At 11 pm on Friday, January 6, the lengthy, barely steep path main as much as Ghana’s historic Black Star Square in Accra, the nation’s capital, was packed full of folks. At the primary entrance of the Black Star Square enviornment, uniformed guards and cops stayed put, refusing to let the stressed crowd of younger folks inside the place the extremely anticipated, inaugural music and cultural competition Black Star Line Festival was going down.
Many of the attendees had come from exterior the nation for the annual “Detty December,” a time period used to explain weeks of festivities that happen throughout Accra from December to early January, and others had been residents, wanting to be an element of an occasion with a mission to bridge the hole between the African continent and the Black diaspora. There was just one downside, although: The occasion attracted extra folks than anticipated and reached most capability simply because it was getting began, and there have been nonetheless much more ready to be let in.
The inaugural Black Star Line Festival was a free live performance organized by Ghanaian-American rapper Vic Mensa and fellow rapper Chance the Rapper as a method to join the Black Diaspora with the African continent by means of creativity and music. The live performance noticed each homegrown names on the lineup, from legendary Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie to the Asakaa Boys and Stonebwoy, and worldwide expertise, together with Erykah Badu, Jeremih, Meek Mill, Tobe Nwigwe, T-Pain, and Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa themselves. The stay music arrived on the final day of the fest and got here after a week-long collection of pop-up occasions and panel discussions organized by the Black Star Line group. 52,000 folks had been in attendance at the live performance, marking an unofficial finish to “Detty December.”
[Asakaa Boys at Black Star Line Festival / Photo by Christian Saint]
“My experience at Black Star Line Festival was amazing. The atmosphere was electric, from the music lineup down to the fashion,” says Ekow Barnes, a renowned Ghanaian writer and cultural expert. “With the camaraderie of my fellow Black people, all united in our shared love of the music and culture, it was truly an unforgettable experience that left me feeling uplifted and rejuvenated.”
The competition’s purpose of bridging the hole between the continent and the Black Diaspora is one echoed by its host nation Ghana. In 2019, the West African nation launched “The Year of The Return” initiative, a journey marketing campaign that seeks to place Ghana as a house for the Black Diaspora and as a spot to reconnect with and uncover some of their ancestral histories, whereas additionally sustaining a powerful relationship with the African continent.
That mentioned, the occasion is actually an element of the nation’s dwelling cultural historical past — and it builds upon its political historical past, as effectively. Black Star Line Festival attracts its title and a bit of its mission from the Black Star Line, a transport firm based in 1919 by Jamaican activist and political chief Marcus Garvey with the intention of offering Black staff between North America, the Caribbean, and Africa with financial alternatives. The historic significance of the fest is additional heightened by the undeniable fact that it befell at the Black Star Square, the place the place Ghana turned the first African nation to declare its independence from colonial rule, main the method for different nations throughout the continent to observe go well with.
“So many of us in the Diaspora feel that Africa is this unattainably far away foreign land, especially those of us in America,” Vic Mensa, one of the primary organizers, tells AltPress. “As we create more opportunities for our people to return home, I think the collaborations and relationships will form themselves. Even this past week opened doors for so many people to share in creativity and joy that may otherwise have never crossed paths.”
[The crowd at Black Star Line Festival / Photo by Desiree Appau]
Vic Mensa hasn’t at all times had a powerful relationship with Ghana, his father’s beginning nation. As a toddler, the artist, who grew up in Chicago, visited every so often, however by no means stayed lengthy sufficient to immerse himself in the tradition or construct lasting connections. All of this modified, although, when he returned to Ghana in 2020. “When I started coming to Accra and really immersing myself in the youth culture, I began to appreciate the immense privilege that I have to be in direct communication with my heritage, to truly know where I come from,” he says.
