Africa Oyé 2023 festival dates revealed

This year’s Africa Oyé will take place on the weekend of June 17-18 organisers have revealed.

The annual festival – the UK’s largest free celebration of African music and culture – will be staged at Sefton Park, and along with fantastic live music there will also be DJs, workshops, food stalls and a range of traders in the Oyé Village. New for 2023 is a ‘toddler zone’.

Since it began in 1992 as a series of shows in the city centre, the festival has evolved into one of Liverpool's most popular annual events, attracting tens of thousands of festivalgoers as well as artists from across the world.

Last year it marked its 30th anniversary with not only the main festival weekend but with a series of complementary Oyé events at venues including the Philharmonic Hall.

The first of the mainstage artists will be announced in the next month, along with details of the ‘Festival Introduces’ programme which sees up-and-coming local talent appearing in the line-up alongside established artists.

Oyé artistic director Paul Duhaney said: "It's hard to believe we're entering our fourth decade here at Oyé. Last year was an incredible anniversary celebration for the organisation and we felt the love from all the shows we put on across the region throughout the year. “The Saturday of the festival itself in 2022 was one of most attended days in our history; the team and I are now in the process of putting together a line-up that will hopefully break some records.”

Africa Oyé takes place on June 17-18, from 12.30-9.30pm on both days. More from the website HERE

Top: Photo by Mark McNulty