This weekend, Armstrong Park is the site of two day-long festivals, Inter-Fest on Saturday and Congo Square Rhythms Festival on Sunday.
Saturday:
Inter-Fest starts Saturday at 11 a.m. and includes music from the Soul Rebels, Bobby Love, Fredy Omar, Casa Samba, Zion Trinity and Moyuba with Michael Skinkus.
Sunday:
Sunday, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation presents Congo Square Rhythms Festival starts at noon with music on two stages by Bamboula 2000, Donald Harrison and Congo Nation, Big Sam’s Funky Nation (pictured), Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk and more.
The Foundation has organized two events leading up to Sunday’s festival:
Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Basin Street Station, the Tom Dent Congo Square Lecture Series presents ” Congo Square: the Roots of Our Culture ,” with panelists Ausettua Amor Amenkum, Freddi Evans, Luther Gray and Kalamu Ya Salaam . The discussion will be followed by a screening of the film Congo Square by Royce Osborne.
There will also be the Congo Square Rhythms Exhibition that opens at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Gallery (1201 N. Rampart) Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. Artists in the show include Ron Bechet, Willie Birch, Jeffrey Cook, Lionel Milton, Terrence Sanders and Clifton Webb.
Before Sunday’s festival, there will “The Amistad Mass: A Tribute to the Unknown Slave” at St. Augustine Church at 10 a.m. The Blind Boys of Alabama will be part of the Mass, then at 11:30 the Treme Brass Band will lead a jazz procession to Congo Square for the start of the day’s events.
