'Very much a reunion': Afro Nation, world's largest Afrobeats festival, returns to Detroit

One of Detroit’s hottest events in 2023, Afro Nation, will return this weekend for another two days of fun, fellowship, food and funky rhythms.

The world’s largest Afrobeats festival, Afro Nation will span Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 17-18, at Bedrock’s Douglass Site, 2490 Brush St. It’s the former location of the Brewster-Douglass Projects, the nation’s first federally funded housing project for African Americans and the former home of legends like Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson.

Thousands of people, from native Detroiters to international travelers, jammed out all weekend at last year’s event, and even more are expected to attend this year’s expanded party.

More: 2024 Afro Nation Detroit festival announces Lil Wayne as co-headliner

“We have two stages,” said Essosa Uddoh, one of the festival’s organizers, who also focuses on communications and social media. “One stage is dedicated to amapiano, which is an emerging electronic genre from South Africa. We have Scorpion Kings, DBN Gogo, Musa Keys and then lots of local Detroit talents as well. And then on the main stage, we have Rema, Asake, Lil Wayne , Partynextdoor, Kash Doll, Shenseea and a lot more artists there. It’s going to be an exciting time.”

Another festival organizer, Josh Koram, is responsible for booking talent for Afro Nation’s events around the world.

“Afro Nation was birthed in 2019 due to a void in showcasing our talent from the continent,” said Koram. “The founders came up with this amazing concept to give artists from the continent a platform to be headliners. Afrobeats has grown for so long; now, these artists are global superstars and the sound is global.”

Afro Nation co-founder Smade said the festival is about exposing people to experiences they may not have known are available.

“I’ve been promoting Afrobeats for almost 20 years, since I moved to the U.K.,” Smade told the Free Press. “It started from the grassroots level and became a movement in promoting the beauty of Africa, to promote our culture, to promote ourselves, Africans in the diaspora. This started off in the U.K. and then we moved on to Europe. We’ve done our festival in Portugal, Ghana, Puerto Rico, Miami, Detroit. We’re coming back to Detroit for the second time, which is amazing, means we’re doing something right in merging cultures and communities.

“We have African musicians, and we try to match it with pop music that is known to the rest of the world. That’s why we have Lil Wayne, Partynextdoor, Kash Doll — because we know that fans of those acts will come and learn more about the Afrobeats culture.”

'Why not Detroit?'

Smade said the Motor City has been extremely welcoming and has embraced the Afro Nation family in a way that feels special.

“I can say, personally, I’ve learned so much about what Detroit represents, compared to the stories I heard growing up about Detroit and what I had seen in movies,” he said. “(Last year) was so safe — we had zero incidents. We met with the mayor of Detroit, we met with a lot of businesspeople, individuals in fashion and food, media and PR and it keeps getting better. I’m looking forward to an even bigger and better festival this year in Detroit.

“Everybody in the U.S. asks us, ‘Why? Why Detroit?’ In the last two weeks, I’ve been to Atlanta, been to Houston, I’ve been to D.C., around different cities, and promoting and directing everybody to Detroit. You have to think about the cultural significance and how Detroit itself is about community building, Black awareness, bringing everyone together. It’s just so beautiful.”

Uddoh said Detroit felt like “home away from home.”

“We went back to London and told everyone,” she said. “They were like, ‘Detroit?’ because of how the media has portrayed Detroit, and I’m like, ‘No, Detroit is incredible!’ So I think part of the goal is to kind of spotlight Detroit, especially because as a Black person, this is a city you want to be in. You’re comfortable here, and there’s so much rich Black history in Detroit that also connects with African history.

“So it’s just felt like … ‘Why not Detroit?’

'Very much a reunion for us'

Detroit resident Joy Mohammed attended last year and found the experience to be a life highlight.

