The world’s largest Afrobeats festival is returning to Detroit for its second consecutive year this summer. As the only U.S. date for Afro Nation in 2024, many fans of the event are asking: why Detroit?
Since it launched in 2019 in Portugal, Afro Nation has been on a mission to amplify Afrobeats music on a global scale, with a broader goal of showcasing the diversity of Black music across the African diaspora. Acts span genres such as hip-hop, amapiano, R&B, dancehall, reggae, and many others.
While many Detroiters are pleased that Afro Nation is being held in Motown, event organizers explained the significance behind this choice so everyone understands, also revealing a larger goal to make the festival an annual Detroit tradition.
“It’s one of the largest Black populations out here [in the U.S.]. Afro Nation is all about the empowerment of knowing who you are and that’s reflected in the music, the fashion, so it was a no brainer,” Josh Koram, who books the guests for every Afro Nation festival, tells Metro Times. “It just made sense for us to obviously do it in Detroit with such a big audience of Black people as well whilst we are also pushing the narrative of knowing where you're from. That’s important to us.”
So far, the festival has taken place in Ghana, Puerto Rico, Miami, and Detroit, with the only other 2024 Afro Nation festival set to happen in Portugal.
Koram, who resides in the United Kingdom, has been with Afro Nation since the beginning after previously working in music and radio at BBC. He says the founders of the festival, Obi Asika and Smade, hope to “push the message of oneness through music” across the globe.
“Europe is a bit ahead when it comes to Afrobeats, so usually it’s a situation where it pops off in Africa and then the next place it will pop off is usually in Europe, U.K. specifically, and then unfortunately the U.S. catches on maybe a year later,” Koram says. “We saw that there was a void in the market where these amazing artists from the continent were not getting a platform. There was no Afrobeats headliner within the U.K. and Europe. We saw that this music is amazing, everyone loves it, but they’re not getting that platform. So if the powers that be aren’t going to do it, we have to take it into our own hands and just do it ourselves.”
Koram also spoke about Afrobeats growth in the global music landscape, with Afro Nation partnering with Billboard for an Afrobeats chart and the Grammys finally creating an African music category. “We have the key players wanting to invest back in Africa,” he says. “That is the bigger goal, just to continue to spread the message that this sound is not going anywhere and let's make it global.”
Since Koram and other Afro Nation organizers can’t visit Detroit frequently, Le Don joined the team last year to serve as their local eyes and ears. The Nigerian American Detroiter is now the project manager for Afro Nation Detroit and says that the city was one of the first in the U.S. to truly embrace Afrobeats.
“Detroit is full of love and it’s full of life and culture,” Le Don says. “People are starting to see that Detroit can actually be a tourist city if you let it, so with Afro Nation blessing us with their presence here, it lets people travel in and learn more about the city. That’s the positive outlook on the after effect and that's more so what we're focusing on.”
He adds, “When Afro Nation leaves, the spirit still stays.”
This year’s Afro Nation Detroit headliners include “new school” Afrobeats heavy hitters Rema and Asake, alongside U.S. rapper Lil Wayne. The Piano Stage at the festival will feature some of the world’s biggest Amapiano acts, Uncle Waffles and Scorpion Kings. Plus, Detroit rapper Kash Doll will bless the festival with a performance, alongside smaller Detroit acts and DJs.
The combination of Afrobeats and Black American music is important to Afro Nation’s organizers, as it allows everyone to gain a deeper understanding of the wide variety of Black culture. “It’s about bridging the gap,” Koram says. “There will be individuals who will be completely clueless to Afrobeats, but it makes it special in itself because people can learn stuff.”
Other fans more accustomed to Afrobeats music have expressed confusion and displeasure in Afro Nation’s Instagram comments regarding the inclusion of American acts in the festival lineup.
However, it’s the blend of cultures that truly defines the magic of Afro Nation, organizers say.
“It’s not about you being African American or you being from a different descent, as long as you produce music that people feel, we want you on that stage,” Le Don says. “Bridging the gap is so important. It’s not about your race, it’s not about your gender, it's really about the one love for music.”
There have already been three phases of lineup announcements for Afro Nation Detroit 2024, and it just keeps getting better. Koram says, however, that he’s still working on the final “special touch” and more announcements are coming soon. The booking organizer also says that he does pay attention to how people react to each phase so he can try his best to give the people what they want in whatever city the festival is being held in.
We told him we want Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems to perform in Detroit, and he regretfully informed us that he has attempted to make it happen without success. Maybe next year.
“Afro Nation is a brand which is global, but we also have to be honest that we are out of town, so if you’re coming into town to give an event, you have to give back,” Koram says. “You have to have the key players within the city also endorsing it because as I said, we can’t do this by ourselves, we need to do it as a unit, basically as a family."
As the Detroiter working with Afro Nation, Le Don represents local acts like Kash Doll and Dej Loaf, helps connect organizers with local resources and DJs, and bridges the gap between “Detroit Africans, African Americans, and Caribbeans,” he says.
“If Afro Nation is coming into town, they’re trying to understand what’s going on here, so the people here are the people that are supposed to let them know and make it easier for them to transition and also make it a successful show,” Le Don says. “It takes a village. That’s also one thing I love about Afro Nation is that we’re able to spread and utilize the resources that are presented to us, so that’s more so my role here is just to make sure that we connect the dots effectively.”
Afro Nation has over 500 influencer ambassadors who help promote the festival, which shows the organizers the interest in the event and makes them even more excited for what’s to come in Detroit.
“I think, to be honest, being an outsider, but obviously being taken in by the city, I just know that there is this big, big sense of community and it was such an amazing experience for me last year,” Koram says. “It was my first time coming to Detroit last year and I was just like, ‘This is a place that I can call home where everyone is receptive to the music.’”
For Le Don, the anticipation of observing people’s interactions and reactions to the festival’s atmosphere is what truly excites him. It transcends music — encompassing food, dance, fashion, content, and more, all contributing to the distinctive energy that Afro Nation strives to cultivate.
“I go off the adrenaline, the how people respond to it, how excited people are, and I think that's the kicker for me because I like to live in the moment while it’s happening, so I’m excited to just see how Detroit comes out and shows out this time because they couldn’t believe what they saw last year and I know that they're looking forward to it this year,” Le Don says. “I want people to feel just free of responsibilities. I want people to feel love, and that’s the biggest thing because that’s what Afro Nation is all about. It’s about spreading love and spreading community and bridging the gap, so those are the acts that I want to see. It’s the act of love. Detroit is gonna be a show to remember and I’m 100% sure that it’s gonna top last year’s show.”
Looking into the future, it seems that, luckily for us, Afro Nation Detroit is here to stay.
“Our partners Bedrock have got a bigger vision for this where they want to establish this event as something that can match up to the existing festivals that you’ve got here currently,” Koram says. “That’s definitely our vision as well. We want to continue to scale this and grow it and make it bigger, so everyone knows that when those August dates come, you have to lock off that Afro Nation weekend.”
This year’s festival is planned for Aug. 17-18 at Bedrock’s Douglass site. More information is available at detroit.afronation.com.
