GUTSAKA Festival

Music Crossroads Mozambique held the first edition of GUTSAKA FESTIVAL on the 29th and 30th of October 2016 at Feima – Feira de Artesanato, Flores e Gastronomica. GUTSAKA derived from the word “Kutsaka”means Happiness in Guitonga a language spoken in Southern part of Mozambique in the Inhambane province.

The main objective of the Festival was to create a platform to promote upcoming talents in Mozambique who have not been given the opportunity to showcase their musical skills. We also wanted to promote and uphold the Mozambican Culture focus also on children, to instill the spirit of art and culture in them as they are still growing up. We tried to teach them that through art they can express what they feel and show their emotions in what makes them happy through learning as well as in games.

The 2 days festival started in the morning with children’s workshops on painting, Marimba, body percussion and Ta Kagunda (an initiative of the MOVE project where young girls are trained to create their own percussion instruments). In the afternoon we had live music from the Music Crossroads Academy students and young upcoming groups in Maputo without an opportunity to perform namely; The Divas, Xiquelene Groove, Afro Amado, September Blues, Imagine and Ingrid and Bjorn. The festival closed with a grande performance from Xixel Langa, a famous Mozambican artist.

Music Crossroads held this festival in partnership with Municipality of City Maputo who made available the space FEIMA- Feira de Artesenato, Flores e Gastronomica , FK Norway, Coca-cola, CREISPO, Associacao Cultural MONO, Centro Infantil Snoopy Garden, TVM television, -