The Lion Stage and the Main Stage will host Afrobeats stars such as the Angolan Pongo and the Nigerian Yemi Alade, who will analyze the global boom of this style at the Reggae University.
The international projection of afrobeats lands at Rototom Sunsplash 2023 with more strength than ever. A stage practically dedicated to the genre, the new Jamkunda Stage -in the most African area of the venue – and the foray onto the Main Stage and the Lion Stage of Afrobeats stars, such as the Nigerian artist Yemi Alade or the Angolan-Portuguese Pongo;confirms the global take-off of this musical style based on the most contemporary African rhythms and the commitment of the international reggae festival to open up its range of sounds and share them with its audiences from all five continents.
Of the six stages that will be activated from August 16 to 22, 2023 in the reggae city of Rototom in Benicàssim (Castelló, Spain) after each sunset, one will sound especially Afrobeats. Jamkunda Stage will offer more than five hours of music every day, with the Afrobeats universe as a backdrop, which will be brought by the collectives Afrobrunch directly from Barcelona -bringing internationally renowned DJ’s- and Follow The Partythe urban movement that promotes social diversity through music, from Bilbao. Voodoo, a symbol of contemporary African culture, joins the line-up. Together they will give life to evenings turned into a danceable sound showcase of Afro-modern rhythms in which, in addition to Afrobeats, will alternate sessions of coupe decalé, mblax, Afro-Caribbean or amapiano, which also share an upward trend in their positioning within the international music scene.
Afro-modern dance sessions, every evening at Jamkunda
If Jamkunda Stage will bring the beats to the festival, the daytime programming of the area will continue to vibe with the Afromodern dance sessions that the crew of dancers from Jamkunda will offer each evening: Makuriya (August 17 and 21); Enfant des Bois (18); Quinndy (August 19); and Faty Afrikangyal (days 20 and 22).
Meanwhile, the Main Stage will host singer and songwriter Yemi Alade, considered the queen of Afrobeats. The artist, who has cemented ‘from Nigeria to the world’ by projecting Afropop to the top of the international music charts like no one else, will perform on August 18. Meanwhile, Lion Stage, another of the Rototom Sunsplash’s sound platforms, will witness on August 20 the performance of the artist Pongo, an exponent of the influence of contemporary kuduro with Angolan roots -which fuses the country’s traditional rhythms with techno and electronic music- and its connection with Afrobeats.
It is a fact that Afrobeats, boosted by its energy, joviality, rhythm and capacity for fusion, is climbing steadily up the international music scene. In little more than a decade, this genre – much more transversal in terms of its origin or artists that have given it diffusion than Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, from which it is inspired but from which it is separated by more than just the final ‘s’ – has jumped onto the streets of the planet, projecting the most modern rhythms of the continent to the world from West Africa.
Thus, off stage, but as part of the cultural agenda offered by the Rototom Sunsplash, Afrobeats will also take center stage in the program of the Reggae University, which will analyze in one of its sessions the global boom that the genre is experiencing. It will do so with the star of Nigerian Afrobeats, the aforementioned Yemi Alade, on Friday, August 18, shortly before the artist jumps onto the Main Stage.