{"id":776,"date":"2015-07-29T16:51:06","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T16:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.batukimusic.com\/?p=776"},"modified":"2020-06-07T02:39:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-07T02:39:23","slug":"batuki-music-society-presents-habari-africa-festival-at-harbourfront-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/2015-events\/batuki-music-society-presents-habari-africa-festival-at-harbourfront-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Habari Africa Festival: Aug 14 – 16, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Batuki Music Society Presents:\u00a0 Habari Africa Festival At Harbourfront Centre.<\/h1>\n

Batuki Music Society presents the second annual Habari Africa Festival at the Harbourfront Centre from Friday August 14 \u2013 16, 2015.\u00a0 This year\u2019s curatorial theme is a focus on \u2018New Voices:\u00a0 A view of African music from a Canadian perspective\u2019.\u00a0 The artistic works will explore the changing styles of music, dance, and other art forms as practiced by African artists living in Canada as well as their non-African counterparts.<\/p>\n

The artists featured will represent an array of music genres and dance styles from; Congolese rumba and \u2018bazombo\u2019, afro-roots reggae, ethio-jazz, afrobeat, morna, batuque, traditional and contemporary West African sounds, North African shaabi and Andalusian fusion, African gospel, to the new afro-house music from South Africa.\u00a0 The festival will also have activities for children of all ages, workshops, films, visual arts, vendors with African crafts, as well as delicious cuisine from the World Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 This multi-disciplinary festival is co-presented with Harbourfront Centre.<\/p>\n

A sample of some of the music acts this year include the following artists:<\/p>\n

Ethio Zema Band \u2013 A new group formed by Fantahun Shewankochew, an accomplished composer, arranger, vocalist, and acoustic krar player.\u00a0 This is ethio-jazz at its best.<\/p>\n

Awa Sangho \u2013 This Malian belle who is described to have a radiant voice represents a variety of sounds that emanate from West Africa, built on a delicate balance between the sounds of the kora, ngoni, flute, and the electronic sounds of modern instruments.<\/p>\n

Rocky Dawuni \u2013 International music star and humanitarian Rocky Dawuni straddles the musical boundaries between Africa, the Caribbean and the U.S. to create an appealing \u00ab\u00a0Afro-Roots\u00a0\u00bb sound that unites generations and cultures.
\nMoto de Kapia \u2013 The music of the region of Kasai in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is varied, and one of the forms practiced by this band is \u2018bazombo\u2019, a type that is hypnotizing and popularized by recordings from groups like \u2018Kasai All Stars\u2019 and \u2018Konono No. 1\u2019.\u00a0 The band blends acrobatic moves with their dances usually accompanied by the beats of the \u2018ngoma\u2019, an upright drum from the Kasai region and modern guitars and bass.<\/p>\n

Asiko Afrobeat Ensemble \u2013 Foly Kolade who hails from Ogidi, a small village in Nigeria, had migrated to New York where he had established himself as a performer of afrobeat for almost 9 years.\u00a0 Kolade has performed alongside afrobeat stars such as; Seun Kuti, Antibalas, as well as other artists like Zap Mama, Madagascar Slim, etc.\u00a0 Asiko Afrobeat Ensemble now calls Toronto home and the band continues to wow crowds with their music.<\/p>\n

Mi Casa \u2013 Mi Casa\u2019s sound incorporates soulful vocals, guitar picks, keyboards, and sweet trumpet sounds blended together by a talented trio of Dr, Duda, J\u2019Something, and Mo-T.\u00a0 This is South Africa\u2019s hottest Afro-house group.\u00a0 This is a late night performance at the Brigantine Room and is a co-presentation with Moonraiser Entertainment as a ticketed show.<\/p>\n

We are also very excited to be featuring the work of world-renowned visual artist, David Kibuuka, at the Marilyn Brewer Community Space.\u00a0 Kibuuka\u2019s art is influenced by the work of European art masters, traditional African artistry, and of course his older brother and mentor.\u00a0 Kibuuka is also credited with creating the technique of fragmentation, a unique method of painting vivid images through a mosaic of colour and form.<\/p>\n

Three films would be screened at the festival namely: Bi Kidude: As Old As My Tongue, Omo Child: The River And The Bush, and Timbuktu.\u00a0 Bi Kidude is a biographical film about the life of Zanzibar\u2019s Queen of \u2018taarab\u2019 and \u2018unyago\u2019.\u00a0 This enigmatic woman entertained sultans and sailors with her music for a very long time.\u00a0 She even continued performances at festivals well into her nineties.
\nOmo Child is a documentary of a young Ethiopian man\u2019s journey of ending the ages old practice of \u2018mingi\u2019 in the Omo Valley by the Kara tribe.\u00a0 \u2018Mingi\u2019 means curse, and children born out of wedlock are considered a curse and are usually thrown in the raging Omo River or abandoned to die in the bush.
\nTimbuktu is the 2015 Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.\u00a0 This film depicts the arrival of the Jihadists (Islamic Fundamentalists) in the quiet town of Kidane in Northern Mali.\u00a0 The Islamists terrorized the citizens by imposing harsh Islamic laws (Sha\u2019ariah), banning music, alcohol, cigarette smoking, etc.\u00a0 Floggings and summary executions became the norm, shattering a once beautiful and peaceful community.<\/p>\n

Habari Africa Festival
\nVenue: Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, M5J 2G8
\nDates\/Times: Friday August 14: 7:00pm \u2013 11:00pm
\nSaturday, August 15: 12:00pm \u2013 11:00pm
\nSaturday August 15: 10:30pm \u2013 3:00 am Ticketed late night concert with Mi Casa $25-30
\nSunday, August 16: 12:00pm \u2013 6:00pm<\/p>\n

All performances and activities are free to the public except the late night ticketed show with Mi Casa.<\/p>\n

For additional information and complete event listings please visit:
\nhttp:\/\/www.harbourfrontcentre.com\/habariafrica\/2015\/<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.batukimusic.com <\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Batukimusic<\/a><\/p>\n

Batuki Music Society gratefully acknowledges funding from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canadian Heritage.\u00a0 We are very grateful for the tremendous contributions from Harbourfront Centre, its staff and dedicated volunteers for making this happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cNurturing and strengthening cultural diversity through music and the arts\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Batuki Music Society Presents:\u00a0 Habari Africa Festival At Harbourfront Centre. Batuki Music Society presents the second annual Habari Africa Festival at the Harbourfront Centre from Friday August 14 \u2013 16, 2015.\u00a0 This year\u2019s curatorial theme …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,214,228],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2015-events","category-festivals","category-haf-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3299,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions\/3299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/batukimusic.com\/site2\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}