Hundreds attended the 2024 Afro Festival in Brno on Saturday, where, under the shade of the tower of the Old Town Hall, a busy mix of city locals and visitors enjoyed a variety of music, traditional African food, and dance workshops.
The courtyard was transformed for the day into a celebration of the diversity of African cultures and music, lined by tents selling food from Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and many other countries. A stage in the middle of the square hosted a range of live performances and DJ sets, with festivities carrying on late into the evening.
The mood throughout was jubilant, reflecting what Sani Groove, a dance teacher and choreographer from Ghana who has lived in Prague for four years, described as the growing confidence and optimism of the African community in the Czech Republic: “I’ve seen a lot of students coming and going, but (now) some are also staying. I’ve seen more blended families, bi-racial families, coming together…it didn’t used to be like this”.
Katie, the MC at the festival, who is from Botswana and lives in Brno, similarly noted that despite there still being “a lot of misconceptions about what Africa is about”, she was now “constantly seeing new faces…(and) when you see that, you don’t feel alone, you feel there is a sense of community”.
Inspiration for the Afro Festival began with three Brno residents, Bernard, Kala, and Filip, who also run the Brno-based events company Labyrint Entertainment. According to Bernard, a Ghanaian in Brno since 2017, the goal was to “create an African atmosphere, here in Brno. Because we know there is no African representation, there are no African shops, we don’t have restaurants. So, (we said) what can we do as individuals, or as pace-setters?”
This idea first led to an African food festival two years ago, the success of which encouraged the three to take things a step further. Kala, also from Ghana but now a long-time member of the African diaspora, first in Italy and now the Czech Republic, said that “the main reason we are doing this is to celebrate African culture…We have permanent ties to this city and this country, (so) we decided to make something that is actually going to be meaningful, because we (have) family here”.
Celebration was a theme echoed by MamMozi, one of the musicians who performed at the festival. MamMozi, who was born in Zimbabwe to a father from Malawi and a mother from Mozambique, drew inspiration for his name from his multinational heritage: “I just took the Ma from Malawi, the Mo from Mozambique, and the Z from Zimbabwe, and came up with the name MamMozi, and then that’s how I was born!” Asked about the importance of events like the Afro Festival, MamMozi said “It brings people together…they learn about African food, music, culture…I think it’s education in its own way”.
The scale and importance of the event were further underlined by the presence of senior Ghanaian and South African diplomats, both of whom gave short addresses midway through the day’s activities. Doris Adzo Denyo Brese, the ambassador of Ghana to the Czech Republic, first spoke to the crowd and said:
“This initiative of having an Afro festival here in Brno, for me, is the best news I heard this year. Africa is still not quite known in these parts of the world. Most of what you know about Africa, unfortunately, (is) of a negative kind, it’s always the bad things you hear about. But this amazing continent, with amazing countries, with different languages, culture, food, people, interests, music – all of it, we have it.” The ambassador continued, “to have a festival like this (is) to showcase just a little, little bit of what we can offer, and to open up the continent, and the opportunities that are there for business, and for creativity. We have so much to offer”.
Mosa Ditty Sejosingoe, ambassador for South Africa, also expounded on the feelings of solidarity fostered by the event: “when you are here in your multitudes like this – this is one thing I love about Brno, I was here during the expat festival – you can feel the vibe, you can feel Africa, you can feel that you are not in a strange land, because you have your brothers and sisters. So, keep it up Brno!”
Events like Afro Festival 2024 will therefore continue to play an important role in developing feelings of belonging amongst members of the African diaspora, as the community continues to assert itself in Brno and the Czech Republic. Indeed, for Kala, perhaps the main motivation for the celebrations is to help build the foundations of a long-term African presence in the city:
“The point is that Brno is now my home. I have a daughter here, I’m raising a daughter here, so I’m looking at my daughter who is going to live through some struggles that she may not fully understand…I want there to be a reason for people coming into a diaspora, in Brno and Czech in particular, not to leave…We give them a reason to be here, and this is what we try to achieve by diversity in such a way that you feel part of something, a society, that is tangible.”
A full list of the day’s programme and performers, as well as future events, can be found on @afro_festival_brno on Instagram and Labyrint Entertainment, on Facebook
