Membership
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It is "you" the members of Music Africa that make Afrofest happen and be a sucess each and every year!
Music Africa - A Brief Organizational Profile
Music Africa is a non–profit community–based organization whose main objective is to promote African music in Toronto through "Afrofest" music festival and other occasional events. Established in 1990, Music Africa is among the oldest and most respected organizations promoting African music in Canada.
Music Africa’s premier event "Afrofest" has grown from strength to strength every year. The Queen’s Park event, "Afrofest in the Park" is the largest annual African music event in Canada. It is also the biggest single annual gathering–place for different African communities for any purpose in the city of Toronto, which itself gives the event huge significance.
Music Africa has a long–standing record of presenting African musical events, including large–scale concerts and smaller performances at clubs, theatres and other major venues all across the city. The organization has brought many beloved and internationally recognized African musical acts to the city. Moreover, Music Africa provides a strong platform for emerging artists from the many African communities in the city and elsewhere in Canada. In recent years, the organization has taken the initiative to include more youth-centered African musical forms both at Afrofest and other venues.
Music Africa presents both English and French artists along with many other African languages in order to better represent the diversity within these communities.
Music Africa maintains strong links with many African communities in Toronto. Collaborations with various African community groups have helped greatly to enrich programming. Music Africa also supports the activities of other non-profit cultural organizations through partnerships for various events.
Through its activities, Music Africa is committed to enhancing appreciation and awareness of African music among Canadians while also striving to establish Toronto as a thriving global centre for African music.
In 2008, Music Africa received the Heritage Award from Planet Africa.
Africa design adopted by Music Africa
The newly acquired Africa design adopted by Music Africa is an insignia of creativity, identity, and shared experiences. For Africa is much more than clothing and cuisine; it is a land of narration often translated through oral transmission and artefacts. A tradition captured remarkably by Barbara Klunder (www.barbaraklunder.com), famous award-winning Toronto graphic designer and illustrator who has designed for virtually every big festival and cultural institution in the city.
This design was especially commissioned and created to celebrate Africa's first World Cup and the rich diversity of African musical forms. Included in the diversity of African musical instruments is the formation of a mask, the fitting design of a soccer ball in South Africa and the descriptive details of ripples across the coastlines. Such detail reminds us that Mama Africa has no face, just an essence. An essence bounded by love, memory and the ongoing celebration of a proud collective tradition, often expressed through djembes, balafon, gourd rattle, kalimbas, oud with Mother of Pearl inlay, udu and many more instruments.
This design appears on all promo material for Afrofest.
It has also been printed on a limited number of t-shirts in yellow, green, red, and charcoal (glow in the dark design) which were for sale at AFROFEST 2010.
This piece was written by Marwan Kassay,
Music Africa-Afrofest Youth Intern (in partnership with the Sesheme Foundation).
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