Get your dancing shoes ready for the 7th Annual Afro-Latino Festival of New York which is taking over Brooklyn this Friday and Saturday.
The two-day celebration will bring the sounds of eight countries representing the African-Latino diaspora to multiple stages sprinkled around Downtown Brooklyn. In addition to live music, DJ sets and dance performances, the Afro-Latino Festival will celebrate the launch of a new podcast series title "AfrolatinTalks" featuring panels discussing topics like "From Mixtapes to Streaming: The Power of Curation" and "Perspectives on Identity, Belonging and Culture."
Under this year's theme #ReclaimingCulture+Spaces, the festival will continue its mission to affirm, educate and celebrate Afro-Latino culture in Brooklyn and beyond, organizers said.
"Our mission is to provide a networking space to pay tribute to the African roots of people from Latin America and the Caribbean," festival organizers stated. "The Afro-Latino Festival of New York celebrates the contributions that people of African descent from Latin America and the Caribbean have made to our city and the global culture as a whole."
The festivities will kick off on Friday with a Diaspora Day Party and market featuring a mashup of top Haitian, Dominican, African and diaspora DJs at BKLYN Studios. In the evening, Latin Grammy-winning mariachi band Flor de Toloache and Latin rock band Making Movies will take the stage, followed by a tribute to Catalino "Tite" Curet Alonso, one of Puerto Rico's most prolific songwriters, led by poet-activist Felipe Luciano, Bobbito Garcia and DJ Nina Vicious.
Saturday will bring free live music and dance to the Albee Square Stage, as well as a kids' zone with games, dance classes, face painting, puppet show, arts and crafts to Fulton Mall. The celebration continues in the evening at BKLYN Studios with Latin Grammy-winner Jose Alberto and Panama's top calypso band Los Beachers, as well as DJ sets by empresario twins, Coco + Breezy and Afrobeat DJ Don.
And for those, who cannot get enough after day parties and evening concerts, the journey can continue late into the night at Dekalb Stage with music from Oscar Nñ of Papi Juice, DJ Buka, C. Devone, Ashley Venom of Space Tapes Miami, among others.
The festival offers several ticket options that can be purchased online, including all-access one-day passes for $39.50 and weekend passes for $54.67. There are also tickets available for only the Diaspora Day Party ($12.24), the late-night after-party ($17.55) or the Brooklyn Studios concert session ($28.16).
For a complete schedule of programs and performances, go here.
