AFRIBEMBÉ 2023 CREATES A PAN-AFRICAN CULTURAL SANCTUARY IN HARLEM ART PARK & E 120TH
On August 12th El Barrio lit up with a rich display of not just one culture, but the many that make up our global African Diaspora. The neighborhood came alive through an amalgamation of rhythms, stylistic expressions, artistry and art forms, traditions, and visions of a united and liberated future for African descendants everywhere. It was the 2023 AFRIBEMBÉ FESTIVAL: Black to the Future!
Photo by Aryana Alexa.
The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute’s 5th annual Pan-African celebration held in partnership with the Friends of Art Park Alliance offered more than 1000 New York City families of all ages a day-long opportunity to enjoy a Black cultural sanctuary within Harlem Art Park and throughout E 120th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.
Through the festival’s Bembé Stage, Family Village, SoulFull Food Plaza, Sankofa Tribute to Greg Tate and Ujamaa Market, attendees were called upon to envision AfroFuturism from a global perspective. Kicking off at noon with a libation by CCCADI Executive Director Melody Capote, AFRIBEMBÉ began by paying tribute to the ancestors who dared to envision a future that stretched beyond their reality, paving the way for our community to exist today.
“Joy for us is freedom. In looking at our history of enslavement and oppression, we are not supposed to be here, and yet we are,” were the opening words of Melody Capote followed by a drum procession led by Asase Yaa Youth Ensemble and Chief Awosánmí Sékou Alájé with an Egun dancer to set the festival tone.
Throughout the day, the Bembé Stage was graced by DJ Bembona, Pedrito Martinez (presented in partnership with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem), Combo Chimbita, Chimurenga Renaissance, Imani Uzuri and an excerpt performance of “In the Valley of Coming Forth”, an AfroFuturist play by CCCADI Alumnus Herukhuti Williams.
The festival emcee Rasu Jilani, executive director of the Brooklyn Arts Council, moved festival goers through statements of Black identity and agency, taking time to lead our Sankofa Tribute in the spirit of Black August to honor cultural theorist Greg Tate, and reminding the community of the essence and meaning of the term Bembé.
“When our ancestors were enslaved, they were not allowed to Bembé, it was seen as witchcraft. Well, we’re going to do some witchcraft today,” said Jilani.
Used throughout the Diaspora with various meanings, from drumming to rhythm, to party, Bembé is one of the terms that connects our Diaspora together in music, joy, and community.
At this year’s AFRIBEMBÉ that concept served as the springboard for creating pathways through which generations to come can access the tools of our cultural traditions to inform our futures. The festival’s Family Village offered those tools through Get Your Jump On, a double dutch workshop by Double Dutch Dreamz, a free AfroFuturism coloring book by Lola Lovenotes, Mi Tierra, an indigenous-based agricultural workshop with Alexis Mena, an herbal medicine-making workshop with Zaria Poem from her series Souljourn to Yonda’, and There is a Hurricane Within Us, a collective poster-making learnshop led by Kevin Quiles Bonilla and Zac Landsberg. The Village also showcased the artwork of CCCADI’s 2023 of its For The Culture youth summer program.
Our expression and creativity come in many forms including food and crafts. The 5th annual AFRIBEMBÉ FESTIVAL cultivated a space for cooperative economics by featuring SoulFull Food Plaza vendors, Culiraw Inc, Lemonade Made for Sunny Days and Delicious African Orchards LLC, as well as Ujamaa Market vendors, Sundance Vacations, Ojala Threads Inc, Everything Soulful, La Linguere, Brooklyn Brujeria Inc, Pop Origins, Wdnsdyschild, Hailesimo, Earthtone Boutique, Safo Hair x Tribal Strands, Pretty Specialties, LLC, Adinkra Republic LLC, Rebel Orisha, Nohem, Blacklines of Design Inc, From the Arxhive, Molasses Sunshine Studio Designs, ODEHYEE LLC.
AFRIBEMBÉ is one of the many ways CCCADI seeks to advance its mission of cultural equity and racial and social justice for African descendant communities through arts and culture. The annual festival continues to provide the East Harlem and neighboring communities with an opportunity to rejoice in our creativity, intellectuality, and musicality, remembering our shared roots.
View the festival photo galleries:
All photos by Aryana Alexa.
