Hey Detroiters! Welcome back to Culture Canvas.
For those who have enjoyed the Afro Nation festivals the past two years in Midtown, a new Afro-centric experience is happening this weekend.
The inaugural AfroFuture Detroit festival takes place Saturday and Sunday at Bedrock’s Douglass Site, located at the corner of Beaubien Boulevard and Winder Street. The event is featuring headliners Asake, Ludmilla, Davido, Kaytranada and Gims as well as a weekend full of food, fashion, dance performances and art. Tickets are $94 for a day pass and $161 for both days.
There are also a host of events happening this week leading up to the festival, from a bar crawl and movie night, to a restaurant week.
Starting in 2017 in Ghana, the Detroit festival is one of AfroFuture’s first events in the United States after hosting Africa Day in New York City in May. Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock is a partner of the festival and helped bring AfroFuture to Detroit.
Having the festival in the city made sense due to its world-class arts and culture scene, Addofio Addo, director of business development for Bedrock, told BridgeDetroit last month.
“We’ve seen so many things being created in Detroit and then inspiring the rest of the world,” he said. “So, when you look at music, you have your Afrobeats, you have amapiano, gqom music from South Africa, Eritrean music from the east of Africa. A lot of the music that you hear there is inspired from Motown itself. The soul that you feel from Afrobeats you can feel a lot of that same soul within Motown. When you think of the perfect place to start up an activation or festival like this, of this magnitude, Detroit always makes the perfect sense.”
BridgeDetroit Engagement Editor Bryce Huffman spoke with festival co-founder and CEO Abdul Karim Abdullah about the beginnings of the event, how it came to Detroit and bringing more awareness about the African diaspora.
Editor’s note: This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
BridgeDetroit: How did you first come up with the concept for AfroFuture, and what was the focus in those first years?
Abdullah: AfroFuture was formerly known as Afrochella. We started in Ghana as a way to bring together the global Black diaspora. Our goal was to build a bridge that introduced people to concepts of Africa. I sit in a unique place as someone who was born here in America to African parents. I live between both worlds because at home, I’m the American kid in an African family, but outside when I go to school, I’m the African kid. So, I just thought that there was a unique way to bring my two worlds together, to focus more on education and bridging the gap than the differences that exist between us.
BridgeDetroit: When you were growing up, was there something specific that happened that made you realize, now’s the time to really bridge those gaps?
Abdullah: As a kid, I thought of going to Africa as a punishment. That’s how it was framed to me. That kind of mindset, coupled with everything that you’re taught about Africa, was problematic. As an adult with a platform now, I wanted an opportunity to really demystify it, not only for myself, but people like me, who always thought about it in that way. You can’t turn on the radio without hearing an Afrobeats song. People want to be aware of what’s happening in the continent. There’s really not that many avenues for it, right? We all loved “Black Panther,” It was a great movie. We all loved “The Woman King.” It was a great movie, but we don’t have a lot of references that’s able to show us that. And what we want our festival to do is be exactly that. It’s a conduit. It’s a place for you to get a better understanding of something you may have heard, something you may have misunderstood. And the hope of that is to be able to give you a more first-hand experience, as opposed to what has been told to you. We exist to demystify all of that, add a little bit more context and create a space where we can share ideas, share culture and share in a fun and exciting way that brings us together.
BridgeDetroit: Can you describe how you put AfroFuture together?
Abdullah: I wanted to start with the most common thing that brings us together: food. Art is something that we all enjoy, right? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; how we experience it, how we understand it and then showcasing it from that point of view. And then fashion is one thing we all understand, right? And then lastly, music. Music is a universal language. You don’t even have to understand certain music. It’s something that is powerful and you can connect to. So, these are the four tenets of the festival.
We started in 2017 galvanizing people to make Africa a tourist visit. There was a time where a lot of Africans and African Americans were starting to travel in America. There’s a New York Times article about young Black millennials learning to travel around the world, and that was inspiring to me. But I saw that they were traveling everywhere but Africa. Then, three years later, we were the anchor event for the Year of Return, working with Ghana’s government to welcome people from the diaspora back to the continent. There’s just a renaissance happening on the continent, as far as the people taking back their power, inviting other Black people from all over the world to come back in and build. And for us really it’s connecting our bridge to Detroit. We’ve done a great job of building (events in) other cities; New York City, Atlanta. Everyone has been able to experience what we’ve been building. But Detroit is, obviously, one of the Blackest cities in America that is underrepresented in a lot of spaces. And we wanted to build our bridge and extend it to Detroit and invite Detroiters into our space and share in the richness of culture that they’ve created, but also share some of ours. That is the whole point of why we’re building this experience.
