Afrofest 2021: Celebrating Black Creativty In Resilent Times
Written by Annabel Oromoni
Photos captured by Annabel Oromoni and Kameleons
Afrofest, the largest annual African music and culture festival in Canada, will be a virtual festival for the second year in a row because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The festival is organized by Music Africa of Canada — a non-profit organization that promotes African music and culture in Toronto. It is a free annual two-day African music festival that draws attendees from across Canada to celebrate Africa’s rich and diverse culture.
More than 128,000 people attended the 2019 two-day live event at Woodbine Park, with special performances from internationally known African artists, Fally Pupa and Iyanya, according to Executive and Artistic Event Director of Afrofest, Peter Toh.
Toh said although he cannot wait to get back to a live event and interact with a live audience in 2022, the virtual festival is a great way to keep the black community connected, work with artists, and celebrate African culture.
He said that this festival highlights their careers, and the culture and music are essential to Canada’s African community for most of Toronto’s African artists. During the live festival, African entrepreneurs also look forward to selling their products and acquiring new clients.
Idris Lawal performing during the recording for the Afrofest 2021 livestream.
Organizers, production crew, and performers of Afrofest gathered at the DC Music Recording Studio in Toronto on June 26-27 to create a virtual show streamed by viewers at home. The Virtual Festival goes live Friday, July 16, to Sunday, July 25 and will be streaming from 8 pm on the Afrofest YouTube Channel.
The virtual festival lineup consisted of diverse expressions of African music, with artists favouring Afrobeats, Highlife, Afro-fusion, Hip-Hop, Pop-fusion, Neo-Soul, R&B, Jazz, Kizomba, and Celtic / North African fusion.
Toh said the artist selection process for the Afrofest festival gets intense as Music Africa of Canada receives about 80 to 100 applications.
“The selection process is quite difficult because there are so many beautiful and diverse artists, and we want to capture as much of Africa as possible.”
Artists who made this year’s lineup were very excited to be performing at the festival.
This year’s festival will also include a drive-in Afrofest edition on July 17-18 at the Guildwood Go Station in Scarborough, with live performances from four unique African artists and a lineup of African food vendors. Doors open at 5:30 pm and tickets cost $25 per vehicle.
Afrobeat and Highlife Performer, D-Flex, calls the festival a unity concert because it brings together members of the African Diaspora.
Celtic / North African Fusion band, Hassan El Hadi.
Pop-fusion artist, Fridaee, and D.A.D.A Francis, manager of the Ngoma Dance Ensemble, a drumming and dancing group, said seeing African culture celebrated in Toronto is truly exceptional.
“It’s good to see the Afro culture in our city,” they said. “We all know it’s there. It’s just about having a day to be able to see it all in one place.It is a proud feeling knowing that from Toronto, we get to push black culture.”
Kizomba Artist, Sweet Maria, who performed at the festival for the first time in 2013, said the feeling of being at home whenever she performs for Afrofest never gets old.
“Whenever I’m at the Afrofest platform, I’m surrounded by Africans and that gives me a little piece of home.”
Neo-soul artist and first-time performer at the festival, Lauriel Inc, said Music Africa’s commitment to keeping the culture and the Afrofest festival alive, even during the pandemic, is fantastic.
Lauriel Inc and her band performing at the festival.
“As an artist, sometimes it’s really hard finding places where you can exhibit your art and your sound and your music,” she said. “And Afrofest is giving Black artists a chance to show their style and music, and I really love that.”
Lauriel Inc, who often performs as a solo artist, said performing at the festival allowed her to perform with her band.
Afro-fusion band, Harley Street Boys.
“This opportunity gave me the chance to bring my whole band onstage, have that experience on a full set and give that type of quality performance. That is already having an impact on my career.”
Afro-fusion Ghanaian Band, Harley Street Boys, said being a part of the virtual festival is impressive, as they have watched major African artists perform on the Afrofest stage.
“Performing at the festival definitely brings exposure to our talents as young black men,” they said.
Several artists also expressed looking forward to the global recognition from the virtual performances through the festival.
Afro-bop artist, Idris Lawal, said Afrofest brings a lot of significance to the Black community in Toronto because it is a large, diverse pro-black experience.
“It’s an opportunity for people who are here in Canada and may be removed from their African backgrounds to connect to their backgrounds.”
BePraize playing the saxophone.
Artists are looking at the positives of the festival being virtual this year, as it could be reach a wider audience and expand moving foward..
Saxophonist, BePraize, said he has been working hard to expand his art beyond the African community.
“I want to expand to other communities like Jamaica and Asia and I believe this could move me to another level. It’s not only Africans who watch Afrofest so I believe this would reach a global audience.”
Toh said the pandemic allowed Music Africa to take a step back and access the vision and progress of the organization.
“It was an opportunity to look at what the organization had been doing, exactly what is working, how best we could readjust our strategy to meet the expectations of our core audience, and also innovate to make sure that we consistently remain relevant.”
An innovative venture that developed due to the pandemic is the Music Africa Artists Education Program, launched in 2020 and sponsored by T.D Bank, Toh said.
Professionals within the music industry talk to artists about various topics ranging from music, marketing, finance, how to prepare for a show, etc.
“Based on the success of the workshops and the feedback that we got from the artists that attended, it’s something we want to extend into next year. It’s an ongoing thing.”
Toh also spoke about the launch of the Community Shield Awards. This initiative highlights and rewards members of the black community for their outstanding contributions to the community.
He said several entrepreneurs and not-for-profit organizations within the black community are doing incredible work but not being recognized.
“So, we’re going into the community and acknowledging them by giving them awards to encourage them to keep doing the beautiful work that they do.”
“Music Africa has barely scratched its potential,” he said. “And I’m glad that we have a solid team of individuals that work with me, support the vision and are willing to see that it is executed.”
Ngoma Dance Ensemble group performing at the virtual festival.
Toh said he is looking forward to Afrofest 2022, where hopefully the festival can return to an in-person event. .
“I’m badly hyped for 2022, it’s no joke and no one is ready,” he said excitedly.
