SAT AUG 6TH | THE BLACK BLOSSOM: STORIES OF OUR LEGACY

X̱áywá7esks / Creekside Park

1455 QUEBEC STREET, Vancouver, BC V6A 3Z7 (Google Maps pin here!)

6 PM

In Partnership with Afro Van Connect

The Black blossom is the symbol of Hope, New Life, and New Beginnings. These things are achievable through Honouring our legacy, Discipline, and Sacrifice. These stories depict the journey of our hearts. We embrace the challenges and celebrate our Collective accomplishments!

Afro Van Connect

Featuring: Dae Shields, Marisa Gold, Natasha Gayle and Janelle Reid

Yoro Noukoussi

Born in North Benin, Africa and chief’s son of the Waama people, this multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter learned the art of storytelling and drumming from his family as they traveled the region sharing their cultural traditions. Now in Canada, Yoro is in great demand as a performer, having mastered the donga (talking drum), kokomba (congas), and djembe. On stage, both solo and with his band, he is a dynamic and mesmerizing performer, drawing you into the sights, sounds, and rhythms of West Africa.

Fanny Kearse

Storyteller • Poet • Radical • Mental Health Advocate • Truth Seeker • Elevator of Youth • Slayer of Mountains •The Dream of a Slave

In an act of courageous rebellion, Fanny walked away from nearly a decade as a social worker and headed west to pursue lifelong dreams of being a poet and disrupting the system to be more diverse, inclusive and equitable.  Fanny fuses her experience as a social worker and lived experiences as a justice seeking human to express her artivism through means of poetry and storytelling. More creating, more healing, more JOY! 

Lilex & the Apocalips

This performance is a celebration of existence. A place where things fall apart and decompose, to make room for new life and diversity. The songs and sounds are recycled emotions, that travel through love, fear, grief, shame, joy, and anger. This piece is held in relationship, to the land, the plant and animal friends, and all the people and spirits that intercept. Thank you for being a part of it.

Prado | PRADO MONROE

Born in Vancouver, Canada on the unceded territory of the Musqueam,  Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations peoples. Of Metis (Ukrainian  and indigenous) decent, her mom hails from the North End of Winnipeg – Point Douglas. Meanwhile her father immigrated from Buenaventura,  Colombia to Vancouver in the early 90s. 

Prado Monroe was gifted her first guitar and quickly started self producing and releasing music on Soundcloud under the moniker of  “Alienkanye” at a prolific pace. The singer-songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer began leading pen to various artists; she  was the contagious melodies behind various NY-based male internet  rappers – further unearthing her love and disposition to wordplay and pop music, PM learned to lead without fear using her unique sound and  no-bullshit delivery. 

Each cover was shot at “THOTFUL” – A photography, dance and recording studio located in Vancouver, British Columbia. The studio is  founded with her sister “Zuleyyma” with a shared mission/vision to create  incubator programs for disadvantaged minorities and uplift promising  LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC artists in Canada.

Sam Darkoh

A Hip-Hop performance containing original music from Vancouver based Artist Sam Darkoh.

Venus Noirre | Lougarou (lew-ga-roo)

Venus Noirre is a writer and artist whose cultural identity and traumas have led them to share their words with the world. With no formal art or writing education, they have published zines, essays and poetry on queer identity, sex work and blackness. The continuous genocide of Black, Brown and Indigenous bodies in the Americas has forced them re-examine what they share of themselves with their audience. Blackness and autonomy as a black woman is at the center of their work and they know that it is essential that they continue telling these stories.