From: The Advocate & WBRZ News 2 Lousiana
Taj Weekes performs Sunday at Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette. (Photo: Bryan Tuck)
By Robert R. Jones III
As Festival International de Louisiane concluded Sunday in downtown, both festival attendees and musicians alike agreed that the festival was a special event no matter where you were from.
College professor Jan DeCosmo, of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, said she has been attending the festival for more than a decade.
A professor of Caribbean religions and culture as well as African films, DeCosmo said Festival International was “the best free festival on the planet” because of the diverse, international acts offered.
“You cannot hear such diverse groups from Africa and the Caribbean in one place anywhere else but this festival,” DeCosmo said as Kindae of Uganda played in the background.
“It is an incredible offering of musicians, dancers and performers,” DeCosmo said. “I’ve traveled the world and been to festivals everywhere, including Rio de Janeiro and Trinidad, and this is right up there at the top with diverse, cultural base to bring people together to fight cultural bias.”
“Musicians from around the world play together, and that is really great international aspect of the festival,” she said.