Africa Day 2009 - Dublin

When I was young Dublin was a monochrome city totally lacking in colour but since the arrival of peoples from Africa and Asia the city has become very colourful and much more attractive and exciting. Nowhere is this explosion of colour more evident than at events such as the Africa Day celebration which took place at Iveagh Gardens last Sunday (May 24th).

The organisers were expecting 20,000 visitors but as you can see from my photographs this number was greatly exceeded and as a result the volunteers were were very much over worked. The police were highly amused by the fact some people were were sneaking in to the event (which was free) across a wall on Hatch Street.

The main stage featured many top class performers but as far as I was concerned the breakout stage was the the place to be because that was all the fun was to be found. It was also the place where all the younger Africans congregated. Talking about fun there was plenty of this to be had at the Ebo tent where Africans from Cork were providing much unscheduled entertainment.

I was a bit surprised to come across Wassa Wassa performing on the fringe of the event. They were excellent which makes one wonder why they were not featured on one the to formal stages or listed in the official programme. Anyway, I will watch out for these guys in the future as it should be interesting to see how far they can progress.


When I was young Dublin was a monochrome city totally lacking in colour but since the arrival of peoples from Africa and Asia the city has become very colourful and much more attractive and exciting. Nowhere is this explosion of colour more evident than at events such as the Africa Day celebration which took place at Iveagh Gardens last Sunday (May 24th).