Afrofest 20th Anniversary
With Dobet Gnahoré, Mayra Andrade, Fallou Dieng, Femi Abosede & Culture Force, Alpha Yaya Diallo, many more. July 5-6. Queen’s Park. Free. For more information see www.musicafrica.org.
At Afrofest, it ain’t just about where you’re from. The vibe may be free and easy but this audience knows its African music; North America’s largest annual celebration of African culture is a rare convergence of diversity and depth of knowledge, which means that musicians had better come with their “A” game.
“All kinds of artists have told me when they step on that stage, they realize, ‘I’ve got to change my set! I’d better play hard!’” says long-time artistic programmer Nadine McNulty.
Music Africa’s flagship event celebrates its 20th anniversary July 5 and 6 at Queen’s Park. This weekend’s lineup emphasizes the fest’s extended family feel by bringing back artists familiar to past festival-goers, including Nakupenda, who played the very first Afrofest, and Waleed Abdulhamid, one of the city’s busiest percussionists.
Over the decade and a half she’s booked the festival, McNulty has become one of Toronto’s greatest musical enablers. She knows what it takes to translate diversity from philosophy to reality. Her community connections have been built up one phone call at a time.
“People call me every day looking for someone. And I can usually find that person, but it might take me 10 calls.” Music Africa’s greatest achievement is to mobilize that network to dig for talent, while adapting to demographic changes in Toronto’s African population.
Afrofest’s initial lineups featured a plurality of West African musicians. In the early ’90s, immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia lobbied successfully for more East African programming and representation within Music Africa. Later that decade, McNulty placed a greater priority on North African artists. Throughout its history, Music Africa’s board has struggled to promote all forms of African music, but funds and community-based resources have too often been lacking.
Not to mention the fact that representing the sheer multiculturalism of Africa remains a major challenge. “We address it in an African way, which is to be more inclusive, not exclusive” says McNulty. “I can challenge people who feel [their culture is not represented] to say, ‘Let’s find a way to do this.’”
In this decade, the greatest debate for Music Africa’s board has been how to deal with the generational split represented by hip-hop. When a then-unknown K’naan was Afrofest’s first hip-hop act in 2000, audiences were divided about how well the music worked alongside more traditional sounds on the main stage. Younger Music Africa members soon became quite vocal about the lack of hip-hop.
The Baobab Tree stage was conceived in 2003 as a space for youth-oriented spoken word arts and workshops. At first the juxtaposition between hip-hop and workshops seemed odd to the younger generation, but eventually they became receptive. McNulty says, “It’s almost like a mentoring session. All of a sudden they see something different about [traditional instruments]. It engages them when they see someone they respect up close, without their parents there.”
As Music Africa has dealt with the nuts and bolts of inclusivity within its organization, it also seeks to support the market for African music beyond one season and a few festivals.
Promoting the artists is a major priority; by sponsoring CD releases for Donné Roberts or Njacko Backo, names and personalities are attached to music that, for some newcomers, can blend together in a sun-drenched festival atmosphere. They’ve also succeeded in getting their music into other venues such as its February series at the Gladstone.
To that end, McNulty has taken the initiative to work with other promoters ranging from obvious partners like Harbourfront to experimental initiatives with Wavelength such as the Kalimba Summit.
“I have come to see them as partners,” she says. “If Harbourfront is going to bring Seun Kuti, I will help them promote that show because I want more people to become aware of African music so that it will spill over into local artists and people will actually be paid!”
This weekend, however, is about looking back with pride on 20 years of hard-won artistic achievement and community building.
“People [in their countries of origin] might be at war, but here they’re on a blanket sharing something from a cooler. I’ve never been to another festival with that vibe.”