Our vision

Forever African Music (FAM) restores, promotes and shares vintage videos of African music to preserve and celebrate our collective cultural heritage. FAM is a non-profit Association registered in France (registration no. W751244977).

Production of new African music is booming as never before, but these contemporary successes shouldn’t mean that we forget the music of older generations of African artists and musicians.

FAM’s mission is to:

  1. Make videos of vintage African music freely (and legally) available through the Internet.
  2. Enable the general public to discover vintage African music by organizing cultural events.
  3. Foster cultural exchange through music festivals, concerts and parties, as well as educational and academic gatherings.
  4. Initiate collaborations and partnerships with artists, music industry institutions, as well as individuals and other institutional partners in order to promote African vintage music and videos.
  5. Promote the Francophonie given the significant contribution to African music production emerging out of French-speaking communities across the continent.
  6. Produce and sell products (such as t-shirts, stickers, etc.) as a means to promote vintage African music in general and to fundraise to support FAM’s mission.

Our history

Born and raised in Africa, my childhood was immersed in the sounds of African music. Today, listening to the hits of the 1980’s and 1990’s gives me a good feeling and reminds me of happy memories. But I realized that vintage African music is not easily accessible or popular on the Internet in a technical quality that does justice to the artistic contributions that this music represents. The sudden loss of Papa Wemba, a musical icon of my generation, in April 2016, encourage me in the idea that there is a need and purpose for an initiative such as Forever African Music (FAM).

Our team

Yannick Doukanda

Founder

Born in Gabon, where I grew up along with Congo (Brazzaville) then Cameroon, African music was the soundtrack to my childhood. After all I received it was high time to give back my appreciation and passion.
Y.D