The Pulse of Africa at a Unique Museum Festival in Belgrade!
The traditional Afro Festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 29th and 30th, at the Museum of African Art in Belgrade (14 Andre Nikolić Street, Senjak).
For over two decades, the Afro Festival has gathered both museum enthusiasts and the general public to support the preservation of cultural heritage through educational and popular programs, as well as the promotion of African arts and crafts.
During these days, the Museum of African Art transforms into a buzzing hive – becoming a place of meeting, idea exchange, and good cheer inspired by the discovery and deep dive into various forms of creativity originating from and inspired by the African continent.
With invaluable support from the African diplomatic community in Belgrade, specially arranged stands will showcase the diverse cultural, tourist, and culinary treasures of Africa in a special program called Durbar (Festival of Festivals).
This year’s participants include the embassies of Algeria, Angola, Brazil, Egypt, DR Congo, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, and Tunisia, as well as the consulates of Gabon, Jamaica, and Namibia.
The festival’s rich program will include an African bazaar, an exhibition of the best works from the Ninth Children’s Art Contest “Impressions of Africa,” a fashion show by Nigerian designers, and a workshop where ladies can learn the techniques of tying African turbans. Workshops for children will include hip-hop dance, creating collage backdrops from imaginary or real trips to Africa, and mural painting with motifs inspired by Nigerian and Cameroonian ukara fabrics. Festival attendees can also play a game of mancala, one of the oldest board games, and try the martial art Capoeira Angola.
The musical program will feature performances by DJ Pen, a multidisciplinary artist from Nigeria, and Nego Zamba, alias Jose Delson do Nascimento, a popular Brazilian guitarist and improviser. Percussionists from the “Singidundun” school will perform rhythms on the singidundun, djembe, and sabar drums, accompanied by a dance performance by Donia Temba Đurić from Mozambique. The musical background will also be enriched by the band “Avalski put,” consisting of foreign students, mainly from Africa, who are in Serbia as part of the “World in Serbia” project.
The official address by H.E. Mohamed Amin Belhaj, the Ambassador of Morocco, accompanied by members of the Group of African Ambassadors in Serbia, will take place on Sunday at 12h, followed by a performance by renowned musician and singer-songwriter Marko Louis.
Afro Festival visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy Marko’s songs, which blend RNB, funk, soul, and hip-hop with Afro rhythms and include elements from the Balkans, Bulgaria, India, and Iran.
Several lectures will also be held during the festival: “West African Traditional Music – Djembe” by Dragica S. Jovanović, “Bwiti: Religion, Tradition or Ritual?” by Paul Armand Mombeja Indaki, and “Between Sensory Colonization and Creative Resistance: Electronic Music in East Africa” by Dr. Piotr Cichocki, along with a curated tour of the thematic exhibition “Zdravko Pečar – (Self)Portraits.”
During the event, the audience will be able to dispose of packaging waste at the Sekopak company stand.
Tickets are priced at 400 dinars. The program runs from 10 AM to 6 PM, and the complete content can be viewed on the Museum of African Art’s website:
Photo credits @ Marija Piroski
Writer. Blogger. Traveler. Researcher. Electronic Music Lover.
