Afro Beat Fest is an annual family-oriented festival in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...

. The inaugural Afro Beat Fest was held in Military Park in

Downtown Newark Downtown Newark is the Central Business District of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. Downtown is the site of the original Puritan settlement of Newark located at a bend in the Passaic River. The first settlers, led by Robert T ...

in July 2017. Afro Beat Fest is a reboot of an older festival that had begun in the 1980s called "Africa Newark." That incarnation ended in 2006 after it lost city support. Mayor

Ras Baraka Ras Jua Baraka (born April 9, 1970) is an American educator, author, and politician who is the 40th and current Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He was previously a member of the Municipal Council of Newark and the principal of the city's Central H ...

commented that he and colleagues recalled the original festival warmly from childhood visits to the event and noted that the city worked with local organizers to revive it.

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-nominated French duo

Les Nubians Les Nubians is a French musical duo, composed of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart from Paris, France. In 1985, the sisters moved with their parents to Chad. Seven years later, they returned to Bordeaux, France, and began singing a cappella, p ...

, English-born

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

singer/songwriter

Ayo Jay Ayoola Ogundeyi Jr. (born 9 August 1989), better known as Ayo Jay, is an English-born Nigerian singer. He currently has a record deal with One Nation and RCA, and is also known as Boy Wonder. Early life Ayo Jay discovered his abilities for sin ...

, and

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

singer

Bisa Kdei Ronald Kwaku Dei Appiah better known by his stage name Bisa Kdei is a Ghanaian native solo singer and record producer from Eastern Region. Music career Bisa Kdei is the first Ghanaian artiste to break into the limelight with a movie soundtra ...

have all performed at the festival.

References

African-American festivals Festivals in New Jersey Culture of Newark, New Jersey Annual events in New Jersey New Jersey culture Events in Newark, New Jersey {{US-festival-stub