The Veracruzano Institute of Culture invites you to the XXVII Afro-Caribbean International Festival, which this year focuses on the topic of migration.
In various venues, from October 2nd to 8th, the festival audience can enjoy a rich program of academic activities, exhibitions, workshops, film screenings and artistic presentations, which will take place free of charge and in person at various IVEC venues and spaces in the historic center and neighborhoods the port of Veracruz and in the city of Medellín de Bravo.
The twenty-seventh edition of the festival dedicated to our African ancestry begins next Monday, October 2nd, with the vibrancy of dance, film and music of African-American descent.
The opening day of the festival will take place on Thursday 5th from 5:00 p.m. with the opening of the exhibition My African Blood by Moisés Fuentes Chagala at the Popular Art Gallery of the Atarazanas Cultural Center.
The opening ceremony of the XXVII. will then take place at 6:00 p.m. in the chapel of the Exconvento Bethlehemita. Afro-Caribbean International Festival 2023, where the Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán Medal will be awarded to outstanding academic Margarita Aurora Vargas Canales. who has carried out important studies on the subject of migration. The afternoon ends with the presentation of the Cuban singer Argelia Fragoso, who opens the artistic program with a repertoire of boleros, showcasing her melodious alto voice.
The academic program begins on Friday, October 6, at 11:00 a.m. in the auditorium of the Exconvento Bethlehemita with the conference Haitian Migration Flows to Mexico, History of a Dispersion, by Dr. Margarita Vargas, honored in this issue; This will be followed by the discussion Baseball and the Caribbean of Veracruz: Migration through Sport, dialogue between Paola Ríos and Tachi Morales, collaborators of Águila de Veracruz, which will take place at 1:00 p.m.
It continues on Saturday the 7th at 11:00 a.m. with the keynote speech Afro-Caribbean Migration to Central America. From the Afro-Antillian diaspora to the current forced displacement of African Americans, taught by Dr. Jesus María Serna Moreno; while at 1:00 p.m. the discussion Retrospective Migration and contributions will be presented under the leadership of international specialists Babou Diabaté, Seynabou Diedhio, Imani Jabalí and Jorge Barret.
At the Exconvento Bethlehemita there will also be an exhibition of books and publications on the subject of migration and Afro-descendants, as well as the presentation of two titles: on Friday, October 6th at 12:00 p.m., My Chinese Hair / Ixi ciniyu chinu, children’s story book, written by activist Jumko Ogata, with illustrations by Reyna Pelcastre and translated into the Mixtec language by Nadia López; while on Saturday 7th “The Cost of Freedom” will be presented at the same time.
From San Lorenzo Cerralvo to Yanga, a long-term history, book by Alfredo Delgado Calderón, current director of the Museum of Anthropology of Xalapa (MAX) and prominent academic honored in the previous broadcast of this international meeting. The academic activities of the festival will end on Saturday 7th at 2:00 p.m. with a Cora recital (a type of stringed instrument) by the Senegalese musician and performer Babou Diebaté, an African minstrel whose mission is to promote memory and peace with his ancestors to preserve music.
On Thursday, October 5, at 5:00 p.m., the Atarazanas Cultural Center presents the image collection “My African Blood,” an exhibition commemorating the young Moisés Fuentes Chagala, a prominent photographer and partygoer, at the Popular Art Gallery.
In addition, the venue will also host the oral storytelling show African Tales, a childhood-focused activity by Cameroonian reading promoter Boniface Ofogo, on Saturday 7th at 12:00 p.m.
IVEC presents the activities of the XXVII. International Afro-Caribbean Festival 2023
From October 2nd to 8th, the Fandango Negro workshops will take place at the Veracruzano Arts Center “Hugo Arguëlles”, taught by Nandy Luna; Rapquimia: Strengthening our Afromestizo voice, aimed at women and dissidents; and anti-racist practices coordinated by Jumko Ogata. Also presented is the listening session “Pelotero a la pelota”, a dialogue about the son of Veracruz with Cuban roots and a baseball theme in which Hiram Barrientos, Jorge Ortega and the sonero Nico Castro will participate.
The Exconvento Bethlehemita Cultural Center, in turn, will host three interesting activities: the Festival of Afro-American Film, which includes various productions with Afro-Mexican themes; the percussion workshop for children and the African dance workshop for all target groups.
The mobile gallery presenting the history of El Águila de Veracruz, a chronology of baseball players from the Caribbean and Veracruz who were part of this emblematic baseball team with deep roots in this region, will be on display in the Zócalo of the city and port of Veracruz Veracruz.
On this outstanding stage, also called Plaza de Armas, the festival’s artistic program will take place from October 6th to 8th at 7:00 p.m.
On Friday, October 6th, the festival’s outstanding groups will perform: Chéjere with music from the Caribbean; the group “Mujeres de fuego”, the “Danzonera Tres Generaciones” and the “Criers of Memory”; On Saturday 7, Mono Blanco, Margarita Villegas and Raíz Cuadrada, Nanche and Jobo and La Formula del Son will perform; Sunday the 8th ends with the participation of Stephanie Delgado, the Septeto Morena Son, La Nueva Nostalgia with rumba and Cuban son and the Moscow Traditional Orchestra of the Universidad Veracruzana.
Particularly participating in this spectacular festival on Friday October 6th will be the Creative Seedbed of African Dances, a group made up of girls from Actopan that is part of the Community Culture Project of the Ministry of Culture of the Mexican Government.
For the second year in a row, the festival is expanding into other areas and reaching new audiences through the program “Afro-Caribbean in Your Neighborhood,” consisting of artistic presentations October 6-8 at 6:00 p.m different neighborhoods take place in Veracruz city, such as Los Pinitos, the Zaragoza neighborhood and the Dorado Real subdivision. At this forum will be present Trío Taberna, Son 4, Son Raza de Bronce, Septeto Morena Son, Madre Chepa and Juventud Sonera, groups from Veracruz, Cuba and Tlacotalpan.
The city of Medellín de Bravo, municipal seat of Medellín, Veracruz, will be the sub-location of the festival on Saturday, October 7th and Sunday, October 8th. The conferences “Baseball, a Caribbean tradition of Veracruz” and “The 500 years of the founding of Medellín” will take place in the city’s central park. A sports meeting was also organized with the players of El Águila de Veracruz, where girls and boys can enjoy entertaining hitting and throwing exercises.
The artistic program of the festival, presented in this city, consists of Tiembo Prieto Fusión with Cumbia, Caribbean, Afro and Folk; Bantu with Caribbean rhythms; They are Criollo with their son Montuno; and Afro Groove Trio with music and dance from Guinea Conakry.
Also aimed at the population of Medellín de Bravo, Afro-Latin American dance workshops for children and a workshop on Cuban rhythms will be held, both led by Robertico Valdés.
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