From 28 July to 31 August 2023, the Geneva-based producers and DJ collective Ozadya undertook a tour of Colombia. Organised by Ajiak Home Productions, the tour was conceived as an exchange project combining concerts, artistic encounters, musical productions and workshops.
During these five weeks, Ozadya’s tour was limited to three cities: Medellín, Cali and Bogotá. The aim was to avoid excessive travel and to have enough time for an in-depth exploration of each city’s musical scene, where they benefited from the knowledge and local network of Ajiak Home Productions.
A range of projects were realised at each stage in collaboration with various local cultural practitioners:
Concerts at clubs and festivals
Musical productions and exchanges with renowned and emerging artists
Musical production workshops for young artists, combined with free concerts in different communities
Thanks to this ambitious tour comprising concerts, artistic exchange and workshops, Ozadya, Ajiak Home Productions and local practitioners have managed to build lasting connections between the Swiss and Colombian clubbing and hip-hop scenes.
On the musical front, artistic relationships were forged and peer-to-peer exchanges took place with local artists, both during studio recording sessions and in the course of masterclasses.
The tour was designed with a long-term perspective, in particular with its social dimension. The various musical workshops for young practitioners enabled them to develop a more specific outlook regarding a professional career in music. The knowledge-exchange events organised in collaboration with local associations are also likely to have an impact lasting well beyond the duration of the tour.
‘With Ajiak Home Productions, we strived to put together a multi-faceted tour combining workshops, artistic productions, concerts at clubs and in different urban districts in order to build a bridge between Europe and Latin America, but also to build internal bridges within Columbia, which is a fragmented country, divided by stereotypes and fear of the other.
Swiss music, represented here by Ozadya, has succeeded in bringing together sectors and practitioners that would otherwise be difficult to unite.
It is therefore an important aspect for us to have such a wide range of activities, as they enable us to forge strong bonds between between ourselves and the local community as well as between different sectors within the community.’
Simon Porras, head of musical und visual production, Ajiak Home Productions
With the measure International presence, Pro Helvetia supports international tours of Swiss musicians at major festivals and venues.
Priority is given to tour projects that maintain a sustainable use of resources, in particular when large distances are covered (coherent routing, selection of means of transport, connected series of performances, other activities in the fields of artistic exchange or networking, etc.).