I have been back home in Sydney for a few months now and in the lead up to leaving everyone was asking me questions about what I will miss. Culture was the biggest thing I thought I would miss. It’s a bit of a double whammy though. I really missed the Ghanaian community and culture in Sydney whilst I was in London. Now in Sydney I miss the black culture of London. Being able to walk into a space where you are not the only black person around. Seeing so many people that don’t just look like you, but also do the same thing as you, just seeing a sea of black people everywhere you go and so forth.
I was having a conversation with the lovely girls of SheKudo a few weeks ago about culture and I was saying that we need to create the culture we want rather than complain that Australia isn’t doing right by us when we haven’t even opened the conversation for ourselves. We were bouncing ideas around and this event – Sounds of Afrobeats Festival 2015 became the buzz. The first ever of it’s kind, a group of four guys saw the cultural need for an event tailored to the African vibe but open to all. The festival was to encompass a rich mixture of entertainment including; music, dancing, live performances, live hair braiding and much more. Bringing the best of music (featuring DJ Fasmwa, DJ Ronnie Omuga, Soul Of Sydney, Dj K2thaC, Dj Kwame and DJ Dante Rivera), talent and culture from the continent of Africa and Afrobeats generation to Sydney Australia.
Whilst I was away, I had heard about repeated club type events which had become the biggest turn-off to quite a few people or highly priced events not worth the money. This left me curious about the Sounds of Afrobeats but also a bit skeptical. Australia is has such a small African community compared to many parts of the world so it’s hard to determine engagement. You just have to take the risk and do the event to see what will happen.
Sounds of Afrobeats Festival 2015 was a risk worth taking and a step to creating the culture and vibes we as African people want to be in. Sounds of Afrobeats was basically Sunday nights at Got Soul in London with a mix of DJs and non-stop dancing or something like the The Wknd Social in Johannesburg. Sounds of Afrobeats made me forget what I felt like I had missed in London. There a plans for this event to be a yearly thing, but I think biannually would do the trick! If you live in Sydney, keep up to date with their facebook page Sounds of Afrobeats for updates on the next event.
