Kwaku Summer Festival

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Location of Amsterdam-Zuidoost (green)

The Kwaku Summer Festival (formerly: Kwakoe Zomerfestival ) takes place once a year in the Zuidoost district of Amsterdam and is the largest multicultural event of its kind in the Netherlands .

history

In 1975 the summer festival began as a football tournament for the residents of the “Zuidoost” (southeast) district from the then “Stichting Jongeren Centrum Kwakoe” foundation. The football games were held on the sports field of today's “Bijlmerplein” and have been taking place in the “Bijlmerpark” since 1983. Over the years the festival expanded with music, dance, food stalls, film, and also literature and art. At the beginning, the festival participants were mainly Surinamans, as well as from the Antilles and some African countries that are based in the Netherlands. In recent years, visitors from other cultures have increasingly taken part in the festival. The organization of the festival, the “Stichting Kwakoe Festival” foundation, received approval to hold the festivities at the end of the 1990s. In August 2008 the foundation was declared bankrupt by the court . A new start succeeded in June 2009 with a new foundation, the “Stichting Kwakoe Events & Festivals”. On January 1, 2010, the Amsterdam district of “Zuidoost” received three requests to organize the Kwakoe Festival. The “Kwakoe Zomerfestival” foundation (previously: Kwakoe Festival ) received approval.

The theme of the Kwakoe Festival in 2010 was The Celebrationyear to get acquainted with the culture and tropical dishes of Suriname. It was also the thirty-fifth Kwakoe Festival, with 350,000 visitors expected. In 2009 there were around 350,000 festival visitors. In 2010, however, 100,000 fewer came than expected, around 250,000. A special program was organized for children, the “Kinderdorp” ( children's village ).

Various events were organized for the festival: “De mainstage”, dance workshop, live music and disc jockeys . “De Culturestage”, also with music, dance and song. “De Beauty Lounge” for massage and other things, for tattoos or to choose a party outfit . In addition, for the first time in 35 years the “Kwakoe Business Meeting 2010” took place in the “Bijlmerpark”, a meeting for small new entrepreneurs to get to know.

In 2011, for the first time in its 35-year history, there was no Kwakoe Festival. The reasons were financial and organizational.

The 37th Festival 2012 took place with festival activities football, music, theater, literature, art and readings. The number of visitors has risen to almost 500,000 over the years and the festival is considered the "largest multicultural festival in Europe".

meaning

Statue of Kwakoe in Paramaribo

In many African traditions, including Surinamese of African descent, it is customary for children to be given the name of the day they were born. Primarily male descendants who were born on Wednesday were given the name Kwakoe .
Slavery was abolished in Suriname on July 1, 1863. As a reminder, there is a statue of a slave who is no longer bound in Paramaribo by the name of Kwakoe , since July 1, 1863 fell on a Wednesday.

Kwakoe Award

The Kwakoe Jagernath Lachmon Award , named after the Surinamese politician Jagernath Lachmon , is given to Surinamians who have made merits in the social and cultural field. So far, the award has received a. the historian André Loor (2000), the politician Jules Albert Wijdenbosch (2002), the nun Isabel Slagveer (2003), the former President Johan Ferrier (2004), the politician Willy Soemita (2005) and the moderator Henk van Vliet (2007) .

literature

  • Hanne Reus, It's Kwakoe time! De geschiedenis van een Surinaams festival in Nederland . KIT Publishers, 2005. ISBN 90-6832-495-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kwakoe Festival: Multicultural character . Dutch, accessed September 2, 2010
  2. ^ Declaration of bankruptcy . Dutch, accessed September 2, 2010
  3. ↑ Information on "AT5" of 10 March 2010 . Dutch, accessed September 21, 2012
  4. ↑ Author: Asruf Muradin of July 31, 2010. 350,000 visitors expected . Dutch, accessed September 2, 2010
  5. ↑ 250,000 visitors in 2010 , in Trouw on August 8, 2010. Dutch, accessed on September 2, 2010
  6. ↑ After 35 years no Kwakoefestival due to lack of financial means . From the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) of June 22, 2011. Dutch, accessed July 31, 2011
  7. ^ Waterkant.net . Biggest multicultural festival in Europe. Dutch, accessed August 21, 2012
  8. ↑ Kwakoe tradition . Dutch, accessed September 2, 2010
  9. ↑ Still in Paramaribo . Dutch, accessed September 21, 2012