Launched in 1986 as both complement and response to the then decade-old Memphis in May International Festival the Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival returns Friday through Sunday (April 19-21) to Robert R. Church Park, just east of FedExForum on Beale Street.
This year’s festival includes a notable musical act: Arrested Development, the Afrocentric Southern hip-hop group that had a Top 10 single in 1992 with “Tennessee.”
Here’s what you need to know about the long-running event.
A salute to Gambia
Just as Memphis in May attempts to build cultural and commercial international relations by focusing on a different “honored country” each year, Africa in April annually celebrates a different African nation. This year, the festival salutes the Republic of The Gambia, a small, mostly Muslim nation of about 2.5 million people located in the upper Western portion of the continent. With a short coastline, the country abuts the Atlantic Ocean, but is almost encircled by Senegal. The Gambia previously was honored in 2007 and 1998.
The origin of Africa in April
When David and Yvonne Acey, a husband-and-wife team of educator-activists, founded Africa and April close to 40 years ago, Memphis in May had yet to honor a sub-Saharan African country; Africa in April was an attempt to promote the culture of what seemed to be a neglected part of the world. In the years since, Memphis in May has saluted Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and the Ivory Coast; meanwhile, Africa in April has called attention to Rwanda, Nigeria, Mali, Malawi and other nations.
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Arrested Development
A hip-hop ensemble from Atlanta that for a period in 1992 was one of the most acclaimed and popular musical acts in America, Arrested Development is scheduled to perform a 90-minute set starting at 6 p.m. Saturday in Church Park.
Led by Todd Thomas, who calls himself “Speech,” Arrested Development began as an unconventional and diverse collective of rappers, singers, dancers and turntablists whose music offered a message of positivity that was in contrast to much of the more belligerent or aggressive hip-hop of the era. Buoyed by the hit single “Tennessee,” the group’s 1992 debut album, “3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of…,” sold 4 million copies and won two Grammy awards. It was named best album of the year in the prestigious annual critics’ poll conducted by the Village Voice, and attracted praise from Spike Lee and Bob Dylan. Follow-up records failed to achieve the debut’s success, but Arrested Development, in various configurations, has soldiered on.
What else to expect at 2024 Africa in April festival
The festival will take place primarily in Church Park, from 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Friday; from 8 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Saturday; and from about 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is free Friday until 4 p.m., and $10 after that. Admission is $10 on Saturday and Sunday.
Vendors selling Gambian food, fashion, arts, crafts and more will be stationed throughout the park, alongside booths offering many different products and types of cuisine.
An “International Diversity Parade” is set to begin at 10 a.m. Friday, which has been dubbed “Children and Seniors Day” (hence, the free admission for most of the day). School groups and youth performers will take part in the parade.
Many dancers and musicians will perform in the park over the three days of the festival (Sunday is “Gospel, Jazz and Reggae Day”). In addition to Arrested Development, featured acts include Tropix; Eye 2 Eye; the Shaka Zulu Dancers; drum master Ekpe Abioto; the Tennessee Mass Choir; the Orange Mound Energizers; Black Dogg and the Echoes; and numerous school bands and choirs, to name a few.
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