It's final now. There will be no Kwakoe Festival 2011 in Amsterdam this year. The festival is one of the biggest multicultural events in the Netherlands and is organised since 1975 in Amsterdam South East.
The event is cancelled due to a lack of funding and a bad credit reputation. It's the first time since it was organised 35 years ago.
From July till August it would have been weekends of pure dancing, eating and anything else in between. Hot summers days with soccer, theatre, music, film and literature. Only not this year.
It's really a shame!
Video: Last day at the Kwakoe festival in Amsterdam
In the video most people say they enjoyed it and that they loved the food and the atmosphere. The man with the microphone at the beauty pageant is the present (Surinamese) chairman of the city district council of Amsterdam South East. In his speech he talks about the trouble with creditors, who this year wanted their money in advance.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteI'm writing to let you know that I included a link to this article in my blog post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/05/surinamese-music-dance-in-netherlands.html.
I also just published a post on that same blog on Winti religion.
My Pancocojams blog showcases videos of music & dance traditions & other customs from African American & other Black cultures throughout the world. Unfortunately, I know very little about Surinamese culture. In that blog post on Surinamese music/dance in the Netherlands I asked whether the single file dance style shown in those videos has its source in the Winti dance.
Also, I'm curious if the Kwakoe festival will be held this year (2012).
Thanks!
Great post Azizi, I posted a comment on your blog.
DeleteI think the festival will be held this year, but there is a power struggle in the organisation, as usual.
Thanks, Afro-Europe.
DeleteI'd appreciate it if you would clarify my confusion about the names of the music featured on both of those posts. See my comments there.