The UK-based Beating Heart Project will be making its North American debut with four showcases at this year's SXSW. Beating Heart is a collective of artists and enthusiasts who believe in the power of music to create a world without borders. Born in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa in 2016, the project sprung from a vision to bring the world's largest archive of African field recordings to today's hottest producers to build new compositions using the original field recordings.

Onstage, the collective features Lulu James (Tanzania/UK) on vocals and dance, singing in Swahili and English, channeling her Maasai heritage into a performance of visceral power. Project founders Chris Pedley and Ollywood provide the unique musical mix, blending a fusion of ancient tribal rhythms and contemporary dance music. These new creations have resulted in jumping dance floors all over the world from Glastonbury Festival UK to Cape Town’s Rocking The Daisies.​

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]