews, and provide opportunities for on-the-job skill development and training.

Producing a world-class experience for fans and artists alike, Move Afrika will set a new gold-standard for entertainment touring events, increasing demand from international and regional artists to tour in the region and building local capacity within host cities across the continent.

In partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Kigali the capital city will host Move Afrika every year for the next five years.

According to Move Africa organisers, each year, additional countries will be added to the tour schedule, which aims to expand to five countries by 2025.

The Move Rwanda will also feature more regional artists to be announced.

It is also expected to form the platform for a citizen-led advocacy campaign calling for urgent action and bold commitments from world leaders on major issues across the continent.

Key issues include: The need for increased funding for health, with a specific emphasis on women and girls; addressing the climate crisis and its impact on food security; tackling the lack of access to economic opportunities for future generations; and encouraging civic participation.

It is noteworthy that Move Afrika builds on Global Citizen’s previous campaigns and events across the continent that include: Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, which brought Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Ed Sheeran, Usher, Eddie Vedder and Chris Martin of Coldplay to Johannesburg, South Africa in 2018; Global Citizen Live: Lagos that featured Davido, Femi Kuti, and Tiwa Savage at Fela Kuti’s New Afrika Shrine in 2021; and Global Citizen Festival: Accra, which brought Usher, SZA, Stormzy, and TEMS to the iconic Black Star Square in 2022.

Commenting, Co-Founder and CEO, Global Citizen, Hugh Evans, said: “Africa is driving culture and creativity globally, but the Continent has been left out of the global music touring circuit for too long. By moving from one-off events to the sustained commitment of an annual tour, Move Afrika will drive transformative investments across Africa through the pioneering of a world-class touring circuit.

“Move Afrika will pave the way for many more artists to tour the Continent, while generating new economic opportunities within the entertainment industry for Africa’s booming youth generation. We are incredibly excited to bring this vision to life with pgLang and Kendrick Lamar, and are grateful for our partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, who shares our belief in this vision.

Also remarking, pgLang said: “Our goal with Move Afrika is to inspire local youth and artists to unlock their creativity. We hope to curate an immersive experience that empowers various communities and cultures across Africa and around the world for a lifetime.”

On his part, Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Francis Gatare, said: “We are delighted to host Global Citizen and to provide a platform for Move Afrika. This is a unique collaboration that aims to showcase the best of African creative talent to the world, through curated memorable entertainment experiences that address development priorities of our continent. Creating employment and income generating initiatives of the private sector, with a spotlight on the youth, is Rwanda Development Board’s core mandate.

“Together with Global Citizen and Move Afrika, we will position Rwanda as an entertainment hub for all African countries to benefit from the global creative industry.”

Also commenting, ,” Africa Patron, Global Citizen, Tshepo Mahloele, said: “I am honored and humbled to play a meaningful role that supports new age global efforts to deal with health inequity, challenge poverty, and empower women and girls.

“The neglect of these predicaments, including global warming, have a detrimental effect on the prospects of the citizens of Africa and this situation cannot be allowed to continue unabated. I am happy that the Global Citizen movement has reignited the debate about these critical matters and that it is continuing to keep Africa top of mind by having Move Afrika: Rwanda. Across the entire African continent there is huge excitement for driving economic development, tourism and world class entertainment.

“We look forward to announcing additional cities for 2024 and 2025 in the coming months

Since its inception in Australia in 2008, Global Citizen has grown to become the world’s leading advocacy

organization and one of the largest, most visible platforms uniting people around the world to call on world leaders to end extreme poverty, defend the planet and address the inequity of women and girls.”

So far, the advocacy organization has taken its action-based live music events and campaigns from New York City to India, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, Ghana, and Canada.

Over the past 10 years, $43.6 billion in commitments announced on Global Citizen platforms has been deployed, impacting nearly 1.3 billion lives.