The 11th Carthage Music Festival is scheduled to start on Saturday at the Opera Hall in the City of Culture in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia. The festival will run until October 10, with a renewed strategic vision to transform it into a professional salon that supports the music industry and provides an international platform for emerging artists. This year's festival, supervised by Mondher El Fallah, will feature a rich cultural program with shows from 15 countries.
The festival will include 26 shows selected from 378 projects, in addition to eight concerts proposed by the organizers. The shows will feature artists and musical groups from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Senegal, Chad, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, and Brazil. The events will be held in eight spaces, including Habib Bourguiba Street, the main artery of Tunis, and seven spaces in the City of Culture.
The festival's opening show will be a "musical surprise" that explores the relationship between humans and music, but the details have not been disclosed. The closing ceremony will feature a concert by Syrian artist Faya Younan. For the first time, the festival will include a section called "Carthage Music Festival in Prisons" with the theme "The Same Rhythm of Freedom," which will feature five shows.
The "Carthage Music Festival in Prisons" section will start with a show by female inmates at the Mahregah Center for Juvenile Delinquents in the City of Culture on October 4, followed by shows by professional artists and groups inside civil prisons in Bjerat, Sousse, and Nabel. The festival will also feature a new section called "Carthage Music Festival in the Regions," where a selection committee will choose three projects to be presented at festivals in several Tunisian governorates.
The festival aims to support emerging artists and provide them with a platform to meet international music professionals. For the first time, the festival will host a workshop called "Carthage Music Festival Jazz Workshop" in partnership with the Marseille Jazz Coalition to train around 30 professional jazz musicians. In addition to the live shows, professionals will have the opportunity to attend six daily professional meetings to discuss contemporary issues in the music industry.
The professional meetings will take place from October 5 to 10, and will cover topics such as the current state of the music industry and its future prospects. The festival's organizers have emphasized their commitment to making the event more accessible to a wider audience, both locally and internationally.
The festival's program has been carefully curated to showcase a diverse range of musical styles and genres, and to provide a platform for both established and emerging artists to share their talents with a wider audience. With its renewed strategic vision and commitment to supporting the music industry, the 11th Carthage Music Festival is set to be a major event in the music calendar.
Key points
- The festival will feature 34 shows from 15 countries, including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Brazil.
- The festival will include a section called "Carthage Music Festival in Prisons" with the theme "The Same Rhythm of Freedom."
- The festival will host a workshop called "Carthage Music Festival Jazz Workshop" in partnership with the Marseille Jazz Coalition.
