New Africa Live aims to carve out a cultural
space of belonging for contemporary African artists by producing
multidisciplinary arts events that entertain, educate and create
awareness of the value of African culture in a globalized world. These
events strive to challenge homogenized notions of African cultural
production and celebrate artists whose work interrogates African
identity politics with a cosmopolitan spirit and the vigor of urban
hybridization.
A Brief History
In January 2008, New Africa Live began as an informal bimonthly music
series conceived and curated by acclaimed East African
singer/songwriter Somi.
The first year of programming featured emerging and established artists
such as Somali folk hip-hop emcee K'Naan, South African art rock band
The BlkJks, and Benin's Grammy winning jazz musician Lionel Loueke. By
the year's end, New Africa Live produced New York City's largest Miriam
Makeba tribute with remarks by Harry Belafonte and headlining
performances by Paul Simon, Randy Weston, Somi, and many others. In
January 2009, New Africa Live became a registered non-profit
organization and is currently sponsored by New York Foundation of the
Arts, a 501(c)3 organization.
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“The Diasporic desire ‘to return to authentic roots’ might better be focused on examining the social and cultural
processes through which contemporary Africans revise and reinvent notions of cultural legitimacy from generation to generation rather than on an original cultural baseline to be reclaimed.”
- Ingrid Monson, The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective
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