Giving details of the festival in Quebec, Canada, where the Francophonie summit is taking place, Diouf said the festival would take place simultaneously in Dakar (Senegal), Bamako (Mali), Banjul (Gambia), Bissau (Guinea Bissau) and Conakry (Guinea).

"President Abdoulaye Wade wishes that this festival have a truly Panafrican dimension. For this reason we envisaged to be able to organize the ev ents in those countries," declared the minister on in the sideline of the ministerial conference of the Francophonie (CMF).

The festival had suffered two consecutive postponements in the past.

FESMAN is defined as "the aesthetic crossroads of Africa, Europe and black America, whose impact on the world culture is immense".

Well known artistes like Manu Dibango, Césaria Evora, Dany Glover, Youssou NDour are expected to feature in the 2009 event.