An illustrious gathering of political, cultural and business leaders came together Tuesday March 30th in Washington D.C. to help launch the Coca-Cola Ebony Festival: A Celebration of Africa set to take place in Dakar Senegal this June 4-6.

On the bill this June in Dakar is a an extraordinary all-star line-up: Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal representing the home town, Miriam Makeba, Angelique Kidjo, Femi Kuti, Kofi Olomide, Magic System, MC Solar, Alpha Blondy, Meiway, Aicha Kone, Rachid Taha, Jimmy Cliff, Ralph Thamar, Oliver Mtukudzi,, and others. The producers of the Festival, Seynabou Racine Sy and Mya Diamond Padmore, spoke of ongoing conversations with Stevie Wonder and Tracy Chapman who may perform too.

Anyone who has been around the block in Africa, hearing no shortage of big ideas for big events, knows that these dreams often go unrealized for lack of funding. Or the stars never quite line up in terms of commitment by the talent as well as organizational and logistical shortfalls.

But two things gave this reporter confidence. First, Coca-Cola executives flew in from headquarters in London and from regional offices in Casablanca and Dakar to declare their support for this Festival. The second is that we saw a video of key principal artists--Angelique Kidjo, Alpha Blondy, Kofi Olomide, MC Solar, Ralph Thamar and others--saying "I will be at the Coca Cola Ebony Festival." O.K., we have you on tape!Now you better show up!

Representing the African Ambassadors to the U.S., Ambassador Roble Oudine Olhaye from Djibouti and the current Dean of the African Ambassadors corps, told the guests at this launch party that one of the main points of the Festival is to show "an Africa that is rejoicing, that is happy, that is united."

Ambassador Olhaye went on to call this "an unprecedented celebration of African music and culture." And indeed it is, recalling to mind the legendary FESPAC festival in Lagos in 1977 back in the days of that country's oil boom.

Ambassador Olhaye sounded a recurring theme throughout the evening: Africa is at a crossroads, conscious of its potential and yearning to present a bigger picture of itself than is commonly portrayed by the mainstream western media i.e. an Africa plagued by disease, mis-rule, corruption, violence and poverty. Ambassador Olhaye spoke of the work at hend of building foundations for sustainable development in Africa, specifically the rule of law, eradication of AIDS and malaria, addressing the digital divide, and encouraging Africans' growing interest in entrepreneurship.

For someone habituated to the fabled "New York minute" but also appreciative of the African art of oratory, I was impressed by the patience of the party crowd in listening to the speeches of the dignitaries. I guess this would not be Washington if we did not get a strong dose of policy recommendations!

Robert Lindsay, representing Coca-Cola Africa, spoke passionately about the Ebony Festival "showing the best of what Africa has to offer" and the opportunity to "celebrate the richness and culture of the continent with our friends of Africa."

Appropriately, Ambassador Amadou Lamine Ba from Senegal, had the last word. He talked about the importance of cultural tourism in Africa, something that we at Afropop have long promoted with our Afropop Tours to Africa where the focus is on experiencing directly the musical culture in nightclubs, artists' homes, and around country fires and where meeting and getting to know Africans are the treasured memories you take home. Unlike what seems to be the African tourism industry's obsession with selling Africa's game parks and Club Med like, self-contained beach resorts where "culture" is touristy presentations of what tourists imagine to be "African." Not that culture can be well represented at some resorts. And a gig is a gig for musicians who need to feed their families. And not that Africa's beautiful wildlife parks and soothing beaches are not worth visiting. They are. But there are a lot of picture post card perfect beaches around the world. And anyone who knows and loves Africa, knows that the most compelling reason to visit the continent is the people and the culture.

Ambassador Ba left us with the evocative image of enjoying a Senegalese evening where the temperature is 85 F and you feel a refreshing cool breeze…"magic", he said. You bet. I know the feeling. Ambassador Ba invited us all to join him in Dakar this June for the Coca Cola Ebony Festival, what is shaping up to be a truly magical gathering of artists and music fans. Insh'Allah...

For more information on the Coca Cola Ebony Festival, visit their website:
www.ebonyfestival.com

Note that South African Airways has the only direct service to Dakar from New York several times a week. More info:
www.flysaa.com

The Africa Travel Association's site can help you get oriented.
www.africa-ata.org

And stay tuned next week on afropop.org for a chance to win two free tickets to Dakar from New York, courtesy of South African Airways. For more information on the artists who will be performing at the Ebony Festival, go to:
http://www.afropop.org/explore/artists/