Women combining music and social or political action make up the bulk of Nuits d’Afrique’s programming to mark Black History Month. Sona Jobarteh, who delighted the crowd on Place des Festivals last summer, is part of the group, as is Lorraine Klaassen, who will celebrate 40 years of music at the Fairmount Theater.
Let’s start at the end: Black History Month will end on March 8 at Nuits d’Afrique since it is on International Women’s Day that Sona Jobarteh returns to Montreal. The Gambian musician, who is leading an ambitious project to overhaul education in her corner of the world, will perform at the National. She is, let us remember, the first professional kora player from Africa.
The women’s quintuplet begins on 1er February with the performance of slammer Lydol, from Cameroon, who will bring her committed texts to Balattou. On the 10th, Lorraine Klaasen, a South African singer well known to Montreal audiences and crowned “queen” of the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival, will be at the Fairmount Theater.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NUITS D’AFRIQUE
Musician and activist Bia Ferreira, from Brazil.
A week later, on February 17, the Ministry will welcome Roots Daughter, a tandem of musical activists inspired by Rasta culture and sound systems from Berlin. Julie and Jahminta will be guests of Worldwild Soundsystem. Nuits d’Afrique also invited Bia Ferreira, a Brazilian singer-songwriter whose music defends LGBTQ+ communities and proudly displays her black roots. Playing on the acronym MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira), she claims to make MPP: Musica de Mulher Preta (black women’s music).