Warner Music Africa Francophone (WM AFR) celebrates the first songwriting camp of its kind — Warner Music Camp Babi, bringing over 20 artists, producers and songwriters from all around the continent for the official launch of the new venture.
The three-day event saw Black K, Ch’cco, Herc Cut The Lights, Hyce, Jeriq, Kold AF, Kouz1, Paulo Chakal, Ste Milano, and Yumbs come together to create new tracks and beats at Abidjan’s Villa Tahiba. Importantly, the camp also saw invited talents such as Akim, Ayanne, Beeztrap, Dorty, G6$, Kemuel, Kiff No Beat, Mac Abel, Mr Behi, Nikanor, Remy Baggins, Shaun, Spy Shitta, Suspect 95, Tamsir, and Yilim, participate in order to help connect artists from Côte d’Ivoire and the Francophone region with the rest of Africa.
The songwriting camp concluded in the official launch event for WM AFR, bringing together Warner Music Africa Managing Director Temi Adeniji, Africori CEO Yoel Kenan, and Warner Music France President Alain Veille. The event drew key political figures and external music industry figures from West Africa, led by The Minister of Culture and Francophone of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Madame Françoise Remarck. In her remarks, the Minister discussed her ministry’s intention to work closely with the WMA FR team over the coming months on new innovative partnerships and opportunities to help discover and grow local talent.
Marc-Andre Niang, Co-Director of Warner Music Africa Francophone, says: “The blueprint for Warner Music Africa Francophone was to connect the best French-speaking talent with the rest of Africa, so I’m proud to see us do just this at our first songwriting camp. This was a truly pan-African experience and certainly the first of its kind in Francophone Africa.”
Yoann Chapalain, Co-Director of Warner Music Africa Francophone, adds: “It’s been powerful to see such a wide mix of artists join us here in Abidjan, with people flying in from all over Africa. Warner Music Africa Francophone exists not just to sign talent but to connect artists from French-speaking regions to the rest of Africa; it’s in our DNA to take a pan-African approach with all of our artists. Thank you to Alain, Temi, and Yoel for trusting our creative vision.”
Streams of French-language tracks continued to rise in 2024, with over 83 million hours of French-language music streamed in over 180 countries, highlighting its dynamism as Francophone music booms across Africa. As also reported by Spotify last year, more than 100 million users worldwide listened to at least one piece of audio content in French between August 2023 and July 2024.
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