Afro-Latino Festival
All photos by Curt Sanders for Black-Owned Brooklyn
Celebrating all things Afrolatinidad — from music, dance and food to politics, philosophy and religion — the Afro-Latino Festival returned to Brooklyn last weekend for its seventh edition. Run by husband-and-wife duo Amilcar Priestley and Mai-Elka Prado Gil (both from Brooklyn by way of Panama), the event started in 2013 as a small gathering at Flatbush’s Parkside Train Station Plaza to “affirm, celebrate and educate” around the contributions of people of African descent from Latin America and the Caribbean. It has since evolved into a two-day festival, most recently at City Point in downtown Brooklyn, featuring music from eight countries across three stages.
It’s fitting that the Afro-Latino Festival takes place here: according to the U.S. Census, although only 2.5 percent of Latinos in the United States identify as Black, more than a quarter of those folks claiming Afro-Latino heritage live in New York City.
This year’s festival lineup included performances by Dominican singer José Alberto “El Canario,” Puerto Rican spoken word poet Felipe Luciano, Haitian-American singer Tadia and all-women Mariachi group Flor de Toloache; DJ sets from NYC radio mainstay Bobbito Garcia, identical twin DJs Coco + Breezy, and Papi Juice co-founder Oscar Nñ; as well as dance presentations, live tapings of the AfroLatin Talks podcast, food and craft vendors, and kid-friendly activities. Enjoy these captures of #BlackJoy from Day 2 of the weekend’s festivities!
