From Thursday, 11 to Saturday, 13 April, Johannesburg will be the City for a new edition of 'Vis-a-Vis' to promote a greater presence of African music on Spanish stages.

South Africa is a country with an incredible source of musicians, styles and talent. The City of Johannesburg is also the epicentre of musical creation and the City where new stars, new bands and styles of South African music emerge in genres that vary from gospel to electronic, passing through pop, traditional music, jazz and rock. Casa África, a public diplomacy institution linked to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has chosen Johannesburg to hold the fourth edition of its Vis-a-Vis Festival. This meeting of Spanish producers with African musicians will be held in the South African city in April in collaboration with the SAMRO Foundation and the Spanish Embassy in South Africa.

The aim of Casa África is to take a model that has already worked successfully in three previous editions in Senegal, Cape Verde and Ethiopia to South Africa. Vis-a-Vis is a battle of bands like contest and business meeting, which consists of a public invitation to musicians and artists based in the chosen country, from any musical genre. Samples of their work are submitted online and assessed by a selection of South African and Spanish cultural producers. Twelve acts are chosen to perform live in Johannesburg over three days with two winners selected to win an opportunity to tour in Spain during July and August. The production company in Spain will be 'Dr. Zhivhago' and in South Africa, 'Emerging Sounds' under Simon Foulds who has conducted the battle of bands for 17 years.

Monday, 18 March is the opening date for submissions (www.johannesburgvisavis.com) closing on Thursday, 4 April.

Over the last three editions of Vis a Vis the winners performed at major Spanish festivals and circuits including Pirineos Sur, Womad, Etnosur and Madrid’s International Jazz Festival.

The philosophy behind this collaboration between Casa África and SAMRO Foundation in organising the Johannesburg Vis-a-Vis is to promote of the presence of South African music on the Spanish music market and to facilitate contact between Spanish producers/programmers and local musicians. The programme seeks to grow market access and the development of contacts and networks in the African and Spanish musical sectors.

Since inception, Casa África has worked to increase the knowledge and appreciation of African music in Spain. From organising the concerts of Africa Vive and the collaboration of consolidated festivals to increase the participation of musicians from the African continent, in Spain there is not only a public that is loyal to African music but there is also a growing interest to discover it.

To influence this educational approach and encourage the Spanish public to get closer to African music, Casa África has launched two musical initiatives from www.casafrica.es. Radio Kuwamba is an a online radio station which uses a streaming system that allows the musical contents of Casa África's Media Library's of more than 10 000 songs. The second initiative is a blog from Casa África, a project called Semilla Negra, written by the journalist Carlos Fuentes that creates playlists with African music around a common theme. Several of these episodes, are available on the Internet and have had South African musicians as their protagonists.