Afrochella Festival back in Accra for Year Five

AKOSUA OFORIWAA-AYIM

Now in its 5th year, Afrochella has grown bigger and better over time. Last month, the “Made in Africa” themed festival welcomed over 8,000 attendees to Accra for several events taking place over the span of one week in the last days of December, 2021.

Events ranged from a production masterclass with award-winning producers Juls and GuiltyBeatz to the inaugural Fashion Night Out, which featured luxury Ghanaian designers and performances from Nigerian stars Oxlade and Rema. The Afrochella team also built its first ever Music Museum in partnership with YouTube, celebrating the history, richness and success of Ghanaian music throughout the decades. Their Future Insiders event highlighted panels featuring leaders within the music industry, including artists like EFYA, music executives, journalists and more.

The biggest and most anticipated event of the week was the Festival itself. Held at El-Wak stadium, Afrochella transformed a sports field into a cultural immersion, complete with beautiful activations, games (like a life-sized Ludo board!), and local vendors selling food, clothing, jewelry and more.

As day turned into evening, the main stage lights up with performances from artists across the globe including Ghanaian legend Kojo Antwi and hitmakers Stonebwoy, King Promise, Gyakie, Joey-B, Black Sherif, Amaarae and others. International Acts also graced the stage including Nasty C from South Africa, NSG from the UK, Ari Lennox from the US and Arya Starr from Nigeria. The headliner was Wizkid, arguably Africa’s artist of the year; his hit song Essence has broken records around the world and the hour-long set at Afrochella showed exactly why he’s had such a huge year.

Afrochella is poised to continue to grow as Africa’s largest cultural festival. This year’s partnerships included YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Hennessy and more – it is clear that large corporations are beginning to see the value in investing on the Continent, and Afrochella is a true example of what happens when local (homegrown Ghanaian) talent is given the opportunity and space to dream big. Both critics and observers contend that Afrochella festival is a warm welcome home to connect and reconnect with African roots. The aura of each year’s festival is characterized as a place where people from the Continent and across the Diaspora meet to learn more about each other and celebrate what it means to be an African.

Posted by admin on Jan 12 2022. Filed under Artcultainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry