Panelists - Jazz Women in Africa

Lindsey Abudei

Sonia Aimy

Sonia Aimy is a Nigerian-born singer-songwriter, actress, and activist. With her inimitable and velvety voice, Sonia Aimy is the epitome of contemporary African world music. Blending Afro-jazz, highlife, and the African griot tradition in performances that are both fluid and virtuosic, she produces irresistible rhythms and melodies with some infectious joie de vivre. Sonia Aimy has conquered an international audience, multiplying collaborations and artistic sharing and imposing herself as an ardent defender of human rights and the African continent's cultural heritage, combining various languages of the African continent with sounds from all over the world. She is the founder and artistic director of African Women Acting (AWA).

Claire Diboa

Claire Diboa is a Cameroonian artistic agent and producer, co-founder of the company 2C Production. Born in Cameroon, she arrived in France at the age of 15 and followed an academic training in law and management of cultural enterprises, allowing her to gradually build a reputation in this market. In 1996, she became Manu Dibango's agent, and gained experience in various fields, from personal artist management to stage management and production management. Strengthened by her experiences, in 2017 she co-founded 2C Production, a company specialized in concert and event production and artistic management. Thanks to this company, she was able to co-produce the program "L'Afrique fête la musique" on TV5 Monde, a channel on which she is preparing the release of a new program for the end of May 2021.

Manou Gallo

Revelation Coup de Coeur Francophone 2009 and elected the best artist of Côte d'Ivoire 2009 at the MAMA Awards 2009 in Kenya, Manou Gallo is a singer, guitarist, bass player, and percussionist. She has established herself a fusion of Afrobeat, jazz, blues, funk, and samba carried by a deep, warm, pulsating, or even breathless voice through her very personal style. In 2011, she sang in duet with Dobet Gnaoré the song Ma Côte d'Ivoire, a call for the country's union and peace.

Lucy Ilado

Lucy Ilado is a Kenya-based music journalist and artist rights activist. She is currently the content editor for Music In Africa's East Africa regional office, based in Nairobi.

Christine Kamau

Christine Kamau is a Kenyan trumpet player, composer, and artist. Her music is a fusion of jazz and funk with African sounds and improvisation. In 2012, she released her first album, in the Afro-jazz style, which received good reviews and allowed her to participate in the BBC's "Africa Beats" program. An avid collaborator and advocate of music as a tool for spreading unity, Christine Kamau has performed on various stages across the continent. She is becoming an established name on the African jazz scene.

Josiane Maténé

Josiane Maténé is general manager of 3MJ Consulting (in marketing, communication and events) that she founded in 2014. She is also a programme director for the NGO Sambas - Labs that organizes the Les Sambas Kids since 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she launched Sambas Pro Live, an alternative to the Sambas Professionnels that receives live, every Wednesday and Saturday at 5PM from Libreville, a professional from the Sambas Professionnels. She is the main animator of this entirely numerical and digital programme.

Nathalie Mefe

Administrator of Scène d'Ebène since 2007, Axed Nathalie Njoya has been involved in artistic and cultural action since 2004 in Cameroon. In 2008, when the contract with the delegated producer of the Festival "Scène nationale du théâtre camerounaise" came to an end, she took over the administration and production of the festival. After her training at the University of Paris Dauphine, she requested and obtained the direction of the Festival of Theatre, which became international since 2009. Since then, Nathalie has been in charge of coordinating all the major programs of Scène d'Ebène, including Escale Bantoo, which she has been piloting since its creation in 2016.                

Priscilla Mhango

Priscilla Mhango is a cultural events consultant, festival director, producer and talent manager in Malawi.

Binetou Sylla

Binetou Sylla is a music producer, DJ, author and director of the label Syllart Records. Since 2013, she has been promoting and committing herself to bringing black and African music to the general public through an expertise she deploys in music production, media and all possible means of dissemination. She is an active and influential figure in the French-speaking African and diasporic music industry. Her work focuses on the preservation of musical heritages, their valorization through digital issues and finally to participate in building a new ecosystem for the African market in a perspective of prospective new talents and the link between the diaspora and the continent.

Melody Zambuko

With 16 years’ experience working in the arts and culture industry of Zimbabwe, Melody Zambuko has mainly focused on managing performing arts and training institutions working in dance, music, and theatre companies. Melody is also the Director of the Music Crossroads Zimbabwe and a consultant with many years’ experience curating music programs for festivals, like the Harare International Festival of the Arts 2007 to 2014 (HIFA).