New York City, NY – The 2013 African Day Parade and Festival held in NYC kicked off with a press conference held by State Senator Bill Perkins on September 12, 2013 to mark the beginning of a 10 day period of a colorful display of African culture with participation from Northern, Eastern, Southern, Western and Central African countries. Some of the festivities included a kickoff party, movie premiere By Black Speech, star studded media meet and great, many parties held by some of the various countries participating in the festivities and the highly anticipated parade and festival of talent.
This year’s theme, “ Our communities, our progress, our unity”, not only celebrated and honored the accomplishments of Africans across the globe, but also commemorated great African leaders and events such as Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Marcus Garvey , Dr. Martin Luther King and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The pre parade event was hosted by Nigerian Actor, Model & 2 time golden glove heavy weight boxing champion Ngo Okafor while, Violist, Percussionist, lyricist and Indie hip hop artist Shayshahn “Phearnone” MacPherson wowed the distinguished guests.
Thousands of people lined the streets of New York to witness the diverse beauty and culture meshed together to provide a glimpse into the “African Experience”. Many dignitaries, politicians and celebrities walked the parade route which was crowded by over 10 thousand people showing their love for Africa and Africans. Brussels Airways, Akwaaba Media Inc (AMI) Black Enterprise Magazzine,Zeno Radio,WBAI Radio,Enovative TV, Five Star Precious Metals and many, many more organizations stood behind the African Day Parade and Festival as sponsors to show their support for the people of Africa.
The post parade concert was an amazing presentation of the talent that spans the diaspora. Revelers were treated to cultural groups from Gambia, Togo, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana. Before the audience could recover from the beat of the drums and the unscripted movement of the dancers that had them held captive, musicians Noredine (Morocco), Matthey (Cote d’Ivoire), Idak Bassave (Burkina Faso), DTM(Guinee), Ammy Coco (Togo), Sidiki Conde (Guinee), Sekouba (Cote d’Ivoire), and Isaac Katalay (Congo) each took the stage and entertained the crowd for hours. As the concert seemed to be winding down, event host, Nigerian Actor and Philanthropist Gbenga Akinnagbe, best known for his roles as “Chris Partlow” in the Wire and currently as “Bello” in Graceland, hit the crowd with a second wind with his introduction of Ghanaian American Musician Jay Ghartey whose performance of hits like my lady and Papa whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Just as the event seemed to have ended, Gbenga sent the crowd into overdrive by introducing a surprise serenade by one of the most highly acclaimed and award winning female vocalist in Africa, Ghana’s very own Efya.Who was in New York on the invitation of Akwaaba media inc (AMI) The pint sized singer amazed the crowd with every word she sang and left the audience wanting more as she belted out her hit songs Life, Best in me and the mega hit Getaway.
State Senator Bill Perkins along with Akwaaba Media, Inc. and the African Day Parade and festival committee did an extraordinary job in presenting a wonderful experience of the influence of Traditional African Culture and how it has and continues to influence talent across the continent.