“I have four siblings, and we were really excited about the lineup,” Mohammed recalled. “We were talking about it, my dad overheard, and he said, ‘I want to go!’ My dad is a 70-year-old immigrant from Nigeria — Igbo immigrants. He is our gateway into all of these different artists. Even though we were all born here, we were very much raised as if we were still back in Nigeria. Strong cultural ties, and we always ate the food. We practiced all of the traditions. All of our close friends were Nigerian. It was growing up in Southfield, but our home was like Little Nigeria. Not in every way, but in some ways, I’m raising my own children that way.

“Two of my children came to Afro Nation last year. Our cousins bought tickets and came from Florida, Chicago, you name it. It turned into a little family reunion concert. It was this amazing experience and expression of music that we’d never seen before in Detroit, and it was very much tied to our identity.”

Mohammed said that having a mother who was a Detroiter with a background of Black American culture and a Nigerian father who didn’t have those experiences created a sort of dual identity for her and her siblings.

“Everything was sort of mythical up until Afro Nation came. For us, it was a time we were able to express our African identity unapologetically in our American city, and that’s never happened for us before. And they had artists that my dad listens to. It wasn’t just the ones the young like — Davido and Burna Boy, those are for us, but they also had P-Square and Flavour. Those are his artists he made us listen to in the car on the way to school.”

She called last year’s Afro Nation “cross-generational, cross-ethnic identity.”

“That was our moment,” she said. “This was an amalgamation of everything, our whole experience. It was like we were being seen in Detroit, in a new way, bigger than it’s ever been before.

“We’ve always had our (African cultural) festivals and our parties and our weddings, but we have to put those on. We have to organize them, we have to finance them. With Afro Nation, we get to just show up and enjoy it.”

The Pistons participate

The Detroit Pistons are collaborating with Afro Nation on “Pistons Home Court,” an on-site activation that will include a pop-up Pistons court and an art installation of the Pistons' marquee letters designed by Detroit artists.

“Uniting the rhythm of Afro Nation with the heartbeat of Detroit basketball, the ‘Pistons Home Court’ activation celebrates the dynamic fusion of sport, culture and art, bringing the spirit of the city and the soul of music together like never before,” said Bilal Saeed, Detroit Pistons Vice President of Brand & Marketing Strategy.

Musicians performing during the festival will also be presented with custom Detroit Pistons Bad Boys City Edition jerseys featuring each artist’s home country flag within the number patches.

“The Pistons are such an important part of Detroit culture, and we are honored to welcome their presence at Afro Nation Detroit,” said Obi Asika, Smade’s partner and Afro Nation co-founder. “The new custom jerseys will help foster a connection between the performers and this great city and embrace the values of individual greatness and competitiveness that Afrobeats and sports share.”

The Afro Nation movement

Smade emphasized the importance of Afro Nation as a trailblazer in the Afrobeats movement.

“This movement is very, very important for everyone,” he said. “Either you’re Black, you have friends who are Black, or you’re friends of Africans … you would find something to (learn) from Africa and from Afro Nation Festival. It’s a huge experience — we’re talking around 20,000 people or more — so there’s lots to gain from that.”

Koram added that their festival is just part of the overall puzzle.

“Our festival is obviously the vehicle that we use, but we just want to continue to amplify this culture and this brand. These artists are doing such amazing things — Grammy nominations and so on, breaking Spotify and Apple Music. It’s really, really special to see. We’re so happy to be a part of it.

“And the music is global, where you have people speaking in their own dialects, and people that are outside the culture are singing it word for word. That’s special. That’s, like, unheard of. It’s crazy how people are able to connect this way, but that’s the power of music.”

Smade agreed, doubling down on the community building aspect.

“Afrobeats promotes and showcases Africans not just from the diaspora and space, but it also influences Africans. The music is just the bait. It’s beyond music — it’s our identity, it’s us remembering our roots, where we came from, why we are us. How we can all come together, and how can I add value to you and you add value to me?

“By the grace of God, I pray this will be a better and bigger festival. And I look forward to coming back next year, because I love Detroit.”

Tickets for Afro Nation start at $70 and can be purchased at detroit.afronation.com .

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'Very much a reunion': Afro Nation, world's largest Afrobeats festival, returns to Detroit