At Kemet festival in Montclair, a celebration of Blackness and joy (PHOTOS)
PHOTOS BY TONY TURNER / COURTESY OF KEMET MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL)
More than 200 people came to the Montclair Brewery Saturday for the second annual Kemet Music and Arts Festival — a celebration of Black culture organized by musician and activist ROSTAFA.
“We wanted to make sure Black culture as well as Black entrepreneurship and Black representation were exposed to the utmost degree,” ROSTAFA said. “We wanted to make sure that was the idea that was getting across — the idea of Black art and Black music coming together, even though it was an inclusive and mixed crowd.”
ROSTAFA had originally hoped to close down part of Willow Street to include more vendors and expand the festival off the Montclair Brewery property, but he said he wasn’t able to arrange permission for that in time.
The event raised funds for an album ROSTAFA and others will take part in titled “Black Is Beautiful” — centered around a decade of Black Lives Matter activism overall, but in particular on the high-profile, deadly encounters with police seen over the last year and a half, and the movements that responded.
He said he didn’t yet have a tally of how much money was raised to support the album, but previously told Montclair Local when the album is finished, 20% of the proceeds will be donated to a Black-owned business in need.
The festival included nine performers, including poets, guest speakers and musicians.
PHOTOS BY TONY TURNER / COURTESY OF KEMET MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL)
PHOTOS BY TONY TURNER / COURTESY OF KEMET MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL)
PHOTOS BY TONY TURNER / COURTESY OF KEMET MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL)
PHOTOS BY TONY TURNER / COURTESY OF KEMET MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL)
— Louis C. Hochman