The Battle of Narratives – Giving A Platform To New Voices

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Moderation: Jean-Hugues Kabuiku

Speakers: Niks Delanancy, Aiko Okamoto, Akati Khasiani, Sarah Gamrani

Photo Credit: Laurie Diaz

In June 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a significant section of the music industry became aware of a major inequality within their scene : that of the under-representation of black artists.

Various initiatives aimed at giving those artists more of a voice were launched, such as Niks Delanancy’s Black Bandcamp – recently renamedthe Black Artist Database –, a platform designed to showcase these artists.

To this can be added the sexist discrimination experienced by many female artists and denounced by women in the sector, who are challenging the very foundations of the dominant musical discourse.

As a result, activists in different communities and from all walks of life are getting involved in initiatives to encourage the emergence of new voices on the scene. These figures are at the heart of the creation of new narratives.

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