Afrikaba Festival 2019 Summary

Afrikaba 2019 from JustJazz Visuals on Vimeo.

“We brought diverse artists to share the same stage and reached people who generally would not be in the same audience. We crossed genres, cultures and heritage. Young and old shared the same room and together we created our own community”

Afrikaba Festival 2019 featured:-

  • The legendary King of Soukous,  Kanda Bongoman headlined the main event supported by the UK’s favourite Congolese band, Kasai Masai
  • the HKBFiNN Enesemble performed a unique blend of jazz, poetry and reggae.
  • Adults and children alike were thrilled by the storytelling of Sandra Agard and amused by Paullette German-Harris as Lady P with her anecdotes of Jamaicans arriving in the UK during the 1950’s.
  • We paired local jazz musician Mike Hatchard with the Vocal Explosion World Music Choir led by Juliet Russell. They perform music that incorporates styles from Eastern European, Gypsy to upbeat African and bespoke compositions.
  • Documentary filmmaker, Veronica McKenzie with her debut feature ‘Nine Nights’ and the film short by musician HKBFiNN ‘Waiting’ (Anxiety is Real).

Afrikaba would like to thank the following:-

  • Arts Council England for financial support. 
  • African Night Fever for their ongoing partnership 
  • To the venues Electric Palace Cinema and St Mary in the Castle for partnering with Afrikaba to encourage diversity in the creative and cultural arenas
  • Cath Tajima-powell for her enthusiastic administrative support
  • Sonia Dee and Annie Waite for Social Media
  • Tina Morris of Sweet & Dandy / Coastal Currents for helping us extend our reach 
  • Luke Herriot for graphic services
  • Claudine and Tom Eccleston for accomodation (and all the rest)
  • Jamie De’Ath for assisting with videography
  • Just Jazz Visuals for producing the video
  • Mama Putts restaurant for food
  • The arts and culture team at Hastings Borough Council for supporting the arts
  • Finally but by no means least (because without them there would be nothing on stage to experience), all the musicians, filmmakers and volunteers who helped make this possible and you if you were in the audience (because you make up the other half of the team).