I attended the Africa Oyé festival in Liverpool this weekend. Just as last year, I enjoyed a great day out filled with soulful music, good food (the Senegambian lamb in peanut sauce with joloff rice deserves a special mention – yum!), beautiful African crafts and positive vibrations all around.
Above are some pictures taken in between the dancing.
It's great to see a festival in this country with no fences, no searching of bags and no effusive displays of "authority" (such as the human walls of police often seen at the Notting Hill carnival). And what was the result? A peaceful event with hundreds of happy shining people. Goes to show …
Performers above: Kayrece Fotso and the Gangbe Brass Band
Gorgeous! Isn’t it amazing how to “make” peaceful gatherings we have to first be peaceful in our expectations? Imagine if we approached everything this way.
Crystal, I love that thought. Indeed, our expectations – our thoughts – have a lot of power …
I love festivals and thank you for sharing this post.