Africa Festival
The Africa Festival in Würzburg is an event on the culture and music of the African continent . It was launched in 1989 by the Würzburger Afro Projekt, a working group for the promotion of African culture in Germany. The Africa Festival is currently the largest festival of this topic in Europe. In the last few years over 120,000 visitors could be counted.
The event always begins in the last week of May and took place on the Talavera-Mainwiesen in Würzburg until 2012. In 2013 the festival had to be canceled due to flooding. The organizers then announced that the festival would take place elsewhere in the future. The festival is currently taking place in Mainaustrasse.
The festival's focus is on music. During the day, traditional and contemporary music performances take place on various stages. "White" bands with African-inspired music also contribute, so that a total of over 200 music groups are usually present. The highlight of the musical performances, however, is a concert in the evening in a circus tent. Here the visitors meet internationally known performers. In 2003, for example, the Malian singer Salif Keita , the reggae singer Alpha Blondy and the Raï singer Cheb Mami performed full-length . In the next year one of the main focuses was on South Africa with Miriam Makeba , the "South Africa's King of Reggae" Lucky Dube and Mzekezeke together with the Kwaito band Brown Dash , one of the young hip-hop bands from the townships .
These events are framed by a spacious African-colored bazaar , in which African musical instruments, CDs, antique jewelry, colorful robes and Europeanized African dishes are offered in tents.
While the organizers refrained from making political statements in the first few years, the festival is now given a motto every year. In 2007, for example, the AIDS disease was addressed through exhibitions and information events. In 2008 the “black Atlantic” was the musical focus. The 21st festival took place from May 29th to June 1st, 2009. The 22nd Africa Festival took place on May 21, 2010; The focus was on South Africa, the host country of the 2010 soccer World Cup. 2013 was the 25th anniversary of the Africa Festival. The focus on Mali was chosen for the anniversary.
In 2015 the 27th Africa Festival took place between June 4th and 7th. The main topics were Zanzibar and North Africa.
The Africa Festival 2019 took place from May 30th to June 2nd. The 32nd Africa Festival was scheduled from May 29 to June 1, 2020 and was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Africa Festival surrenders to the uncertain weather . Online at Mainpost.de from June 2, 2013.
- ↑ Africa-Festival Würzburg focuses on Mali ( memento from April 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Online on wuerzburgerleben.de from February 1, 2013
- ↑ Africa Festival 2015 , online at wuerzburgerleben.de on February 11, 2015
- ↑ AFRICA FESTIVAL WÜRZBURG - The Original! Retrieved May 13, 2020 (German).