La ConnexionalWhat: The Afro-Latinx Live Music Festival
When: March 2 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: StarLite Room
Tickets: $30, purchasable here
It may be frozen outside, but Edmonton cultural start-up La Connexional wants to cancel winter for at least one night.
This weekend, the group will be hosting The Afro-Latinx Live Music Festival, a night of music featuring diverse representations of local, regional, and internationally recognized performers, vendors, and artists from African, Caribbean, and Latin communities.
“The big goal of the festival is to bring together the different sounds of African, Caribbean, and Latin cultures all in one place and bring together the people in those communities around that vibe,” says La Connexional co-founder and dancer Ivan Touko. “We also hope to introduce the music to people in the Edmonton community who might be unfamiliar or have stereotypes about it.”
Through its events, the start-up wants to showcase the talents of people with African and Latinx heritage, empower youth in communities through art and, of course, make sure people have a good time. The name “La Connexional” refers to the group’s desire to bring people together, as well as the connection between its African and Latinx founders: Touko has his roots in Cameroon while his co-founder, U of A graduate Patrick Cajina, has a Nicaraguan background.
“People of Latin and African descent can include African peoples, Caribbean peoples, and Latinx peoples, and there’s complexities that are often overlooked between them,” Touko says. “But there’s also so much interconnection between those groups that we thought, as minorities in Edmonton, we could have a way that we can all come together and have a bigger voice.”
Following a successful festival last year and a series of events reaching out to younger Edmonton communities, such as dance workshops and art shows featuring African, Latin, and Caribbean poets, visual artists, and fashion designers, Touko and Cajina are excited to take yet another step forward with their work this weekend.
This year’s event promises to be filled with music from various genres, from Afro beats to Latin pop, R&B to reggae, dance pop to Afro-fusion, and dancehall — and a soca genre DJ is expected to perform as well.
The festival will also involve a lot of dancing — and if you can’t dance, the group encourages you to come anyway. The group will even be doing dance tutorials between the music sets for newcomers or for people who just want to learn some new moves.
“We’ll make sure that you have one move at least that you can do over and over all night,” Touko says with a laugh. “At live music and dance shows, it’s much more fun when everyone’s involved, and honestly, when you’re listening to music that is [transcendent], your dance moves aren’t going to matter, even if you’re just jumping.”
At La Connexional’s events, Touko explains, the joy is in the experience and the reward is in the connection between those on the floor. Everyone’s welcome.
“It’s a community, and even if you’re messing up, we’re still all in it together,” he says.
