In a recent interview with Apple Music on Friday, Nigerian music icon David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, outlined his expansive vision for the annual Are We African Yet? (A.W.A.Y) festival.
The renowned artist, who has witnessed a triumphant 2023 marked by the success of his fourth album ‘Timeless’ and the international acclaim of his single ‘Unavailable’ featuring Musa Keys, expressed his deep-seated desire to establish a perennial festival spotlighting African culture globally.
According to Davido, the A.W.A.Y festival is not just about his personal success but about creating a platform for African artists to connect with their international fan base. He emphasized the need for Africans to take control of their cultural narrative on a global scale.
“Years ago, it was the other way around where people would come to Africa, invest, and bring their own culture. Having festivals, in the same way, we should do the same over here. And that’s why I’m having this festival that’s going to be coming every year.
“I want to give [different artists] the opportunity to come every year, different times to come and perform. Because they have fans here, and they don’t know. Because on the internet, all you have to do is drop a song on TikTok, and it’s gone. Somebody a billion miles away, it could be their best song, and you wouldn’t even know.
“I feel like we have to own our culture too. We can’t wait for somebody to bring the idea and be like, “Yo, Afrobeats is growing.” Let’s go register for African Coachella or something like that. I’m like, “No, we got to do this ourselves because this is ours. So we got to own it.” Down the line if somebody wants to partner…
“But the vision I have, I’m talking 10 years, 20 years down the line. The vision I have is to create it to be something that is for the culture, not particularly mine. I might be behind it, producing it, All of that.
“But it’s something I’m doing for the culture, which Atlanta definitely is going to have the first couple, but we’ve spoken about definitely moving it around because we are everywhere. So definitely I can see maybe LA. I can see Toronto, definitely. So we’re definitely going to move it around.”
With three Grammy nominations in 2024, Davido’s influence and dedication to promoting African culture are poised to make the A.W.A.Y festival a significant annual celebration for years to come.
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