Current projects

Affiliated Partner: Àkójọpọ̀ Music Foundation

The Àkójọpọ̀ Music Foundation is an affiliated partner of the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation (AOI) at Stellenbosch University.

Àkójọpọ̀ is an autonomous and independent, U.S.-based non-profit initiative devoted to the celebration, documentation, performance, and institutional integration of Pan-African art music. Although it operates independently of AOI and is not situated under its institutional auspices, Àkójọpọ̀ shares many of AOI’s core intellectual commitments: critical and experimental approaches to music and sound, a strong investment in African and diasporic knowledge production, and a dedication to building sustainable scholarly and artistic networks.

While headquartered in the United States, Àkójọpọ̀ is largely driven by West African scholars, composers, performers, and arts administrators, and is fundamentally oriented toward transnational exchange across the African continent and its diasporas. Its affiliation with AOI recognises a convergence of values, research interests, and modes of practice rather than any formal or hierarchical relationship.

Shared Aims

The affiliation between AOI and Àkójọpọ̀ is grounded in a shared desire to:

• Foster sustained engagement between South African intellectual and musical contexts and those emerging from West African and diasporic communities;
• Encourage dialogue between research, creative practice, performance, and arts administration as interrelated forms of knowledge-making;
• Support critical reflection on Pan-African art music within broader social, historical, and political frameworks.

Areas of Engagement

Through this affiliation, AOI and Àkójọpọ̀ seek to:

• Exchange ideas through seminars, workshops, lectures, and online conversations;
• Develop and strengthen international networks of scholars, artists, and students;
• Explore opportunities for collaborative research projects, publications, and public programmes;
• Create platforms for postgraduate and early-career researchers to engage with Pan-African art music practices and debates.

The Pan-African Art Music Project (PAMP)

The Pan-African Art Music Project (PAMP) is a curatorial and commissioning initiative emerging from the intellectual and artistic alignment between AOI and Àkójọpọ̀. It is dedicated to the creation, performance, and critical contextualisation of art music grounded in African musical imagination, broadly defined.

PAMP foregrounds Afrocentric compositional approaches and musical materials, and seeks to promote African art music as an original and evolving tradition rooted in African and African diasporic cultures, aesthetic practices, historical depth, and contemporary relevance. Through commissioning, performance, research, and dialogue, the project aims to contribute to the visibility, sustainability, and critical advancement of Pan-African art music within local and transnational contexts.

This initiative exemplifies the kinds of collaborative, practice-based, and research-led projects that the AOI–Àkójọpọ̀ affiliation is designed to support.

This affiliation reflects a collegial and reciprocal relationship between two independent entities that recognise one another as intellectual partners. It affirms a shared commitment to open, critical, and transnational approaches to music, sound, and research, while fully respecting the autonomy and institutional independence of each organisation.

For more information about Àkójọpọ̀ Music Foundation, visit akojopo.org.