Somewhere in Roskilde, just a few kilometres from the festival site, around 40 musicians and crew members from across the globe are deeply immersed in rehearsals for a very special concert.
People drop in at random, exchange hugs and laughter, and from the rehearsal room you can hear Damon Albarn switching to Spanish to call a young musician back for the next run-through.
On Saturday at 17:15, the past few days of intense preparation will culminate on the Orange Stage, as Africa Express returns to Roskilde Festival with a star-studded and impressively talented collective featuring artists from Africa, Latin America, the UK and the US. Some of them know the festival well. Others are here for the first time. Together they create a meeting between musical traditions, life experiences and generations.
“Right now, the world is full of distance and division,” says Mexican rapper and feminist Mare Advertencia, who appeared at the festival last year as part of the Re:Act programme.
“But music brings us together. It’s like medicine. A place where we can be together. Roskilde Festival shows that. Africa Express shows that.”
Mare Advertencia joined Africa Express in early 2024, when she and a group of musicians from four continents gathered in Mexico to write and record new music. The result is the upcoming album Bahidorá, and many of the relationships built in the Mexican jungle will unfold on the Orange Stage tonight.
“This project feels like me,” says Mare. “People with different stories come together as equals. That’s rare.”
As a Zapotec woman and rapper from southern Mexico, Mare is used to fighting to be heard. Africa Express has offered her a new kind of opportunity.
“In Mexico, it’s hard for someone like me to get a chance like this. I feel I have to give it my very best – for the people I represent. But everyone here is so talented. It feels like a family. I try to do everything as well as I can.”
FACTS: AFRICA EXPRESS
Africa Express is an international music collective founded in 2006 by Damon Albarn and others. The group brings together artists from all over the world in open collaborations across genres, cultures and generations.
The new album Africa Express presents… Bahidorá was recorded in Mexico in 2024 and will be released on 11 July. Musicians from four continents wrote and recorded 21 tracks together in mobile studios, tents and hotel rooms.
The Roskilde Festival performance will feature Mare Advertencia, Otim Alpha, Damon Albarn, Moonchild Sanelly, Joan As Police Woman, Django Django, Fatoumata Diawara and Mexican Institute of Sound.
Ugandan musician Otim Alpha was also part of the Mexico project. He has been involved with Africa Express for several years and performed with the collective at Roskilde in 2022 – and as a solo artist in 2018.
To him, both Roskilde Festival and Africa Express are about more than music – they’re about sharing experiences and bringing something back home.
“I feel so happy when I’m here. I learn something new – and I can also pass something on. When I go back, I’ll tell people how music is moving forward. We have our own sound, but we also need to open up. Music can change the world.”
