Once again this year, Ja'Sound will not take place. The "hibernation" announced last year for the 2007 edition is therefore extended for another year, with no way of knowing whether the festival will be able to get back on its feet after this new miscarriage. Last year, when Ja'Sound officially left Bagnols-sur-Cèze, the organisers had promoted the Afrikabidon event. This year, the two were twinned; both have sunk.
In a laconic statement, the organisers cite financial problems encountered by the parent company Point Afrique, the firm that oversees Afrikabidon. This tour operator, specialising in African destinations, was hit head-on by the Mauritanian crisis last January (the attack on the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott, wounding three French nationals). Budget restrictions that threatened to penalise both events, ultimately bringing about their downfall:
"It is not with a light heart that we make this information public. The Afrikabidon gatherings will not take place this year. And the Ja Sound reggae festival, which was to accompany it, is cancelled as well.
As we know, Afrikabidon is the offshoot of a company, Point-Afrique. Like all French tour operators, it has had a particularly difficult winter, linked to the public's disaffection with Saharan destinations in general, and more particularly to the Mauritanian crisis of January.
Admittedly, the French authorities have acknowledged that they acted, to say the least, hastily in this affair, and Mr Kouchner went to offer his apologies to the Mauritanian government. But the damage is done. And unlike other tour operators, Point-Afrique cannot fall back on destinations other than Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa.
Hit head-on, Point-Afrique has therefore decided, as reason dictates, to concentrate all its efforts on securing the future of its activities and of its African commitment. The Afrikabidon gatherings, which were designed with that in mind, require a significant cash-flow effort. Financial relays exist, but they are slow and difficult to put in place. Afrikabidon 2008 therefore risked, because of inevitable budget restrictions, being a "cut-price" edition that would have disappointed the public, after the tremendous success of the 2007 edition. That, we did not want… at any price.
From then on, Ja'Sound, which Point Afrique had invited to join Afrikabidon in 2008 and which was to showcase the artistic treasures of the African diaspora, and thus add further resonance to Afrikabidon's message, could no longer exist on its own in Bidon. With great dignity, the Ja'Sound team was forced to cancel it. We salute and respect this decision, which was very hard to take.
We wish to offer our most sincere apologies to everyone, famous or anonymous, who had committed to the 2008 edition, and to all the public who were eagerly awaiting this second edition. We understand and share their disappointment. And, from today, we are taking up the fight again - for Afrikabidon 2009.