Africa Oye 2014 Announces DJ Edu and Esa Williams Headliners

Africa Oyé are proud to announce that DJ Edu and Esa are their headline DJs for this year’s festival to be held in Liverpool's Sefton Park on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of June.

BBC Radio 1Xtra's Edu will be DJing on the main stage between acts on the Sunday whilst South Africa's own Esa Williams will take the reigns on the Saturday. Oye's Artistic Director,Paul Duhaney is excited at the prospect of both men taking the stage in 2014:

"I had the pleasure of spending time with both Edu and Esa in Uganda at the Doadoa festival earlier this year as part of a visit to the country with the British Council" Duhaney said. "Edu has been championing African music in the UK for the last decade and his Radio 1Xtra show is doing a great job of getting these sounds out to a wide audience. I've also been a fan of Esa's work for some time now and it's great that such a talented South African DJ will be at the festival this year."

With his mesmerising signature mash-up style, DJ Edu has undoubtedly played a major role in fuelling the love of African music worldwide in Europe and worldwide and is widely considered the leading DJ name in Afrobeats.

Having established his name in clubs and the party scene across Nairobi and surrounding East African cities throughout the nineties the Kenyan born DJ emigrated to the UK at the turn of the millennium carrying the 1999 Kenya Mixing and Scratching Championships trophy and immediately set to building his brand in new shores. Within 2 years he had cemented his name as the number 1 DJ amongst the East African communities across the UK winning further accolades and club residencies in African clubs.

His work was noted in this sector and in mid-2002 BBC Radio 1Xtra approached him to help format their African music output and soon were broadcasting his mixes nationally during the station’s transmission test phases. In 2005, 1Xtra secured his services on a permanent basis offering him his own show showcasing the sound of young Africa – DestiNation Africa. The show that features music from across West, East, North and South Africa become an immediate success and became the first point of call for those seeking urban genres from and influenced by the diverse continent. For many today DestiNation Africa is the earliest recollection of hearing the sound and scene we now call Afrobeats. He continues to be the pan-BBC face, name and brand that represents young Africa and he has narrated and curated many African music documentaries and projects  for numerous platforms.

Esa Williams recent arrival in London will be a loss to his adopted city of Glasgow, where, for the past 7 years he played a valuable role in the city’s thriving music scene. By day, providing a helping hand with many of his fellow producers in the city, conducting workshops on behalf of Ableton, Red Bull Music Academy and Apple. By night, rocking any dancefloor worthwhile being on when he plays his unique and contagious take on house music.

An integral part of the Auntie Flo live set up, he has played at Europe’s leading venues and festivals. His music has also taken him as far away as Cuba and right back to his motherland of South Africa.

Having shared the bill with everyone from Julio Bashmore to Richie Hawtin, Shangaan Electro to Scuba; such is the diversity of his energetic sets which take the listener on a trip between deep melodic house to jackin’ machine funk. It’s no surprise that he’s been championed by publications including XLR8R and Resident Advisor – bagging the coveted ‘Mix of the Day’ accolade with his Afro-Futurism mix for Fabric.

Trenchtown DJ Line-Up

In addition to the main stage DJs, Africa Oyé - in collaboration with Beaten Tracks - have arranged a host of DJs from Liverpool and beyond to play in the new Trenchtown area of the festival.  The lineup includes NO Fakin DJs, Banana Hill DJs, One A Penny, Chris McBride, Zacharia Soul, Carnivalesque, DJ Mayeva, George Luke, Keith Marley, Red Kits, Beaten Tracks, and Schmame DJs Jamie and Leo feat. Original Princial B.

For full-line up please see below: