Africa Oyé’s back — and this time it’s ticketed

Dear readers — get ready: in just one sleep’s time, Liverpool’s boundary-pushing festival of African and Latin music, Africa Oyé, will be back in Sefton Park. But this year, there’s one key difference — it’s no longer free. Though, at £19, it pales in comparison with other city's day festivals, it’s a transition that’s attracted attention from its devoted fanbase. In today’s piece, Laurence looks at the reasons behind the move and trace the rise and rise of one of the city’s biggest and best live events.

But first, your Post briefing.

Your Post briefing

St Helens’ council leader has said the local authority will stop supporting Pride celebrations, because he does not consider it an “appropriate” use of council resources. Reform’s George Woodward, who was elected to represent St Helens in last month’s election, has ordered the removal of displays celebrating Pride in libraries across the town, and rebranded scheduled Pride activities as “creative crafts”.  "We don't consider celebrations of sexuality, especially those with left-wing political leanings such as Pride, to be appropriate for the council to dedicate valuable officer resources,” he told the BBC earlier this week. In response, St Helens' Labour group said the move sent a “deeply damaging message” to residents.

And an open letter has been written to Liverpool council leader Liam Robinson after changes were made to the proposed cycle route in Childwall. The letter, written by campaign group Better Streets, said “crucial”  parts of the route have been cut, despite councillors voting unanimously in favour of it in April. These new changes include removing a link from Leece Street to Lime Street, and the Woolton Road link to the Mystery Park. Additionally, news plans mean the route stops short of Childwall Primary School and the Childwall Park Avenue roundabout. In response, Betters Streets has encouraged members of the council to “come on a bike ride with us along the proposed route to see for yourself how dangerous it currently is, and how vital and urgent it is that a properly connected and protected route is installed.”

Africa Oyé’s back — and this time it’s ticketed

When Africa Oyé first began, the groundbreaking club night Cream wouldn’t launch for another four months, Mo Salah was still days away from being born, and Steve Rotheram was just a builder. 1992’s early promise of a hot dry summer would wane into the usual wet, overcast days, but less predictable than the weather was the fortunes of a few small, loosely associated gigs in the city centre. The Hardman House Hotel, Bluecoat Chambers, Irish Centre and other limited venues accommodated musicians from as far afield as Brazil, Kenya, Bolivia, Zimbabwe and the West Indies to celebrate African, Latin and African Diasporic music. 

Now, Cream has long since been and gone; Mo Salah is leaving LFC as arguably its greatest ever player; and Mr Rotheram has been metro mayor for what seems like an aeon. And Oyé (a Yoruba word meaning “joy”) is still going strong: not just a Liverpool institution but a global event. The festival has recently drawn as many as 80,000 music lovers to Sefton Park, which has hosted it since 2002, and it’s one of the jewels in the crown of the worldwide diaspora's community of live performers. 

Even its humble origins have become mythic: the brainchild of Glaswegian pirate radio broadcaster Kenny Murray, who had become passionate about African music while travelling the continent years before. Murray is meant to have picked Liverpool as a location literally by sticking a pin in a map blindfolded. 

Before settling in its verdant locale in south Liverpool, Africa Oyé moved to Princes Park for a brief while. When current artistic director Paul Duhaney joined in 1998, having previously worked in the London rave scene, Oyé was the supporting act for a “Balloon Festival” in Birkenhead Park until its popularity inflated (sorry) to become the main attraction. A lack of diversity on the Wirral at the time necessitated a move back across the Mersey, and after a brief stint on Concert Square Oyé found its home in Sefton Park.

Although it can’t have been deliberate, Murray’s methods — and the stewardship of the small team of his successors — stand in Liverpool’s now seldom-discussed anti-tradition of DIY culture, from Bill Drummond’s vinyl pressings and Arthur Dooley’s sculptures to Jayne Casey’s entrepreneurship and Jeff Young and Mike Badger’s multimedia collages. In an era when nobody seems to be getting anything off the ground, these successes are a reminder that, in the parlance of our times, you can just do things.