The co-founder of the Afrochella festival, Ken Agyapong Jnr has disclosed that the rebranding of Afrochella to Afrofuture got nothing to do with the Coachella lawsuit.
Speaking in an interview earlier today, January 10, he made known that his outfit won the copyright infringement lawsuit brought against them by Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its organizer, Goldenvoice.
Though he didn’t want to give many details, he said, “we won the case”. Despite winning the case, Mr. Agyapong explained that the change of name was necessary for rebranding after five years.
“At the beginning of last year in February, when we dedicated that the theme for the year will be Afrofuturism, that is when we came up with the idea of changing names. Because, in the long run, we knew we were going to change the name.
“This is a rebirth, starting something new. The future is Africa and we want people to come to Africa, so that is why we wanted to do AfroFuture. The future is bright and we want more people to come to the continent”.
Ken Agyapong Jnr.
The music festival powerhouse Coachella and African diaspora-focused Afrochella gave a hing on being at odds when Coachella sued the Ghanaian music festival for trademark infringement just two months before last December’s show which had the likes of Burna Boy, Stonebwoy, Fireboy DML performing.
The lawsuit, filed in California federal court on Oct. 5, stated:
“Afrochella is intentionally trading on the goodwill of ‘Coachella and Goldenvoice’s’ well-known ‘COACHELLA’ and ‘CHELLA’ festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and Ghana using the confusingly similar mark ‘AFROCHELLA’ and by fraudulently attempting to register Plaintiffs’ actual trademarks as their own.”
California Federal Court
This is the last Afrochella, It will not return to Ghana again – Organisers
The ‘Afrochella’ Experience Is A Celebration Of Africa’s Diverse Culture And The Vibrant Work Of African Creatives & Entrepreneurs.
Afrochella was among the events that authorities in Ghana hoped would continue attracting tourists, especially from the African diaspora.
After five years, Ghanaian music and cultural festival Afrochella will not return, its organizers have said.
The shock announcement was made at the very end of the two-day festival, in the early hours of Friday morning.
The co-founder Abdul Abdullah said to the thousands of people still in the El-Wak stadium in the capital, Accra that it was the last Afrochella and he did not give any reason.
Abdullah made the announcement just after headline acts Burna Boy had closed his set, wowing the crowd with hits such as Last Last, Angelina, and Dangote.
Although the stadium was still packed with thousands of people, the news that it was the final Afrochella escaped the attention of some, especially given that it was almost 03:00 am.
Afrochella is heavily promoted to African Americans and many of those in the crowd had traveled from the US or UK to celebrate the new year on the continent of their origin.
While the end of Afrochella will certainly leave a gap in the jam-packed calendar of events in Ghana, known as “Detty December”, tourists and visitors alike will still be able to enjoy a wide range of programs.
But Afrochella will be extremely missed.
It was among events that authorities in Ghana hoped would continue attracting tourists, especially from the African diaspora, to the country as part of its “Beyond Return” initiative.
In the just concluded edition of Afrochella, Nigerian artiste Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, also known as Ayra Starr, fell on stage while performing her hit song.
She blamed the organizers for the incident.
“Afrochella next time y’all should clean your stage after every artist’s performance, that fall was very unnecessary and painful”.
Ayra Starr
The event also saw performances from other talented musicians.
READ ALSO: Africa’s Diverse Culture Celebration: Afrochella 2022