As Mensa not too long ago reconnected together with his Ghanaian roots, he felt a “responsibility” to bridge the hole between the “two different worlds” he is from. That, in essence, is the place the thought for BSLF got here from. He says, “I began to realize that we as Black artists are performing everywhere on the globe except for the continent of our origin. It’s an unsustainable relationship. The fans exist; they’ve been living, loving, and growing with the music, and the opportunities to connect with the artists just have not existed. It is from this realization that I began to dream of a festival that could serve as a vessel for Black artists to perform for the people of Africa.” So when Chance honored Mensa’s invitation to go to Ghana, Mensa shared his imaginative and prescient of a competition that might carry Africans and the Black Diaspora collectively, and instantly he got here on board.
With Accra rising as a world cultural vacation spot, Black Star Line and different outstanding occasions like Afro Nation and AfroFuture (previously often called Afrochella), function a chance for the nation’s cultural picture.
For Mensa, the success of BSLF is a testomony to how vital the mission behind it’s. “I only allowed myself to have ironclad faith, but I don’t think I knew exactly how huge it would be. Not only that, but there were no major problems; the sound worked, there were no stampedes, and no one got hurt. It was definitely divinely guided,” he says.
[Chance the Rapper at Black Star Line Festival / Photo by Desiree Appau]
The occasion really felt like the begin of a long-awaited partnership between Africa and the Black Diaspora. The enviornment was a big sea of Black faces all singing alongside, a primary for a lot of of the western artists who got here to carry out. T-Pain, as an illustration, commonly interrupted his performances to share how emotional that made him really feel. The vitality stayed excessive, with the present solely drawing to a detailed round 6 in the morning.
The occasion has additionally garnered a good quantity of controversy, attributable to the invite of, and Chance’s protection of the invite of, comic Dave Chappelle, who’s spoken out in opposition to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood in recent times. In a latest interview with Rolling Stone about the matter, the rapper mentioned, “I wanted everyone to feel as welcome and communal as possible. And so if having Dave there made people feel like they weren’t, that they didn’t have space or that they weren’t welcome, that was not my intention.” Chappelle’s presence at the festival felt especially fraught, though, as Ghana is in the middle of passing a dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ law.
Beyond that, the sheer existence of the festival had been met with skepticism among some locals. While the country’s creative sector is booming, Ghanaians are also living through a high cost of living crisis, with the cedi falling drastically against the dollar. So as locals experience this period of severe inflation, there’s a sense of trepidation surrounding how an influx of tourists might affect their economy, and what role festivals like BSLF might play. “I will not pretend that this festival is the solution to the result of centuries of exploitation,” says Vic Mensa. “However, I have made sure that we are leaving behind value as opposed to removing it. For this reason, I’m building boreholes across Ghana to provide clean water to communities that need it.”
Barnes, nevertheless, believes that music festivals like this are helpful to the nation’s economic system. “Cultural moments like this are a source of economic growth and job creation, both in the direct and indirect sense. It is an avenue to generate revenue for local businesses through increased tourism, and in the same vein, it creates jobs for people across the music, fashion, event planning, and hospitality industries,” he says.
Additionally, events like this are likely to set Ghana up as a prime location for international artist tours, thereby organically propping up the creative economy in the country.
“Beyond the economic benefits, it also has a positive impact on our country’s social and emotional well-being. These music festivals are a form of escapism from the harsh realities of the living crisis, providing us with an opportunity to come together and forget our troubles, even if it is for a little while,” he says.
Barnes continues, “Everyone wants to go where they are cherished. The energy of the crowd was very infectious at Black Star Line Festival. All throughout the show, the crowd was dancing, singing and getting the lyrics to the T. These are the things artists love to see, so why not?”
“The creative scene in Ghana is electric. It’s accelerating at a feverish pace; music, fine art, and fashion are all rapidly advancing. I believe we’re going to be seeing many more international artists performing on the continent moving forward. The reality is that the fan bases are engaged and awaiting, the infrastructure and initiative are what’s been lacking,” Vic Mensa says.
And as for what the future of the Black Star Line Festival appears like? Mensa envisions it to be “Internationally Black and beautiful.”
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