Kente Cloth Festival, at the End of Bronx Week

The Kente Cloth Festival was a change of pace at the end of Bronx Week, with singers and performers starting at about 5pm, on a stage just a few hundred feet from the Bronx Week stage. This was a rare opportunity to see the rich African cultural heritage being expressed in various Kente products, and live music with lots of drumming. Each fabric represents a particular region of the African continent. Kente cloth is widely known as a symbol of black culture. It's made by the Ashanti people of Ghana, and the Ewe (pronounced Ev-eh) of Togo. Weaving Kente is labor intensive, done on wooden looms. The performers were dressed in authentic African attire, either of Kente cloth or bright colorful robes. Live Performers included Afrikumba Drummers from Brooklyn, the Uptown Dance Academy from Harlem, Bokandeye African Dancers from Yonkers and Afanfri's Unlimited from New York. Sponsors included: Malomo Group (Ghana, West Africa), www.africanopenmarkets.com, www.onipaabusia.org, African Grill & Soul Food (Bronx, NY) and Kuji Magazine at www.kujimagazine.com.