“More often, Wales needs festivals like this”. Two full weekends of the Dathliad Cymru Africa Festival , one in Bethesda in north Wales and the other at The Millennium Centre in Cardiff .
As one of the founders, Successors of the Mandigue, N’Famady Kouyate says, “ we want to bring to Wales a festival full of the Africa vibe”.
Music, performance, workshops, art and photography all featured but it was the world talent of the musicians that left the memories. This wasn’t the modern Hip Hop but the traditional beauty of the music from a plethora of countries across the continent.
And as soon as N’Famady hit the balafon for the opening set on the Glanfa Stage the vibe had arrived.
First on the Weston Stage at the Millennium Centre was Hanisha Soloman. Her smile, beauty and personality transcended through her music connecting with the audience who had no reason not to rock their shoulders Ethiopian style and dance. It was the prefect start to the festival giving exactly the upbeat mood it required and a standard the rest had to equal. She seemed shy and nervous as she walked onto the stage but came alive as soon as the first note played and during her set jumped from the stage to interact with her dancing public.
Interspersed between the main acts the Caberet Room and Glanfa Stage hosted community choirs, story telling from Bevin Magama, poetry, film and fashion but the stars were pulling in an expectant crowd.
Welsh singer Eve Goodman joined the Successors of the Mandingue for a beautiful yet high energy set, then Rasha from Sudan gave an emotional performance.
Her music was obviously touching on the political issues of her country and she had to fight back the tears during her opening song. She was helped through by a group of Sudanese women who shouted their support and the love they had for Rasha could be felt in the air of the intimate arena. They danced and sang and pulled Rasha through her simply brilliant performance.
When you thought it couldn’t get better the excitement built through Matuki and the buzz in the crowd reached a crescendo when music giant from Congo, Kanda Bongo Man, walked onto the stage. He proceeded to tell his early life story before embarking on his infectious Soukous dance music that became popular in London and Paris in the 1980’s and dominated dance floors in central, eastern and western Africa. Many videos of the genre were censored for indecency and Kanda Bongo Man’s dancer gave a mild performance of sexual energy as ‘The Man’ belted out song after song. A memory that will never to be forgotten.
Jerome Band opened the second day on the main stage then the colour, song and dance to the rhythm of the drums of Bantu Arts almost took the roof off the venue. The energetic young women sang their traditional Ugandan songs to the precision of their drum beat and transformed the stage into a fire of sound and movement. They could not have been more different to Kanda Bongo Man the day before yet they dovetailed to perfection giving the audience the full gambit of African music and the spectacular.
On the smaller stages we were blessed with dance collaborations from Krystal Lowe and Aida, spoken word workshops from poet Ali Goolyad and more before Agmar Band, Afro Cluster, Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba brought the curtain down on the main Weston Stage.
The art exhibitions were photography from Glenn Edwards, Sharon Kostini, Taiye Omokore, Ewa Nowicki, and Hebrew with art from Mfikela Jean Samuel and Etchedbright exhibited all over the Millennium Centre and Neuadd Ogwen in Bethesda
It was a weekend showcasing the power of all genres of African song dance and art. I opened this feature saying Wales needed more. That was not a request that was a demand. African talent must have more exposure and Wales is the place to start.
To view more pictures from the event click here
