With Africa’s diverse array of cultures and spectacular picturesque locations, it is not surprising that Africa is home to some of best cultural festivals in the world.
Africa is the festival continent. Throughout the whole continent, colourful and vibrant festivals range through musical, religous, cultural and harvest to name just a few.Africa has some of the world’s best festivals. With its abundant, diverse arts and cultures, the vast continent’s festivals represent amazing ways that Africans preserve and promote their varied heritages.
AFRICAN'S BEST FESTIVAL
(1)LAKE OF STARS
The Lake of Stars Festival is an internationally renowned music festival that takes place on the palm fringed shored of Lake Malawi each year.Lake of Stars Festival is an annual three-day international festival, is one of Africa’s most prestigious festivals—it’s consistently mentioned as a do-not-miss event, and appears frequently on “greatest festivals in the world” lists. Lake of Stars features live musical performances, film screenings, TED-style talks, art exhibits, and lots more. It happens every year in the last week of September.
(2)Cape Town International Jazz Festival
The Cape Town International Jazz Festival is an annual music festival held in Cape Town, South Africa.The first one was held in 2000 to 2005 and is recognised as the fourth largest jazz festival in the world and the largest jazz festival on the African continent .The festival used to be called the Cape Town North Sea Jazz Festival due to its association with the North Sea Festival in the Netherlands .
This proudly South African produced event is hosted at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) in downtown, Cape Town each year. It happens on either the last weekend of March or the first weekend of April each year. This year 2018, the event will happen over the weekend of Friday the 23rd of March and Saturday the 24th of March.
(3)Mawazine
Mawazine is a music festival held annually in Rabat , Morocco , featuring many international and local music artists. The festival is presided over by Mounir Majidi , the personal secretary of the Moroccan King
Mohammed VI and founder and president of
"Maroc culture," the cultural foundation that organizes Mawazine and other events.
Morocco hosts the most festivals on the African continent, including Fes's Festival of World Sacred Music , Gnaoua's World Music Festival ,
Marrakech's Popular Arts Festival , and the Western Sahara's Dakhla Festival .
(4)Felabration
Felabration is an annual music festival conceived in 1998 by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti in memory and celebration of her father Fela Kuti , a Nigerian musician and human rights activist known for pioneering the afrobeat genre of music. The one-week-long event which is held annually at the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja , attracts visitors from different countries and has thus been considered as an official tourist destination by the Lagos State Government .
Felabration is an afrobeat music festival held in Lagos, Nigeria. From the festival's name to every artists that appears, it is a week-long tribute to the great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
As you might expect, the lineup features the name Kuti more than once each year, with Fela's children endorsing this is the perfect way to pay homage to the ground-breaking work of their late father.
His memory and legacy is kept alive, while in the meantime an incredible, high-energy party erupts. Afrobeat aficionado or newcomer to the genre, you'll have an experience like no other.
(4)Chale Wote Street Art Festival
The Chale Wote Street Art Festival also known as Chale Wote is an alternative platform that brings art , music , dance and performance out into the streets. The festival targets exchanges between scores of local and international artists and patrons by creating and appreciating art together.
The first festival took place in July 2011, following a series of discussions about creating
DIY [do-it‑yourself] community projects by participants at our Talk Party Series. Our partners
for the festival include Dr. Monk, AfroGallonism, and
the Millennium Cities Initiative – AMA Project Management Unit.The 2014 edition of the festival featured a coffin art show, since Ghana is known for producing some of the world’s most eccentric coffins—many were shaped like shoes, cars, and more.
(5)*Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) *
The Harare International Festival of the Arts ( HIFA ) is one of Africa's largest [ citation needed ] international arts festivals . Established in 1999 by Manuel Bagorro the festival takes place each year in late April or early May in Harare , the capital of Zimbabwe. The week-long festival encompasses five principal disciplines: theatre, music, dance, fine art, and poetry.
HIFA marks the beginning the Firefest Route , the southern region of Africa’s high festival season.
(6)Timkat
Timkat is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany. It is celebrated on January 19, corresponding to the 10th day of Terr following the Ethiopian calendar. Timkat celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.
Timkat has an amazing heritage and deep roots in Ethiopian culture. It usually happens in mid-January, corresponding to the tenth day of Terr on the Ethiopian calendar.