African Festival Melbourne at Queen Victoria Market 28-29 May 2022
When you listen to the beat of the drum your body starts to sway. The fragrance in the air will get your mouth watering. Everyone treats each other like old friends. This is Africa and it's coming back to Queen Victoria Market
Festivals are about celebration, the gathering of people to revel in arts, culture, food, and community. The African Festival Melbourne will highlight Melbourne's African community and its offerings. It is aimed to be a fun and engaging event. This event gives the wider community an opportunity to come along and experience African culture through its food, flavours, arts and crafts and entertainment. The African Festival visions to be a community engagement festival, with the mission to produce a contemporary annual festival as a catalyst for a strong, proud and dynamic community that appreciates and celebrates its diversity.
Bustling with vendors serving flavours from all over Africa, lots of activities for kids and entertainment only like the Africans can deliver. You will be humming and swaying, and dancing to the beat of the drum.
This is a cultural immersion, where you can meet the community, eat the food and enjoy the entertainment.
Stage Line Up
28th May 2022
Time Slot
Group Name and Description
10.30am Opening remarks
11.00am – 1pm Super Mande Percussion
Super Mande Percussion – African Drumming Academy & Performance is a centre of West African music, culture, drumming and dance, based in Melbourne and operating throughout Australia. Run by Mady Keita, an authentic and renowned musician and Master Drummer from Mali, we offer an extensive range of African djembe drums, drumming and dance classes, school incursions, team building and corporate workshops, music and entertainment for community events and private functions, and drum repair services
1pm WALA - African Drum & Dance Ensemble
A dynamic fusion of drumming, dance, percussion and soaring vocal harmonies. Three passionate, exuberant and talented performers brings to the festival an exciting display of Ghanaian culture, traditional music mixed with contemporary arrangements.
Wala means "Life" in the local language, that explodes in a breathtaking celebration through an assortment of hand-made African drums - played with fingers, feet, hands and feet, flutes and colourful costumes.
2pm David Smile Dance
Afro-Latin Dance. Teaching Afro-Latin dance styles, including Cuban salsa, reggaeton, kizomba and Afro grooves. David will get you smiling and having fun on the dance floor in no time.
29th May 2022
1100 am – 1pm One Spirit Africa - Ghana
One Spirit Africa-: Afro-fusion band, powerful and authentic sounds, unique vocal harmonies with deep connection to the Ghanaian root which nurtured in our song lines.
One Spirit Africa performs with high and massive energy in colourful African fabrics, Combining Ghanaian lyrics with English and performing traditional African rhythms with vibrant percussive styling.
1pm Kwabo Events
Afro Beats performance
The performance will be a combination of Ndombolo (Congo) Kuduro &
Afrohouse (Angola) and South African dance styles.
2 – 3.30pm Melbourne Djembe
Melbourne Djembe
Enjoy a high energy West African drum and dance performance then get involved! Mitzi McRae, Simon Lewis and their student groups will run you through the basics of beating a djembe and shaking your body. Too much fun.
Showcasing foods from Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia, and more, festival-goers will really get to enjoy flavours from the continent of Africa.
There will also be plenty of opportunities to show for African giftware and jewellery.
The stage will be full of amazing entertainment with , and we welcome applications from community groups to participate.
