![]() |
---|
![]() |
Background
The theme for this year’s summit is “Growing Africa beyond the continent and into the Diaspora.” It’s a conversation we want to engage in about taking up space and decentralizing the musical narrative on the global stage from historically western music to African music and honoring the legacy of African traditional music that we see today in the world’s most loved genres. We envision a future and are currently experiencing a dynamic shift in the influence of African music in the Western world. It is important to talk about how this influence affects Africa and how it affects the rest of the world. How can African music in the diaspora be used as a powerful way to create space for African creativity, African ideas, and African epistemologies? What are some issues diasporic artists are still facing despite the growing influence and what can we do to resolve them? This is an important conversation in reimagining the present and future for Africans on and off the continent.
Objective of Session
The proposed event will be an engaging and interactive moderated panel on the trajectory of the guest speakers as artists in the diaspora, from their role and influence on the cultural and socio-political landscape of the continent and in the diaspora to their experiences, creative process and their production of music. Embracing African heritage and legacy beyond the continent is a very relevant topic for many young Africans as we recognise becoming global citizens and at the same time decolonising our identities and reconstructing a sense of self in the diaspora. We would be honoured to have AQ and Muyiwa as voices to inspire the students, faculty and guests outside of Princeton who will attend the event.
![]() |
---|
![]() |
Panelists


Muyiwa Awoniyi
CEO, BSB Agency; Manager, TEMS, Lekaa Beats, and Deeds Art

Somi Kakoma
Song-writer, Grammy-Nominated in Jazz
Kadija Bah (AQ)
Founder, selectHER