Song, Ceremony, and Stories From West Africa and the Caribbean

International African Arts Festival (IAAF)

The International African Arts Festival (IAAF) began in 1971 as the African Street Carnival. Over the past four decades, IAAF has expanded into a ten-acre African open-air market with entertainment stages featuring both local traditional artists and artists with roots in the traditional arts who have grown to achieve national and international acclaim. Each summer, over 75,000 people flock to Commodore Barry Park to sample African delicacies, shop for colorful fabrics and clothing, attend workshops on yoga, holistic wellness, traditional medicine, and participate in spiritual ceremonies led by artists including Ghanaian drummer and BAC Teaching Artist Harold Akyeampong.

BAC Folk Arts is proud to host an intimate program of traditional African arts at the IAAF. Visitors to the BAC Folk Arts Tent will experience West African folktales through the storytelling of Dr. Rokoto, Chief of Ada, Ghana; participate in a free drumming workshop with Ghanaian drummer Harold Akyeampong; see a hands-on demonstration of Ghanaian Kente cloth weaving on a traditional loom with Nana Berchie; listen to the complex tones of the 21-stringed kora with Gambian musician Salieu Suso; and discuss the preservation of the Garifuna language through music and drumming with Garifuna artist James Lovell. Special guests will include the Carriacou Big Drum Dancers from Carriacou, Grenada, who will share a traditional religious and social ritual.