Last week representatives from One Vibe Media shared that they were excited to announce their cherished Madaraka Festival, which was sponsored by Live Nation, Amazon, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, KEXP, Kenya Airways, and headlined by Sauti Sol in 2023, will make a return. This time it is a national tour across thirteen cities starting in Dallas at the House of Blues on May 25 to celebrate Africa Day and ending at Seattle’s prestigious Neptune Theatre on June 17 and 18 to celebrate Juneteenth.
The concert lineup will include internationally acclaimed musicians such as Nyashinski, Eddy Kenzo, Naomi Achu, Dynamq, and Simon Javan Okelo, and many surprise special guests.
The event’s headliner Nyashinski, is one of the most celebrated artists in East Africa and a co-founding member of the hip-hop trio Kleptomaniax before successfully launching his solo career during the 2010s. Eddy Kenzo, is a Grammy-nominated Ugandan singer and music executive whose touching albums like Sitya Loss and performances helped lead him to a 2023 Grammy Award Nomination for Global Music Performance. Naomi Achu is a Cameroonian singer, rapper, and songwriter. She is best known for “Alhadji, ” which was played in the eighth season of Big Brother Africa. Savara Delvin Mudigi, commonly known as Savara, is a Kenyan singer, drummer, and co-founder, vocalist, and producer of the Sauti Sol band.
The Madaraka Festival started in Washington State in 2014. Over the past decade, it has become one of the state’s largest African music festivals. In 2023, the festival exceeded expectations by reaching over 25,000 people physically and 30 million virtually across six metropolitan cities in the US through their partnership with Live Nation.
“Come dressed to impress with your bright colorful African attire and the flag of the Country you represent. Expect upscale Afro-Pop, Reggae, Afrobeat, Afrohouse party vibes; good people; our award-winning DJ DYNAMQ will be taking you on a musical journey across Africa,” said event producer Simon Javan Okelo.
Representatives say the goal for this year’s show is to reach 150,000 people in person across the states and 50 million digitally.
In addition to a spectacular list of performances, One Vibe Media is dedicated to giving part of the proceeds from the Madaraka Festival 2024 to One Vibe Africa who through their work are supporting community-led change and impacting over 3.5 million people in the United States and Africa.
Tickets for Madaraka Festival 2024 are available at Ticketmaster.com
