Afro Nation changed the game again with a tantalising 3-day festival celebrating music, love and unity with the global Afrobeats and amapiano community between 26-28 June.
More than just a music festival, Afro Nation has created a space for the African diaspora to come together and push the culture forward. Five years since the legendary debut in Portimao, Afro Nation is now creating a powerful movement of its own and changing the face of live music entertainment around the world.
Heating up the Lit Stage on the opening night with a flamethrower and a blistering set of bangers, Asake cemented his place as one of the all time great performers at Afro Nation, setting the tone for an eventful three days on the beach. A timely new studio collaboration, ‘Wave’, gave Asake the opportunity to add another spark to the occasion as he brought out surprise guest Central Cee. Off the back of their first performance together, it’s no surprise that the track -which mentions Afro Nation in the lyrics- shot straight to the top of the Official UK Afrobeats Chart on Sunday.
The next day thousands of fans pulled up to the beach all dressed in pink for Nicki Minaj. The Trinidadian rapper didn’t pack light on this trip to Portugal. Treating the adoring crowd to several costume changes, the versatile artist took a voyage through almost 30 hits including ‘Starships’, Super Bass’ and ‘Barbie World’, whilst also stopping to congratulate Afro Nation favourite Davido on his recent wedding before launching into their 2020 collaboration ‘Holy Ground’. Before the fireworks at the end of her full scale tour production, Nicki spontaneously invited several fans on stage to dance and celebrate with the various flags of their African countries – only at Afro Nation!
Closing the final night in style, Rema floored the crowd with an electrifying show for the Afro Nation history books. Ahead of his final song of the set, ‘Calm Down’, the festival’s official host Adesope Olajide presented Rema with a 7x platinum disc to honour his recent achievement of becoming the world’s first Afrobeats artist to reach a billion on-demand streams in the US. A fitting setting to mark the milestone for Rema and the unstoppable rise of Afrobeats as a whole.
Elsewhere a multitude of acts delivered more headline worthy performances across three days on the Lit Stage. The likes of legendary Congolese singer Fally Ipupa filled the massive main stage with musicians and dancers, after standout sets by fellow acclaimed francophone artists like Franglish, Dadju & Tayc. As always Afro Nation showed an impressive array of the finest Nigerian Afrobeats stars like Omah Lay, Flavour, Ruger, Odumodublvck and Bnxn. Representing the UK’s thriving Afrobeats scene this year were British-Ghanaian band The Compozers, Darkoo and the Afroswing collective NSG, whilst more standout sets from Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz and Cape Verde’s Lisandro Cuxi went down a storm on Praia da Rocha.
Tyla made her highly anticipated return to the stage at Afro Nation 2024, and whilst the artist was booked to play the Lit Stage this year, it wasn’t long after her show that she was spotted back on the Piano People stage during Uncle Waffles‘ incredible headline set, among a cast of amapiano legends coming together to witness the latest explosive moment for the fast rising South African sound.
Closing three days of non-stop groove at the popular Piano People stage that already featured Musa Keys, Focalistic, Tyler ICU, Kelvin Momo, 2wo Bunnies, Vigro Deep, Young Stunna, Justin99 & PCEE, YUMBS, Nicky Summers and more, Major League DJz stepped things up a notch this summer with the use of live instruments and dancers to create a vibrant carnival vibe. In the final moments of their set the spirit of the South African dance music scene came alive as all the artists jumped back on stage to dance in unison and see out the night on a high. With so many artists staying to party for three days on the beach, the duo were joined by Kamo Mphela, KMAT, Skyla Tylaa, Diamond Platnumz, plus hosts Teddy Goodfella and Uncool MC as well as a surprise appearance from DJ Maphorisa!
With artists rising to the occasion, every single performance felt pivotal and gave the audience a sense of witnessing historic moments in time. In a year where African artists are filling stadiums and taking centre stage and the UK’s biggest festivals, Afro Nation remains the world’s largest celebration of Afrobeats and amapiano music and culture, and the ultimate destination for the hottest global acts. The 2024 edition is sure to play a part in building future household names through its shared mission of bringing Afrobeats and amapiano to the world.
