WHO: Upfront Bookings
WHAT: One Africa Music Festival
WHEN: October 22, 2016
WHERE: Houston, Texas
Where shall we start? Maybe with one word…unreal.
One Africa Music Festival is the largest Afro-Caribbean music festival in the United States of 2016. The first One Africa Music Festival was held in New York on July 22nd at the Barclays Center and we got to attend the second one in Houston on October 22nd at the Toyota Center. Part of the talent lineup included D’Banj (Nigeria), PSquare (Nigeria), Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania), Efya (Ghana), Sisqo (America) and much more!
We got into Houston, TX pretty late on October 21st and were way too tired to partake in any after-hours activity going on so we decided to call it a night. We got up not too long after for a quick breakfast downstairs and brief meeting with songstress, Vanessa Mdee and her team. We collaborated with them on an exclusive media package for the Tanzanian beauty. Shortly after that, we made our way to the Toyota Center for sound check. Yal...the space was massive! We were able to get up close and personal with the production team/talent for this event while witnessing their rehearsals.
After sound check, we thought we would get a chance to freshen up at the hotel, but that was completely out of the question! We didn’t want to be late because that Toyota Center was hella confusing! We got changed not too long after and began preparing to get into the show. As we were going through our equipment checklist, it didn’t take long for us to realize that we forgot our battery packs! Chineke! Had to make a quick dash back to the hotel, recoup and rush back to the scene. We thank God for Uber and the amazing security guard Mr. Paul that helped us find our way back into the event. Why must we always be on African time though??? No matter how hard we try to defeat it, we always fall victim. #Shame.
Guests were thrilled to be at the Toyota Center and the artists gave award-winning performances. The show featured legendary artists we grew up listening to as kids. Walaahi…we almost went kolomental, but had to respect ourselves sharply! (that was after our short dance session with Nigerian actresses: Uche Jombo and Dakore Egbuson. Lol!
The following day, we were able to snag a few interviews with some of the performers; P-Square, Don Flexx, Vector, Cabo Snoop etc. before we went back home. Look out for snippets of these on our Instagram Page: Dashiki Diaries. Full interviews will be available on our YouTube page: Dashiki Diaries shortly.
