Africa Day 2022: YouTube unleashes African stars

The world’s largest streaming platform, YouTube, has announced a lineup of artists from five countries that will be performing at this year’s Africa Day Concert on 25 May.

The concert on its third edition is returning actor Idris Elba as its host with artists from Nigeria, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Congo and South Africa. Performances will be held in a venue in Lagos and will be streamed to a global audience exclusively on YouTube at 19:00 CAT (18:00 WAT).

The annual YouTube Africa Day concert is a musical homage to Africa with a showcase of top hit makers and superstars to music fans. It seeks to bring the continent, the diaspora and citizens of the world together in celebration of the talents abound in Africa.

Alex Okosi, Managing Director, Emerging Markets YouTube EMEA said, “YouTube as a platform has been a mainline for connecting African artists to people all around the world and the Africa Day Concert is an opportunity to reaffirm YouTube’s support for African artists as they showcase the vibrant sounds and culture that makes Africa truly unique”.

This year’s Africa Day Concert features Ckay (Nigeria), Busiswa (South Africa), Davido (Nigeria), Drizilik (Sierra Leone), Innoss’B (Congo), Dbanj (Nigeria), Kamo Mpela (South Africa), Mayorkun (Nigeria), Zuchu (Tanzania), Reekado Banks (Nigeria), Yemi Alade (Nigeria).

Idris Elba is hosting the concert for the third time in a row.

The YouTube Africa Day Concert is intended to reaffirm the streaming website’s commitment to growing Africa’s creator ecosystem and to spotlight and celebrate the artists and creatives who are driving the growth of Afrobeats and Africa’s music industry.

YouTube’s longstanding commitment to the creative industry in Africa is evident in its 100 million USD YouTube Shorts Fund – a way for anyone to connect with a new audience using just a smartphone and the Shorts camera in the YouTube app and the #YouTube Black Voices Funds, launched in 2020 a multi-year commitment dedicated to spotlighting and growing Black creators and music on the platform, by giving artists access to resources to help them thrive on YouTube.

YouTube is the second most visited website in the world after Google. Click here to stream live.