| Music Festival Name: | World Festival of Black Arts Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres |
| Location: | Dakar, Senegal |
| Years Active: | 1966, 1977, 2009/2010, 2022, 2023 |
| Organised: | 1966: Leopold Senghor, 1977: Olusegun Obasanjo, 2010: Abdoulaye Wade, 2022: Abioye Yinka and Grace Mumo, 2023 Abioye Yinka, Grace Mumo and Lehlohonolo Peega |
| Genre: | Pan-African |
The World Festival of Black Arts (French: Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres), also known as FESMAN or FMAN, is a month-long culture and arts festival that takes place in Africa. The festival features poetry, sculpture, painting, music, cinema, theatre, fashion, architecture, design and dance from artists and performers from around the African Diaspora.[1]
The festivals were planned as Pan-African celebrations, and ranged in content from debate to performance — particularly dance and theatre.[2]
The First World Festival of Black Arts (French: Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Noirs) or World Festival of Negro Arts (French: Festival mondial des arts nègres) was held in Dakar, Senegal, 1–24 April 1966, initiated by former President Leopold Senghor, under the auspices of UNESCO,[3] with the participation of 45 African, European, Caribbean, and North and South American countries, and featuring black literature, music, theater, visual arts, film and dance.[4] It was first state-sponsored festival to showcase the work of African and African diasporic artists, musicians and writers to a global audience.[5]
Participants included historian Cheikh Anta Diop; dancers Arthur Mitchell and Alvin Ailey; Mestre Pastinha, a Capoeira troupe from Bahia; Duke Ellington; Marion Williams; singers Julie Akofa Akoussah and Bella Bellow; calypsonian The Mighty Terror; writers Aimé Césaire, Langston Hughes, Wole Soyinka, Amiri Baraka, Sarah Webster Fabio, Rosa Guy, Margaret Danner, Lindsay Barrett, Ousmane Sembène, Keorapetse Kgositsile, and William Demby.[6] [7] The filmmaker William Greaves made a 40-minute documentary of the event entitled The First World Festival of Negro Arts (1968).[8] Italian journalist Sergio Borelli produced Il Festival de Dakar (1966)[9] [10] a 50-minute documentary for RAI. Senegalese director Paulin Soumanou Vieyra also produced the documentary Le Sénégal au festival national des arts nègres (1966). Directors from the USSR Irina Venzher and Leonid Makhnach produced the Russian-language documentary Ритми Африки (Ritmi Afriki) about the festival.
The Festival panafricain d'Alger 1969 was also in this sequence.
See main article: FESTAC 77. In 1977, from 15 January to 12 February, the Second World Festival of Black Arts or Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture — known as FESTAC '77 — took place in Lagos, Nigeria, under the patronage of President Olusegun Obasanjo.[11] Attended by more than 17,000 participants from over 50 countries, it was the largest cultural event ever held on the African continent. Among artists who took part were Stevie Wonder, Ted Joans, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and Donald Byrd from the US, Tabu Ley and Franco from the Congo, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, and Louis Moholo, Dudu Pukwana, and Miriam Makeba from South Africa.[12]
The Third World Festival of Black Arts took place 10–31 December 2010, and was initiated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade with the theme of African Renaissance. President Wade said in his 2009 address at the UN: "I call all Africans, all the sons and daughters of the Diaspora, all my fellow citizens, all the partners that are ready to walk by our side, all States, all international organizations, foundations, firms, etc. for a shining success for this Festival, and for the rise of a new Africa."[13] The 2010 festival was curated by Kwame Kwei-Armah, and participants at the opening ceremony included Youssou N'Dour, Baaba Maal, Angélique Kidjo, Toumani Diabaté, Wyclef Jean, Euzhan Palcy, Carlinhos Brown and the Mahotella Queens.[14] As well as music and cinema, the festival featured art exhibitions, theatre and dance performances, fashion shows, photography and other events, with the participation of artists and intellectuals from dozens of African and African diaspora countries, including the US, Brazil, Haiti, France and Cuba.[15] [16]
Twelve years later, Festac was held at Hotel Verde in Zanzibar, with high-profile names including H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Professor Wole Soyinka, H.E. Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, and Dr Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Under a new festival director, Lehlohonolo Peega, "Festac Africa 2023, Destination Arusha, Tanzania" was held in the tourist city of Arusha, Tanzania, with the theme: Experience Africa in Seven days.
This rendition of the festival opened on Sunday night (21 May 2023) by former Black Panther member Charlotte Hill O'Neal, with a benediction ceremony and hoisting of African flags, while the official opening (on Monday, 22 May 2023) featured Africa's leading speaker Professor P. L. O. Lumumba, who encouraged and commended the worked done by the festival under its chairperson Abioye Yinka and CEO Grace Mumo.
In various interviews ranging from different global media houses, Prof Lumumba stressed the need for Festac.
The week activities were followed by performances from the legendary East African band, Les Wanyika, Lord Eyez, Jamapara and many more with a three-day conference address climate change, women in business, cultural diplomacy, etc.