BridgeDetroit: What excited you about putting the festival in Detroit this year?
Abdullah: First of all, I want to give a shout out to my barber Pat. He’s from Detroit. He lives in Harlem, but he’s a Detroiter. He’s been talking to me about Detroit and the richness and culture of Detroit and I grew up on a lot of TV shows and talented individuals that I’ve looked up to my entire career, all from Detroit. Beyond that, it’s just one of the Blackest cities in America that speaks to the audience that we want to invite back to the continent, invite back into our space, invite into our community. And then we have a partner in Bedrock who is building out the beauty in Detroit with all the work that they’re doing in downtown Detroit.
BridgeDetroit: For people who have never been to or have never heard of the festival, why should they make AfroFuture Detroit their first one?
Abdullah: AfroFuture Detroit is a unique perspective on what African culture could feel like. It’s memorable of everything you’ve gone to, as far as music and dance festivals here in America, but with a twist to share African food, African music, art and fashion in a unique way.
If you’re someone who is willing, who’s curious about that culture, music, contemporary fashion and art and you want to connect to the continent, this is the first stop. You get to try food, get to meet people from different backgrounds and hopefully that inspires you to continue looking for the truth that is yours.
As always, have a great week!
Cheers,
Micah
313 Scene
- After honing their skills cooking for friends and family, husband-and-wife duo Juan and Tabitha Ramos launched J & T’s Kitchen as a catering company in 2020, eventually expanding to a dinner-only carryout spot. Now, the restaurant is reopening with a bigger menu and dine-in service with lunch and brunch hours. The new J & T’s Kitchen will celebrate with an 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, opening to the public with free samples and discounts for attendees, as well as live music. (Detroit Metro Times)
- Nobody makes a pound cake like Grandma, and that’s the nostalgia factor baker and entrepreneur Patrice Davis is going for with business Grannies Pound Cake. The Detroit-born brand started as a small-batch storefront and recently expanded to shelves at Meijer’s Rivertown Market in Detroit and Woodward Corners in Royal Oak. Travelers can also find Grannies Pound Cake at Motown Greatest Hits Travel Shop at the McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport. (The Detroit News)
- jessica Care moore is one of 23 poet laureates across the United States to receive a $50,000 share of a $1.1 million fellowship through the Academy of American Poets’ annual fellowship program, which funds community projects that make poetry more visible and accessible. (The Detroit News)
One of the most popular menu items at downtown Detroit destination restaurant Grey Ghost has gotten its own satellite, fast-casual space. Little Ghost is now open in Ferndale on Woodward just south of Nine Mile with carryout service, a walk-up window and local delivery. The small menu’s signature item is the third-pound ghost burger with Fairway Packing beef topped with ghost sauce, iceberg lettuce and American cheese for $11. (The Detroit News)
What’s Going on in the D?
- Detroit Disability Power is hosting “DanceAbility,” a free dance party inside the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1-4 p.m. Thursday. The organization wants to create a welcoming space for Detroiters with disabilities, caregivers, allies and anyone exploring their relationship to disability.
- WDET-FM is hosting its Sounds Like Detroit musical showcase beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday at Batch Brewing Company. Performers include R&B singer-songwriter Beth, folk/pop singer-songwriter Corazon Szell, world/folk musician Samuel Nalangira and jazz band Tariq Gardner and the Evening Star. Tickets are $28 on Eventbrite.
- Nonprofit MiSide is hosting a back to school bash from 12-4 p.m. Friday at the Heilmann Recreation Center, 19601 Brock Ave. Kids can enjoy free activities like face painting, bounce houses, music and more. And for the parents, they will be giveaways for backpacks and school supplies.
- The Redford Theatre is presenting a screening of the 2006 film, “The Devil Wears Prada” at 8 p.m. Friday. Starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, the film follows Andy, an aspiring journalist at the whim of diabolically demanding fashion editor Miranda Priestly. Tickets are $7.
- The DIA is hosting, “K-Pop Culture Experience – Dance, Games and Flavors” from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The event will feature performances by Troy’s ArtLab J’s K-Pop dance team and Chicago’s PRISM Cru, plus interactive Korean games and samples of Korean culinary treats. The experience is free with museum admission, which is no cost for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
- Pop star Tate McRae is bringing her Miss Possessive Tour to Little Caesars Arena beginning at 7:30 p.m. Saturday with opener Zara Larsson. Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster, starting at $164.
