May in Beijing kicks off with several music festivals. Stages erected in the city's parks make for a great time for young music fans, with many flooding in to cheer for their favorite local bands. This year, several African musicians are also catching their attention.

Diversity is a male vocal group from South Africa. They are warming up for this year's "African Cultures in Focus." With an opening ceremony on May 18, the festival presents marvelous African arts to Chinese people in the following months.

More than just an impression

Yudi Cohen is a member of Diversity. He first visited China years ago, but this is his first time to perform in the country. While the group's tour is short, with only two performances, Cohen is very concerned about its potential impact. "It's one thing doing the show and going home," he says, "but it's another thing coming up with a project that brings everything together and leaves audiences with more than just an impression."

 This year marks the third "African Cultures in Focus" event, co-sponsored by seven Chinese government agencies, including the Ministry of Culture. An eight-month-long event, it's an opportunity for Chinese citizens to access African cultures, but more importantly, to foster real-world contact between peoples on both sides. Its packaged activities will sweep the country, introducing African culture in various forms along the way.

Apart from Diversity, groups from Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Senegal are expected to wow Chinese audiences with marvelous performances. For those who want to go at a slower pace to savor the essence of African art, a series of exhibitions on the continent's art treasures are also being prepped for event attendees.

Exchanges at the academic level have also been planned. Seminars are being held, and renowned painters from several African countries will be doing residencies at Chinese art institutions. There, they will spend months creating works with a definite China theme.

This year's event is also tied to a forum involving the Chinese Ministry of Culture. For the first time, ministers of culture from over 20 countries will be discussing and reviewing past cultural exchanges between China and Africa in order to improve their future cooperation.

Cohen points out that Africa and China have a lot of ties, but these are primarily economic and only between governments. People, he says, don't know each other as individuals. He feels that governments should place more emphasis on this issue, which means actively promoting more interpersonal contact on the ground. For Cohen, art is the conduit that creates these connections.

His thoughts are echoed in "African Cultures in Focus."