BY: ALYSSA MAHADEO
Beautiful clear blue skies stretched out over Woodbine Park this weekend and the scent of food and sounds of rhythmic drums enticed visitors from the surrounding area and across the city to join the festivities at AFROFEST 2018, a beautiful and colourful cultural celebration of Africa and her people.
AFROFEST is North America’s largest free African festival attracting 125,000 visitors to Woodbine Park, Toronto over two days. The festival celebrates beauty and diversity in food, fashion, art, crafts African music and culture, and performers.
This year marked the 30th anniversary of AFROFEST, and Music Africa of Canada has modified its program to commemorate this achievement and organizational growth. “In 2018 we will extend the duration of the festival by changing its length from 2 days to a 9 day celebration starting on June 30, 2018, with a themed event called, “Africa Celebrates Canada” AFROFEST is about inclusion, showcasing diversity, building community and uplifting Africans in the diaspora.
Toronto is a melting pot of cultures, known for its rich diversity, inclusion, and acceptance of everyone who lives here. Over the past few months, the city’s crime rates have unfortunately increased, and it has many citizens worried about the negative media impulses and the communities they reside in. Many people are questioning their safety in the city and whether or not Toronto is still a place where they can feel at home.
As we are a city in need of positive and hopeful narratives, AFROFEST draws over 125,000 visitors to Woodbine Park each year to celebrate African culture. Each year is larger than the last and many who attend have returned from the past year’s annual events.
AFROFEST is a rare opportunity to speak to the African diaspora in a space that celebrates African culture. Music Africa, the organizer for AFROFEST, is also growing, with year-long programming bringing positive stories and experiences of African culture into schools, parks, and communities.
Music Africa is a not-for-profit community-based organization that promotes African music in Toronto through its annual flagship music festival AFROFEST. Established in 1990, Music Africa is among the oldest and most respected organizations promoting African music in Canada. Through its activities and events, such as the annual Black History Month Concert Series, Music Africa is committed to enhancing appreciation and awareness of African music among Canadians and continues to strive to establish Toronto as a thriving global center for African music.
“In African culture, the “self” is not separate from the world, it is united and intermingled with the natural and social environment,” as sourced from victoriafalls-guide.net article about African culture. “It is through relations with one’s community and surroundings that an individual becomes a person of volition, whose actions and decisions affect the entire group rather than just oneself. There is an Xhosa proverb that is common to all African cultures and languages, “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,” (“A person is a person through persons”).
The abundant and dynamic African culture does not only differ from one country to another but also within each country as well. Each culture of ethnic groups carries their own customs, traditions, and styles as displayed through their art, music, and oral literature. The languages of Africa are of various dialects and tongues and people practice many religions and live in numerous types of dwellings.
“The vast majority of people living in Africa are indigenous; however, people from all over the world have migrated to Africa for hundreds of years. Arabs began crossing into North Africa from the Middle East in the 7th century, A.D., bringing with them the religion of Islam. Europeans began settling in the southern portion of the continent in the mid-17th century, as did South Asians, who settled in the areas of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. Over the centuries, African culture has meshed with cultures from around the world, although much of traditional African customs have remained throughout,” as cited by victoriafalls-guide.net.
Africans and the African diaspora make up a sizable community in the Greater Toronto Area. Many subdivisions in the GTA have black populations higher than the national average including Ajax (16%), Brampton (13.5%), Pickering (11.4%), Toronto (8.5%), Mississauga (6.3%), and Whitby (6.2%) (“Visible minority groups, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories”. 2.statcan.ca. 2010-10-06.)
There are over 500,000 individuals in Ontario who identify as part of the African diaspora, with a majority located within the Greater Toronto Area.
Most new Torontonians, according to research presented in 2016 by the Martin Prosperity Institute, will come from Africa and the Middle East (54%) over the coming decades.
Over Saturday and Sunday, much of the city came out to Woodbine park to enjoy the vibrant music culture, food, and artistic displays at AFROFEST. Every year AFROFEST ignites the spirit of African culture in the heart of Toronto, working to share the rich and diverse expressions of African music and culture in an inclusive, vibrant and positive community festival setting. Through AFROFEST, a diverse audience celebrates the abundant energy of African music in an effort to cultivate community spirit and enhance the understanding and appreciation of the diverse people of Africa.
The weather was perfect reminiscent of the hot temperatures and climates of Africa and the Caribbean Islands bringing the community together to enjoy everything that AFROFEST had to offer. There were many local business vendors across the park, including African clothing vendors, selling beautiful printed dashiki’s, kaftan’s and smocks, kufi’s and gele head ties. Natural body butters, lotions, and remedies were also available as well as jewellery and accessories, books and other literature as well as a myriad of food vendors selling amazing holistic and mouthwatering dishes for the public to sample a taste of African cuisine.
The 2018 edition of AFROFEST came back stronger than ever with a fully loaded festival, featuring more than 8 International headlining acts, the world record attempt to create the largest djembe drum circle, and Africa Celebrates Canada event with Zimbabwean recording artist Jah Prayzah as well as the AFROFEST post-festival event titled AFROFEST Reloaded.
“Toronto is a diverse city. Our dream is that positive portrayals of African culture like AFROFEST will be common and remarkable for both African and non-African communities in Canada.”
AFROFEST is an annual event, and each year they bring something bigger than the continent of Africa to the city of Toronto in celebration of their countries and to remind people to be proud of their unique ethnicities.
