Alumni make interactive music app for kids

Leading Manchester music charity Olympias Music Foundation (OMF) and 11-piece afrobeat group Agbeko have collaborated with Peera to create a free interactive music app for children.

AgbekoCreate invites children aged 6-12+ from all over the world to explore music from specific areas of Africa, and dream up their own musical creations in response to videos created by members of the band. These ideas will form the basis of an exclusive digital performance by Agbeko which will be shared with participants and their families.

Each video will focus on a musical feature from a specific region, to exhibit the significant differences between the musics of neighbouring countries. The aim is to create a positive digital context where children are encouraged to explore a diverse range of musical styles at an early age. The project will also help to eliminate the ‘othering’ trends accidentally perpetuated by similar projects through the use of generic categories like ‘African’ and ‘World music’.

Agbeko percussionist Pete Mitchell said: ‘Collaboration and community are at the heart of the music we write, play and create together as a band, and wanted to be able to share our experiences with all of the young people from Manchester. We really believe in the work that OMF are doing across Manchester and wanted to be able to share the music that we’ve all learned about and love.’

Both the OMF and Agbeko comprise RNCM alumni. AgbekoCreate was released today (6 July) and is available to download here.

6 July 2020