As with most music festivals this year, Afropunk is going virtual.
The annual event in celebration of Black culture branched out from its Brooklyn origins into Atlanta in 2016. But the continued coronavirus pandemic mandated a switch this year to the virtual festival, Planet Afropunk.
Headliners are Afrobeats singer Tiwa Savage, Houston rapper Tobe Nwigwe and Washington D.C. singer Ari Lennox; the rest of the lineup includes Sampa The Great, Petite Noir, Smino, Masego, Serpentwithfeet, Moses Sumney and Moonchild Sanelly.
The speaker lineup consists of Amanda Seales, Ashlee Marie Preston, Dulcé Sloan, Tamika Mallory, Ivie Anie, Blerdcon, Bridget Todd, Dawn Richard and Maimouna Youssef AKA Mumu Fresh.
Planet Afropunk is free and will stream globally on Oct. 23-25 at planetafropunk.com.
According to organizers, the modified 2020 version of Afropunk bears the theme “Planet Afropunk: Past, Present and Future is Black.” The online gathering will “(pay) homage to the reality that the upheavals experienced over the course of the year are far from novel; they have been central to the Black experience across space and time.”
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