The curtain rises at 4 pm this Thursday, 12 November, on the 20th edition of the Stars of African Cultural Integration Festival. At the CNOA in Cotonou, formerly the Ciné Vog, the opening ceremony will pay tribute to Boncana Maïga, a towering figure of Malian music. Officials and guests will then tour the works produced during a visual arts residency in Ouidah.
This homecoming carries real symbolic weight. Since 2019 the festival had been on the road, settling in five African countries in turn, as far as Libreville in 2024. This year it returns to the city where it began in the early 2000s, driven by Alli Wassi, known as Sissy, and Golden International Promotion. Twenty-six countries are expected to celebrate the milestone. The chosen theme, « Heritage & Innovation », sums up the event’s ambition of bringing traditional sounds into conversation with today’s music.
For this first evening, organisers are promising a fashion show followed by a concert, from 7 pm to 11 pm. Earlier in the week, the programme included workshops for cultural journalists, fashion designers and models, along with a concert on Wednesday night.
Friday is when the competition gets under way. A conference will open the day, after which the contestants take the stage for the first round. Everything comes down to Saturday’s gala, scheduled from 7 pm to midnight, when the trophies will be awarded. The contest is built around three groups of prizes: Afro-ethnic music, urban music covering rap, R&B, zouk, reggae and salsa, and best live presenter. The official website lists 103 nominees.
Several countries have already named their contenders. Guinea is counting on Foudis Diallo, nicknamed the « Queen of Pastoral Blues », who competes in the Afro-ethnic category against, among others, Chad’s Jethsonat. Gabon has sent a sizeable delegation, with four artists in that same category, Marco IB in urban music and master of ceremonies Flo Engone among the presenters.
Audiences get a say too. Votes are paid for through Wave, bank card or PayPal, and account for 6 out of 20 points in the final score of the music categories, with the jury deciding the rest. Ticket prices for the concerts and the gala, however, had still not been published at the end of October.
On Sunday the celebrations leave the economic capital. Festivalgoers can look forward to visits to Ouidah and Porto-Novo, a beach picnic and then the closing ceremony, a reminder that SICA also aims to showcase Benin’s cultural tourism.