The Power of Culture

The Nairobi music scene evolved in recent years thanks to the arrival of the Penya label and its recording studio in one of Nairobi's poorer districts. The result can soon be heard in The Netherlands.

"I’m no expert on the Hip Hop culture in Gabon," says Brazilian Max Soares. "But my research in countries including Namibia, Angola, South Africa and Tanzania has taught met that Hip Hop is an extremely important part of today’s African culture.

Sawa Sawa! by Cheche, a band from Kenya, is the first release on the Fair Trade Music Label, established by Mundial Productions in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

In 2001, several thousand baroque music scores were discovered in two former Jesuit missions in southern Bolivia ' in Chiquitos and Moxos to be precise. Since then, the local APAC organisation, with the support of the Prince Claus Fund, the DOEN Foundation and others, has been busily unlocking the secrets of this unique cultural legacy. On Monday 31 January, this Bolivian baroque music made its debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw concert hall and was well received.