African Heritage Festival of Music and Dance returns in-person for 2022
Festival African Heritage Music and Dance Society hosts leading international Black artists
Post Sponsored by African Heritage Music and Dance Society
African superstar Fally Ipupa.
Mark your calendar: the African Heritage Festival of Music and Dance (AHFOMAD) is back for 2022, taking place at Surrey Civic Plaza (13450 104 Avenue) from September 2 to 4.
Now in its eighth year, the fest is produced by Festival African Heritage Music and Dance Society (FAHMDS), a nonprofit community arts presentation and development organization that was conceptualized and developed over four decades and incorporated in 2015.
The founder and creative force behind it all is the CEO/artistic director Ezeadi Patrick U Onukwulu who, over the years, has been influential in the development of the “world” music genre and its integration into mainstream radio, concerts, festivals, and beyond, locally and worldwide. He has been active in the arts and culture industry in the country for more than 40 years.
The festival was born out of a need for Black Peoples to be in control of telling their own stories through their own cultures, with primary economic benefits going to the communities from which they emerged, not taken over by multinationals while people struggle. FAHMDS is creating paradigm shifts to remove systemic and other Anti-Black racisms from society while creating economic equity wealth re-distribution channels in the arts and culture industry for African, Caribbean, and Canadian Black Peoples communities in BC.
AHFOMAD is a place to share and experience culture from the Black Peoples perspective, while developing a professional Black presenter team; fostering the creation of new artistic works; and creating a space to anchor presentations and help youth discover opportunities and support within the arts and culture sector. It is adding a missing link and awesome fun to the arts presentation scene in the province and beyond.
AHFOMAD 2022 features performances by leading African groups such as Wizboyy (WizOfuasia), Tome, Nanya Spark, and more. Don’t miss Fally Ipupa, who hails from the rich musical traditions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He’s known for mixing traditional Congolese music (from Rumba to Ndombolo) with “urban pop” and has played stadiums all over Europe.
AHFOMAD gives local communities and the Black Peoples of the Lower Mainland an opportunity to engage in arts, music, dance, and heritage together. The fest strives to foster a greater knowledge of and respect for the diverse heritages, cultures, and contributions of the Peoples of Black African descent, and to foster their full and equal participation in arts and culture through music and dance.
For more information, see www.festivalafrica.org/.
Post sponsored by African Heritage Music and Dance Society.