Tourism: Nigeria’s Music Sensation, Davido Envisions A.W A.Y Festival to Promote African Music and Culture

Renowned Nigerian singer, David Adeleke, affectionately known as Davido, is not just making waves in the music industry but is setting his sights on a grand cultural endeavor.

According to channelstv.com, Davido in an interview with Apple Music discussed his vision for the Are We African Yet? (A.W.A.Y) festival. The megastar expressed his desire to curate a festival that will endure for many years and showcase African culture to various parts of the world.

Davido has had a remarkable 2023 with his fourth album ‘Timeless’ setting records and his hit single ‘Unavailable’ featuring Musa Keys achieving international success.

Davido said he intends to provide a platform for African artists to perform and connect with their international fan base through the A.W.A.Y festival. He sees this event as an opportunity to globally exhibit African culture and take control of its narrative.

READ: Africa: Nigerian afrobeat artiste Davido set to earn over $20 million in 2023 – Forbes

“Years ago, it was the other way around where people would come to Africa, invest, and bring their own culture. Having festivals, in the same way, we should do the same over here. And that’s why I’m having this festival that’s going to be coming every year –
“I want to give [different artists] the opportunity to come every year, different times to come and perform. Because they have fans here, and they don’t know. Because on the internet, all you have to do is drop a song on TikTok, and it’s gone. Somebody a billion miles away, it could be their best song, and you wouldn’t even know.

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“I feel like we have to own our culture too. We can’t wait for somebody to bring the idea and be like, “Yo, Afrobeats is growing.” Let’s go register for African Coachella or something like that. I’m like, “No, we got to do this ourselves because this is ours. So we got to own it.” Down the line if somebody wants to partner…
“But the vision I have, I’m talking 10 years, 20 years down the line. The vision I have is to create it to be something that is for the culture, not particularly mine. I might be behind it, producing it, All of that.

“But it’s something I’m doing for the culture, which Atlanta definitely is going to have the first couple, but we’ve spoken about definitely moving it around because we are everywhere. So definitely I can see maybe LA. I can see Toronto, definitely. So we’re definitely going to move it around.”

Davido has experienced a successful 2023, evidenced by his three nominations at the 2024 Grammy Awards. The inaugural A.W.A.Y festival will take place on November 18, 2023, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.