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AfriBembé Festival Honors Oshún Virtually

The 2020 AfriBembé Festival is virtual on cccadi.org on Saturday, September 19, 2020 at 2pm.

AfriBembé Festival

The AfriBembé Festival is a New York City festival of African diaspora culture produced annually by the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) in August or September.

All human culture begins as celebrations of family, community and faith amid the unending cycle of death and life through the seasons. In the beginning, family, community and faith were not separate like they are now.

In New York City, many of us are away from our families so we create new ones. Colonizers tried to strip away our heritage so people are reclaiming it. The AfriBembé Festival is an African diaspora family celebration New York style.

Bembé

In its traditional form, a “bembé” is a West African, Central African or African Diaspora celebration of the Orisha faiths.

In its urban diaspora form, a bembé is a party. It may still have elements of faith, but you will only understand them if you are familiar with the faith. It looks like singing and dancing, but there is more to it.

Oshun

The AfriBembé Festival is dedicated to Oshun, the Orisha of the Osun River. The fertility goddess is known for her beauty.

In Africa, her festival is the August Osun-Osogbo Festival in Osogbo, Nigeria. It is celebrated during Nigeria’s short dry season in August.

In Cuba, Oshun is syncretized (blended) with La Caridad del Cobre celebrated on September 8.

2nd AfriBembé Festival

The 2020 AfriBembé Festival is virtual on cccadi.org on Saturday, September 19, 2020 at 2pm.

The festival features performances by some really great artists. Summer in New York City is always a time to discover new artists through the summer festivals. But this year, curators were knocked off balance by the COVID-19 Pandemic so they mostly went with big name artists. The AfriBembé Festival is the first of the 2020 festivals to bring up some interesting performers.

Julissa Contreras (🇩🇴 Dominican New Yorker) hosts performances by:

  • ÌFÉ (Puerto Rican 🇵🇷) ife-music.com ÌFÉ is the holy Yoruba city in Nigeria. The band plays traditional rhythms on electronic drums. It’s pretty cool.
  • Bohio Music (Haitian 🇭🇹 New Yorkers) bohiomusic.com
  • Conjunto Imagen (New York Salsa) facebook
  • Strings & Skins (Haitian 🇭🇹 Colombian 🇨🇴 New Yorkers) stringsnskinsmusic.com
  • Synead (Brooklyn Trinidad? 🇹🇹) synead.com
  • Harambee Dance Company (South Carolina Gullah traditions) harambeedancecompany.com
  • Los Rakas (Panamanian 🇵🇦 Californian) losrakas.com
AfriBembé Festival (Worldshots/Dreamstime)
AfriBembé Festival (Worldshots/Dreamstime)

For more information, visit cccadi.org


Published September 19, 2020 ~ Updated May 13, 2024.

Filed Under: African American, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Colombian, Dominican, Haitian, Manhattan, Trinidadian, Yoruba

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