Yvonne Orji and Luvvie Ajayi.
The Apollo Theater will present Luvvie Ajayi, New York Times best-selling author and Yvonne Orji of HBO’s Emmy nominated series Insecure in Jesus and Jollof Live on Saturday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m. as part of the Africa Now! Festival, presented in partnership with World Music Institute. The mainstage presentation is hosted by Young Prince with music by DJ mOma and a live performance by Kaleta & Super Yamba Band. This season, we are expanding the Africa Now! Festival to celebrate its growing prominence by presenting contemporary musicians alongside cultural innovators transforming television, podcasts and film.
Additional Africa Now! Festival events include the Theater’s popular Apollo Music Café with performances by Tosin and Allinor on April 12 at 10:00 p.m. and an Africa Now! after-party performance by Young Paris on April 13 at 10:00 p.m. Also, on April 13 at 2:00 p.m., the Apollo in partnership with the New York African Film Festival will present a free film screening of The Wedding Ring. Check out www.apollotheater.org/africanow for updates.
Comedienne and actress Yvonne Orji and award-winning writer and cultural critic Luvvie Ajayi, two proudly Nigerian women, have teamed up for a podcast exploring their lived experiences, relationships, aspirations, and everything in between. They recognize the need for people to see others, often like themselves, living their dreams. Why “Jesus and Jollof?” Those are the two things they cannot do without.
Tickets and Information: Tickets for Jesus and Jollof Live and Apollo Music Café are available at the Apollo Theater Box Office: (212) 531-5305, 253 West 125th Street, and Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000, www.apollotheater.org/africanow
Apollo Music Café: Africa Now!
Featuring Tosin and Allinor
Friday April 12 at 10:00 p.m.
Tickets: $22
A renaissance force to be reckoned with, the music of composer, vocalist and percussionist Tosin speaks highly of his African origin, coupled with his exploration of jazz, funk, rock, reggae and Latin American music.
Being a bandleader with four albums to his credit, his most recent projects include singles: “What Are We Gonna Do?”, and African-themed remix of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy.” With keen interest and passion for teaching, Tosin continues to inspire both the young and older generations of drummers and music lovers through his teaching programs and workshops.
Originally from Ghana, West Africa, Allinor has always been influenced by the music of his motherland as well as his deep roots in spiritual music. Blending western blues, highlife and reggae with traditional music, he creates a soul stirring, mood setting style of melodic rhythms.
Africa Now! Film Series
Curated in Partnership with the New York African Film Festival
Featuring The Wedding Ring by Rahmatou Keïta
Saturday April 13 2:00 p.m.
Soundstage
Tickets: Free
The Wedding Ring – Screening at 2:00 p.m. in the Soundstage: Tiyaa is a student and a member of a prestigious aristocratic family. She returns home to sultanate of Damagaran, in Niger, for the winter holidays. As planned, she is expecting the young man she met at the university she is studying at, in France, to make a formal proposal of marriage. He too comes from a prestigious family, not far from Damagaran, in the Emirate of Maïduguri and her parents cannot reject such an eligible fiancé.
Tiyaa is overwhelmed. While expecting him, she has time to inform her friends of this secret Parisian love. Life is pleasant and peaceful, but time passes, and the handsome suitor is slow to come. Tiyaa has the opportunity to discover in her surroundings other women whose love stories, marriage, desertion or divorce tell of the relationship between men and women in the Sahelian society.
Apollo Music Café: Africa Now! Afterparty
Featuring Young Paris
Saturday April 13 at 10:00 p.m.
Tickets: $22
Born to Congolese parents in France, and raised in New York, Young Paris totes an original story that blends cultures from three corners of the world. Through his work as an artistic director, music producer, and songwriter, Young Paris is re‐defining EDM with his combination of Afrobeats and has been featured in Billboard, Complex, The Fader, REVOLT, BET, Vice, Paper Mag, and Pigeons & Planes.
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