Presenting for Music Crossroad International, Dag Franzen pointed out the challenges needing to be addressed in order to empower young musicians in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. Despite these countries having a huge cultural richness, the lack of educational structure often prohibits the musician’s success. He illustrated the above mentioned problems with the story of the young African band Mokoomba, who won a talent contest but who were unable to claim the prize, a tour around European countries, due to visa problems.

The closing discussion showed the diversity of views concerning this issue of social inclusion and cohesion. Whereas the Music Crossroad International supports foreign help in African countries, some members of the audience criticized western intervention in foreign cultural markets due to its monopolizing character. Another point raised was that it is impossible to talk about Africa as a whole as it is more than natural that there are regional differences in development and culture. The discussion also turned to women’s right and emancipation, particularly a woman’s right to express herself freely in music itself as well as through performance.