What would black people do if they didn’t have to worry about racism? They would parade with clothes worthy of the kingdom of Wakanda, smile at each other, dance, connect with new references, not forgetting the ancestry coming from the African diaspora. This weekend (25th and 26th), after a long wait, Afropunk Bahia will happen in its fullness, transforming itself into a walking quilombo of the future, where every black young man or woman can be one more, without fear of being who he is, making all his power possible.
The festival began in Brooklyn, New York, based on a 2003 documentary directed by James Spooner, which tells the story of four African-Americans who lived the punk rock lifestyle in the early 2000s. Atlanta, Paris, London and Johannesburg. The relationship with Brazil goes back a long way, with interest on both sides. In 2019, I was one of the organizers of a dinner in São Paulo that brought together the Brazilian Afropunk community. At that time, the concern was precisely whether black Brazilian men and women would buy into the idea of a festival that, in addition to music, brings together fashion, entrepreneurship and talks on the most urgent and diverse topics.
A party at Audio in the same 2019 launched the festival, which also guaranteed its presence at the 2020 Carnival in Salvador, in which Mano Brown, Afrocidade, Ilê Aiyê, Baiana System, Muzenza, among others, gathered. With the pandemic, the festival created a digital version in 2020. In 2021, in a first cooling of the coronavirus, Afropunk Bahia premiered in a version for around 3 thousand people at the Convention Center. The format with features featuring singers such as Luedji Luna, Margareth Menezes, Tássia Reis, sunset and stylish black people pleased.
Even with a long road, it was not easy to attract brands to an event outside the Rio-São Paulo axis. The companies considered the festival as a regional action. Until TV Globo came along, which would broadcast the best moments on free-to-air TV and guarantee the visibility it deserved. Among the attractions of 2022 are Ludmilla, Masego, Emicida, Liniker, Psirico, Dama do Pagode, among others, establishing the festival in the calendar of major events of the year. 20,000 people are expected and, right now, there are dozens of groups on Whatsapp that gather young people from various parts of the country who will be at the festival. The economic movement is great: clothing stores, accessories, restaurants, accommodation, other parties and tours linked to black history and culture are booming in the capital of Bahia.
In summary, Afropunk is a great gathering of a community, with attitude, taste for fashion and good music. It must be remembered that black people enjoying life together is still something outrageous and the festival is, therefore, a futuristic militancy, which seems to gather just to watch shows, but celebrates the existence, history and power of black people. The aesthetic overflow goes beyond the visual impact, allowing an entire community to feel incredible and powerful and that we all want to be on the same wheel. This weekend all black people will be afropunkers.
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years, and my work has been featured on many different news websites. I am also an author, and my work has been published in several books. I specialize in opinion writing, and I often write about current events and controversial topics. I am a very well-rounded writer, and I have a lot of experience in different areas of journalism. I am a very hard worker, and I am always willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done.
