Africa Oyé: See the Liverpool artists who will open the 2023 festival

Africa Oyé has announced the local Liverpool artists that will kick off the festival this year!

Africa Oyé is back at Sefton Park on 17 & 18 June 2023, with thousands set to attend! The festival will celebrate the music and culture of Africa and the Diaspora with two free days of fantastic music, workshops, DJs, dance, food stalls and a range of traders in the Oyé Village.

The local talent involved is a part of the festival’s ‘Oyé Introduces’ programme.

Launched in 2015, ‘Oyé Introduces’ sees local artists open the musical programme on both days of the festival – following community performances from Merseyside cultural organisations – giving some of the area’s brightest young talent the chance to share the stage with international stars.

Opening the main stage music programme on the Saturday of the festival is R&B vocal harmony group, AMBA.

Born and raised in Liverpool, these 3 like-minded singer/songwriters met at local performing arts organisation, Positive impact, where their mutual love of music bonded them together. Aliyah, Mimi, and Anouska, all from musical families/backgrounds, collectively bring together a range of styles and musical genres to create their own sound.

Majorly influenced by the likes of Sza, H.E.R, Summer Walker and Billie Eilish, AMBA hope to use their songwriting talents to connect with other young women through relatable lyrics they can identify with.

Opening the Sunday of the festival is South Liverpool trio, Black Borough.

The scouse rap super group made up of solo artists MC Nelson, Dayzy, and Starkey, are bringing a breath of fresh air to UK hip hop. Their jazzy instrumentation, positive ethos, and electric group chemistry has seen them draw comparisons to the likes of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, but with a fresh, modern twist.

Their debut EP explores themes of identity, coming of age, authenticity in the music industry and the reality of growing up Black in Merseyside.

Africa Oyé’s Artistic Director, Paul Duhaney, said:

“Choosing the local artists to open the festival is getting harder and harder each year, such is the wealth of talent that’s coming through in the City Region.

“The applications get stronger every time we do a call-out and I’ve no doubt that both Black Borough and AMBA are going to make Liverpool proud and go on to do big things in the industry.”

The 2023 Africa Oyé festival will take place on 17th and 18th June in Liverpool’s Sefton Park on the Review Field from 12:30pm til 9:30pm both days. Entrance is FREE and you do not need a ticket.