Afrikadey! celebrates magic, music of Africa
It’s that time of year again when two of my favourite festivals roll around. The first is Afrikadey! which looks better than ever this year with a long list of diverse musical acts, a film screening, a play reading and even a fashion show! (Yay!)
The second festival I’m drooling over is the Calgary Fringe Festival, which I’ll touch on later.
I’m thrilled to say that Afrikadey! has grown over the past 20-plus years of its existence from a daylong African music extravaganza in Prince’s Island Park to a full week of activities lead- ing up to the main event.
On the Monday of what I’ll call “Afrikadey! week,” there’ll be a reading of a play by Calgary playwright Cheryl Foggo called John Ware Re-Imagined. It’s the true tale of a former slave turned Alberta cowboy and rancher.
On Tuesday, there’s a film screening I’m super excited about. The film is called Agadez: The Music and the Rebellion. It’s basically a documentary about Omara “Bombino” Moctar, a Tuareg guitarist who’ll be performing at this year’s Afrikadey!
“He’s using his music to help the world understand the problems of the Tuareg people of West Africa,” Afrikadey! artistic director Tunde Dawodu explains, adding that Moctar’s work echoes the theme of Afrikadey!’s Friday night symposium called Artivism.
“Artists are not just there to entertain. They are there to inform and educate,” Dawodu says, pointing to another Afrikadey! performer, Emmanuel Jal.
The former child soldier from Sudan is “using his music as a weapon to encourage peace,” Dawodu says.
While Dawodu says there are some well-known names on this year’s Afrikadey! lineup — like Juno Award-winning guitarist Alpha Yaya Diallo — there are also some “new discoveries” to be made, like East Africa’s Beatrice Biyakika, who is a fashion designer and performer and will be participating in Afrikadey! in both roles.
Which brings me to the fashion showcase. The event will turn part of Eau Claire Market into a catwalk of Afro-centric fashions the evening of August 7.
Ten local designers will participate, as will designer-to-the-stars Romero Bryan, who has garbed the likes of R&B group Destiny’s Child.
Further to all this, there is an Afrobeat music workshop taking place from August 7-9 with Dele Sosimi, a name renowned in world music circles.
One artist about whom I’m particularly excited is N’nato Camara. She’s a former dancer with a couple of ballet troupes in West Africa, an art form not frequently associated with Africa.
“When people talk about Africa, there’s this connotation of an archaic corridor . . . Culture evolves with the people who practice it. African artists have incorporated all the outside influences into what they do,” Dawodu says.
When you really stop and think about it, the international talent descending on Calgary for that week in August is quite staggering. I, for one, will be taking advantage of the opportunity as much as I can.
Afrikadey! events run from August 5 to 11, at Prince’s Island Park and several other venues.
Tickets and information: afrikadey.com or 403-234-9110.
It’s no secret among those who know me how much I LOVE the annual Fringe Festival. Last year, I managed to see about 18 shows. Did I like every show? No. But was I continually surprised by the quality of the productions and the number of plays I ended up enjoying? Yes. And therein lies the beauty of the Fringe. It’s a virtual potpourri of short plays that always keeps you guessing as to what you might see next.
As festival artistic director Michelle Gallant says, “Go and see something you might not normally see,” because shows are usually no more than an hour long and the ticket price is in the neighbourhood of 10 bucks.
So, if your viewing experiment isn’t a positive one, you won’t be out much time or money.
For me, that will mean going to see a sci-fi play, not generally my genre of choice.
In perusing this year’s lineup, a couple of themes emerge: comedy and physical theatre.
As those familiar with the Fringe know, shows are selected by a lottery draw, with 40 per cent of the available slots going toward local shows, 30 per cent toward national shows, and the remaining 30 per cent reserved for international offerings. So any “themes” that do emerge are totally by chance.
There are more than 30 shows on this year’s lineup, spread across 10 venues, almost all of which are within 10 minutes of one another in Inglewood.
There are the serious shows like She Has a Name, which deals with the issue of human trafficking in Thailand. There are shows incorporating circus elements like California’s Aerial Allusions. There are distinctly “adult” shows like Does This Turn You On? a comic look a sexual fetish. There is a guitar show called 2 to Django with festival regular Colin Godbout. There is a show titled Loon that features huge masks. There is the aforementioned sci-fi content courtesy of productions like Trashman’s Dilemma. There is fare suitable for the entire family, such as Australia’s The Ballad of Herbie Cox. There are the shows with the provocative titles that may — or may not — deliver on the titillation factor, such as The Hefner Monologues. The list goes on and on . . .
My advice? Go to the Fringe and discover for yourself the hidden gems that will be gracing Inglewood’s stages this year.
The Calgary Fringe Festival runs from August 3 to 11 at several locations throughout Inglewood.
Tickets and information: calgaryfringe.ca or 403-451-9726.